Team ReporterThe San Francisco 49ers host the Green Bay Packers in the 10th postseason meeting between the two major franchises. The last meeting between these NFC heavyweights took place in the 2021 NFC Divisional Round and featured two different starting quarterbacks, Jimmy Garoppolo and Aaron Rodgers. This matchup marks the beginning of a new chapter in a postseason rivalry that has seen the most playoff contests between two teams in NFL history.Niners LinersHead Coach Kyle Shanahan on Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love:andquot;Heand#039; has come a long way because he plays at such a high level.
To get there earlier this year and survive the ups and downs… When you can’t win all those games, when you have a tough freshman record, the pressure of that and just watching him every game, it was consistent. It was incredible for him to take care of the ball the way he has. 21 touchdowns and one pick in the last 10 games is incredible. Heand is very persistent in what they ask of him. (Green Bay Packers head coach) Mattand#039;s (LaFleur) is very good at coaching the quarterback and you can see that their quarterback is buying in. He plays very well in their system and plays a lot. He’s got a big hand and he’s a big guy.andquot;Shanahan treats the playoffs like a new season:andquot;You create the movie you have. Man, I just tell our kids, whatever, we have one seed and it feels like a hundred days ago. You have all this time and everyone wants to talk about everything leading up to it. It’s a lot to think about, but it depends, it’s what you do with three and a half hours… We’re just trying to study the film and prepare for how those three and a half hours will go. But when it starts you just cut it off and drive. I think and the hardest part about weeks is telling men that they are not biased. Don’t think it’s these teams because you’ve heard of these teams. Weand is watching a movie. Weand executes the plan and more. You take care of your body and prepare to go in and learn it.andquot;Quarterback Brock Purdy on his previous playoff experience:andquot;Last year I was still trying to find my way. I was released at the end of the year, so every week I was still trying to play well, learn who I am as a quarterback and obviously learn more about playing in the system. Those were all the things I had on my plate last year. Then of course try to win every week and finish this team. I think this year I’m more familiar with the offense and who I am and everything, so it’s a little bit different. It’s good to watch last year’s games and just remember the feeling and emotions that arose while playing in the playoffs. This is good. For me as a quarterback, it’s great to go back to those moments and remember how it felt. Those are the things I’m betting on.andquot;Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who wants to get Love out of rhythm, has been involved in the second half of the season:andquot;Well, I think the main thing is we have to try to stop the run and try to make them one dimensional They run the ball very effectively. I think it just opens up the game. There you see him very effectively making shots down the field and finding the open receiver. That’s number one. Again, weand#039;ve just got to try to mix it up a little bit to get him thinking and figure out where he needs to go with the ball.andquot;Offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Foerster on finding success against the Packers’ run defense:andquot;Any team can have their days on offense or defense and I think what happens is just a few big runs and you make a big one a run or two and it can happen. And so it finally happens. A few years ago in the first round playoff game against the Vikings, we ran for a lot of yards, but we didn’t have more than seven yards and it was hard to get a big number. Every time you have a big day in football, there are explosive runs going on somewhere. When you get those explosive runs, was it due to lack of spacing, lack of tackling, great blocking play or good planning? There are many reasons why this could happen. I don’t know exactly what they would be. Obviously, we’ll look at what we think we can be successful with in our pack and what they’re doing. As I told my boys the other day, it’s playoff time and expect the unexpected. What you think you see, you may not. What you’ve been preparing for all week might not happen. You’ve got to trust that you’ve played 18 weeks, 17 weeks of your football games and how you’ve worked together as a group to build it and prepare for whatever they bring and hopefully you’ll get a game like that. good luck running the football.andquot;Packers QuotesPackers head coach Matt LaFleur, building on a win over the Dallas Cowboys:andquot;Weand#039;definitely need a better game. You can always improve, that’s our way of thinking. There is always something to improve and so we are up against a great opponent. Weand needs.
