Opponent Focus: San Francisco 49ers

Indy fans, it’s time to turn our attention to this week’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts are heading into this one red hot, after the 42-6 spanking of the Rams this past Sunday, and look to be firing on all cylinders right now.

As for the Niners, they’ve hit a rough stretch the past few weeks, after starting the season 3-1. But you can bet that they’ll be ready when they roll into Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend, so let’s take a look at some things that you need to know about this week’s opponent.

Record: 3-3

Last Game: L 24-21 at Houston

Strengths

Defensively, this team is pretty tough. Now, you wouldn’t know that from their performances the last few weeks, as they gave up 45 to the Falcons and 24 to the Texans, but they’re still pretty solid overall. You can bet that Mike Singletary has worked on disguising some coverages in order to try and fool Peyton Manning, which is much easier said than done. But with Singletary at the helm, while the defense may not always execute properly, they are at least going to be prepared.

The Niners’ rushing attack is something to be concerned about if you’re a Colts’ fan. If there’s been one concern throughout the entire year for Indy, it’s been the rush defense. We can all remember back to the game in Miami where Ronnie Brown was running all over the place and causing major trouble for the defensive line. And despite the blowout win last week, the Colts still allowed Steven Jackson to have a nice day on the ground.

So priority number one will be stopping Frank Gore this week.

Weaknesses

Well, we all know where this one starts. The Niners placed Alex Smith at quarterback at halftime of last week’s game, so there’s definitely some problems at that position. And with the way the Indianapolis secondary has been playing as of late, that’s trouble for San Fran. The Colts have been good at forcing turnovers, and well, Smith has sort of made a career out of that.

So this weakness leads to another significant weakness. And that is that the Niners are going to struggle to come back if they get down early. Yes, I know that they were down 21-0 last week and still managed to come back. But that’s not going to happen week in and week out. I just don’t have the confidence in Smith to believe that is going to be the case.

The Colts need to jump out early on this team, and then force them to throw the ball. A lot. Because then that takes away the Niners’ ability to attack the Colts’ weakness, which is the rush defense. They’ll have to put the ball in the air if they want to get back in the game.

Well there’s a small focus on the Niners. Tomorrow, we’ll have a full preview here at Naptown’s Finest, and we’ll get you ready for the big game on Sunday.