http://www.101sports.com/2014/10/10/key-matchups-rams-vs-49ers/
Key Matchups in Rams vs. 49ers
Are Jake Long and Rodger Saffold doomed to be just another notch on Justin Smith’s gun belt? After 210 professional football games and 85 career sacks, the San Francisco defensive tackle has cut more than a few names into it during his 14-year playing career. This season is no different, as he has already racked up 29 tackles – three for loss – and a trio of sacks.
Jake Long will square up against Justin Smith on Monday
Through regime changes and evolving personnel, there remains one constant by the Bay Area: Smith absolutely owns the space to the defensive right side of the football. At age 35, the Mizzou product has physically beaten up every left guard-and-tackle combination he’s lined up on this season, and has made running the football right at him almost a futile enterprise. When Smith lines up inside, opponents have been unable to get enough movement on him with just one blocker. Using two blockers just increases the threat of inside linebacker Patrick Willis blazing through to cut off front-side runs.
“He’s just the same every single year,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said Thursday. “He appears to be very healthy right now. He’s playing a lot of snaps and he’s playing hard. He’s an emotional player and kind of referred to (Frank) Gore as kind of their nerve center of their football team on offense – everything’s built around them. And you can make a case that Justin is the guy there on defense.”
When – and only when – Smith retires, there will be no question about J.J. Watt being the most dominant down lineman in the NFL.
*Smith superlatives aside, I believe the matchup between nose tackle Ian Williams and Rams center Scott Wells will be the most telling next Monday night at the Edward Jones. I remember a lot of smiling faces when San Francisco lost veteran Glenn Dorsey early in preseason action. Williams has started the last four games and erased most of those smiles, though, amassing 19 tackles and a sack.
In the 49ers’ 3-4 alignment, Williams will be lined up directly over the top of Wells in obvious running downs. Wells won’t have much help and will have to handle the nose tackle on his own at various times during the game. If Williams flattens Wells out along the line of scrimmage, he flattens out the Rams’ running game, which already won’t enjoy the luxury of a completely healthy Zac Stacy. Oh, and this all play right into the world-class speed of their linebackers.
Joe Barksdale
*The 49ers’ decision not to bench left defensive tackle Ray McDonald after his late-August arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence has paid off big-time on the field. He’s more disruptive than productive, but that fits in with the job description for D-coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme.
I hope Davin Joseph and Joe Barksdale are eating rusty nail sandwiches and come to the dome with a street fighter’s mentality.
As for the man Joseph and Barksdale are charged with keeping upright, quarterback Austin Davis is about to face his toughest challenge to date.
In addition to the 49ers’ ferocious front seven, their new-look secondary – headlined by Antoine Bethea and Perrish Cox – continues to fare better than expected.
“They’ve added some guys,” Davis said. “They’ve plugged those guys right in and they’ve played really well. So, they’ve changed who it is, but I don’t think their productivity has dropped at all.”
Jimmie Ward and Chris Culliver aren’t infallible at corner, though, as evidenced by late-game implosions in losses to Chicago and Arizona. If Davis gets any time to operate, you could be staring at yet another fairly even chess match on a board littered with comparable pieces.
