NFC Championship Game: San Francisco 49ers at Atlanta Falcons, 3:00 PM EST

[LordJohn]

I'm picking the 9ers just because they looked a lot better last week. They're both complete teams and I think the game will be won on the lines.

[ballllinnnnnnn]

I got the falcons in this one.

[Greedy22]

Supposedly the Seahawks had the best defense in the league and the Falcons managed to get by them. I like the Falcons chances in this game, too.

The Seahawks weren't very good against the run this year. 49ers make teams one-dimensional taking away the run.

[TO Rapz]

9ers.

[Ramon Nivar]

If we can make it to the NFC Championship game with bad coaching, O-Line play, rushing, run defense, questionable QB play and lack of size... I can't wait to see what Atlanta can do when they become an actual team.

[Hard Talk]

I've got the Niners in this one, should be a good game though.

[Steel Curtain]

Thats not going to elp them in the 4th quarter when the much bigger 49er's have worn them down. Also of the 4 teams remaining the Falcons have the worst coaching. 49er's win easy IMO.

It's at Atlanta, which is a dome, which makes it tougher. Seattle was a good team, they had a good defense and decent offense. Dismiss the Falcons at your own risk, the 49ers lost to the Rams once and the other time they tied. Good team, not unstoppable.

[jbeezy]

If we can make it to the NFC Championship game with bad coaching, O-Line play, rushing, run defense, questionable QB play and lack of size... I can't wait to see what Atlanta can do when they become an actual team.

Right? Lol people are clueless. Like I said earlier in the thread. Atlanta has a very deceptively good defense. Even in their pass rush. The have one of the lowest sack totals but they are I think 2nd in the NFL in hurries. Their rush defense is also very deceptively good. Its gonna be a tough game.

For the Niners to win we will have to get Vernon Davis going and we will also have to put pressure on Ryan and even if we do it will still be tough. I still think the Niners should be the underdog here.

[Denim Chicken]

Yup, he can't handle it at all. Every time he's thrown an INT he's followed it up with a scoring drive. And I think a pick 6 on his second pass is an early turnover and he obviously didn't handle the adversity. Correct

I'll be damned. I didn't realize that. I was just basing it off of what I saw and what I remember. I just don't remember him playing very well with the Rams keeping it close, the crowd noise in Seattle, and the Patriots making the comeback. You also have to remember Atlanta doesn't have a **** defense with a **** defensive coordinator that won't make adjustments.

[OREcoast49er]

I'll be damned. I didn't realize that. I was just basing it off of what I saw and what I remember. I just don't remember him playing very well with the Rams keeping it close, the crowd noise in Seattle, and the Patriots making the comeback. You also have to remember Atlanta doesn't have a **** defense with a **** defensive coordinator that won't make adjustments.

So it was Kap's fault that the defense let NE back in the game when Justin Smith went down? Seattle made every team look bad at home, so thats a pointless argument. yes, we lost a rivalry game to a division rival. our kicker missed game winning FGs in bothe the tie and the loss. not to mention Walker dropping an easy TD pass that would have sealed the game against Stl in the loss. Good logic. Why didn't Nolan make more adjustments against Seattle to slow that comeback train down then?

Do some research before you spout off pointless ********

[Denim Chicken]

So it was Kap's fault that the defense let NE back in the game when Justin Smith went down? Seattle made every team look bad at home, so thats a pointless argument. yes, we lost a rivalry game to a division rival. our kicker missed game winning FGs in bothe the tie and the loss. not to mention Walker dropping an easy TD pass that would have sealed the game against Stl in the loss. Good logic. Why didn't Nolan make more adjustments against Seattle to slow that comeback train down then?

