49er Defensive Tackle Ricky Jean Francois Talks About Team's Playoff Run
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Despite having to travel on the road to play the Atlanta Falcons, the 49ers are in a good position to pull out a win on Sunday. The keys to getting over the hump, that is the NFC Championship Game, will be a mix of mental and physical. Both teams are solid and equally talented, but if San Francisco can control three things, they will find themselves one win away from the Lombardi Trophy.
When the New York Giants beat San Francisco last year in the NFC Championship Game, it was the 49ers' inability to make a big play offensively that was a big reason for the loss. The team used the off season to address this problem, and as they find themselves one win away from the Super Bowl, the offense looks nothing like the one that let them down in this very game a year ago.
After dismantling the Green Bay Packers on Saturday, the 49ers find themselves back in the NFC Championship Game. With the Falcons holding serve against the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco will travel to Atlanta with one win standing in the way of both teams of a trip to the Super Bowl. By playing a Falcons team who ended the season as the number 1 seed, in the Georgia Dome, the 49ers will be the underdogs, but have to like their chances of pulling off the upset and moving on to the Super Bowl.
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The game was close on the scoreboard for the first half, but in the second half, San Francisco dominated the Packers to set up their return to the NFC Championship Game to face either the Falcons or Seahawkss. It was a complete team effort, but in his first playoff game, Colin Kaepernick again proved that he is up to any challenge and lead the charge in an performance that may be the best ever by a quarterback.
Colin Kaepernick ran for a quarterback playoff record 181 yards and two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to Michael Crabtree in leading the San Francisco 49ers back to the NFC championship game with a 45-31 victory against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night.
With multiple Pro Bowlers on both sides of the ball, the match-up between the 49ers and Packers will not be lacking talent. Both teams are well coached, disciplined and hungry for a win. The difference in this game will come down to the attention to 3 key areas and some luck.
By beating the Packers in Week 1, in Green Bay no less, San Francisco should have plenty of confidence that they can beat the NFC North Champs again on Saturday. While the early season victory means nothing now, the fact that the game is in San Francisco does. The Packers have struggled outside of Lambeau this year, and can't be happy to have to go to San Francisco to try and keep their season alive.
A few players are coming back for the Packers, a former Packer is now with Seattle, and a legendary coach wants to be on the sidelines again.