Do some research before you spout off pointless ********

Haha, Calm down guy. Sorry if I don't credit having 3 three and outs in the 4th quarter when the pressure is really on as playing well. It's funny that we can just pick and choose whichever games he played in as we please. So I guess when we are talking about any players on your team we can only look at the games they did well in and completely ignore the game where they played terribly. Did you forget that the Falcons also have a very strong home record and the Dome is right up there with Seattle in terms of loudness? The crowd is what really had Kaepernick rattled that game but I'm sure you are too blinded by your homerism to realize that. That argument is absolutely relative and it's also a strong one because Kaepernick does not play as well away as he does at home (three more INTs, 8% drop in completion percentage, a 1.5 yards/attempt decrease, and a 20 point decrease in quarterback rating). I'm sorry, I watched that game where he played against St Louis and I just don't remember him playing all that great. His stats weren't that impressive either. Why don't we just hear straight from him about his thoughts on his performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chUeUb9NVLI

1st of all it's a hell of a lot easier to go into halftime, make adjustments, and come back out in the second half and play a better game (something the Packers didn't do) than it is to make adjustments in the middle of the 4th quarter. Second of all, our game plan for three straight quarters were working pretty great. Adjustments weren't absolutely necessary. The two things that killed us the most were poor tackling and our secondary playing lazy in coverage, our defensive scheme didn't have much to do with it.

Side note, I don't want to get too boggled down in specifics. I do think Colin Kaepernick is a really good QB and he is going to be very hard for us to stop. I just think it is possible to throw him off his game and contain him.

[theproof]

What people don't realize is that the 49ers are bringing a completely different offense into the playoffs. During the regular season, Kaep used the read option only 26 times. We ran it 16 times alone against the Packers. Now I know that we most likely did that because the Packers couldn't stop it but do you really think that this won't be a huge weapon we are going to use against the rest of the teams in the playoffs? Teams are going to be so focused on stopping the read that it's going to open more things up. Atlanta's going to have to play a hell of a game on D tomorrow or it's going to get ugly. I believe they are fully capable of doing it though.

I'm not selling Atlanta short. We are in their house and if we don't get pressure on Matt Ryan we could be in big trouble. I know we match up well against them but if they are able to move the ball down the field at all in the run game things could get real interesting. Don't listen to the media.

[tapajafri]

Right? Lol people are clueless. Like I said earlier in the thread. Atlanta has a very deceptively good defense. Even in their pass rush. The have one of the lowest sack totals but they are I think 2nd in the NFL in hurries. Their rush defense is also very deceptively good. Its gonna be a tough game.

For the Niners to win we will have to get Vernon Davis going and we will also have to put pressure on Ryan and even if we do it will still be tough. I still think the Niners should be the underdog here.

The thing that scares me most as a 49er fan is Mike Nolan. He's already a brilliant defensive coordinator, but he also drafted and coached some key players on SF's offense, which certainly doesn't hurt (even if it doesn't help that much). Nolan's schemes and the way he calls the game defensively for Atlanta is what worries me, especially going up against a young QB in a game with all kinds of pressure and championship atmosphere. Hopefully, Harbaugh and his staff don't get out-coached again like they did against NYG and Seattle earlier this season, otherwise Kaepernick won't even have a fair chance to succeed tomorrow.

[theproof]

What makes me feel good about this game is Atlanta's weak pass rush. A lot of the time Wilson had almost six second to throw the ball.

[jbeezy]

The thing that scares me most as a 49er fan is Mike Nolan. He's already a brilliant defensive coordinator, but he also drafted and coached some key players on SF's offense, which certainly doesn't hurt (even if it doesn't help that much). Nolan's schemes and the way he calls the game defensively for Atlanta is what worries me, especially going up against a young QB in a game with all kinds of pressure and championship atmosphere. Hopefully, Harbaugh and his staff don't get out-coached again like they did against NYG and Seattle earlier this season, otherwise Kaepernick won't even have a fair chance to succeed tomorrow.

Yeah, when he took over the Niners we were a **** franchise. Terry Donahue gutted the franchise after Mooch was fired. When Nolan took over the Niners were pretty much an expansion team. He made the team as strong as he could and he built a very tough defense that kept us in a lot of games. Our margin of victory went from -11.8 his first season to -2.6 in his last season. He just ran out of time and lost the players because of the way he handled Alex Smith. He is a very good defensive coach. If the Niners are able to get to the super bowl and win it I think he would deserve a ring.