This looks to be a very interesting football game in the Bayou.  The 49ers have won two games in a row while the Saints have lost two in a row on the road.  The 49ers will likely look to get the ball into RB Frank Gore’s hands as much as possible in this game as he has 412 combined rushing and receiving yards already this season.  The Saints linebackers will have issues in dealing with Gore as the Saints are allowing 133.3 yards rushing per game and 5.3 ypc this season.  If QB J.T. O’Sullivan gets time to throw the ball (he has been sacked 13 times this season) against the Saints the Niners should be able to move the ball well against a Saints’ defense that is allowing 258.7 yards passing per game this season.

The Saints will come out throwing the ball as they always do but who will be catching the passes from Drew Brees this week?  With Marques Colston and Jeremy Shockey out for this week and the next couple look for Reggie Bush to even be more involved in the passing game if that’s possible seeing how he has already caught 26 passes this season.  Bush has accounted for 412 combined rushing and receiving yards this season but the Niners have a pretty good linebacking corps to deal with him.  The Niners will be blitzing a lot (they have 8 sacks) to try to pressure Drew Brees into rushing into some mistakes.

PREDICTION:  SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 34, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 30

J.T. O’Sullivan has really stepped up this season after beating out Alex Smith and Shaun Hill for the starting QB job for the Niners in 2008.  Despite being sacked 13 times this season already O’Sullivan stands in the pocket and delivers the football with zip on it.  He has completed 50 of 75 passes (66.7%) for 705 yards with 3 TD passes and 1 interception (104.6 QB Rating).  He also has done well running the football as he has rushed for 65 yards on 14 carries (4.6 ypc) this season.  He looks like he could be the leader of the offense that the Niners have been looking for since Jeff Garcia left town.

The 49ers have CB Shawntae Spencer for the season after he tore the ACL in his left knee.  He only had made 2 tackles so far this season for the Niners.  Spencer will be replaced by either Tarell Brown or Donald Strickland.  Brown has 5 tackles, defensed 1 pass and he has 1 interception so far this season.  Strickland has also played somewhat well this season as he has finished with 4 tackles and a pass defensed.

The 49ers dominated the Lions last Sunday in Frisco.  J.T. O’Sullivan had another solid game for the Niners against the Lions as he completed 16 of 23 passes for 189 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 interceptions.  He also carried the ball 8 times for 32 yards (4.0 ypc).  Frank Gore was also very busy in this game as he rushed for 130 yards on 27 carries (4.8 ypc) with a TD run.  He also caught 4 passes for 32 yards (8.0 avg) in this game.  Delanie Walker (24-yarder) and Isaac Bruce (6-yarder) both added TD grabs.  The Niners finished up with 182 yards rushing on 39 carries (4.7 ypc) and they also completed 16 of 23 passes for 188 yards.

The defense was outstanding for the Niners in this football game.  Linebacker Patrick Willis led the Niners in tackles with 6 in this game.  DE Justin Smith stuffed the stat sheet with 4 tackles, a sack and a interception.  Reserve linebacker Roderick Green also had a big game with 3 tackles and 2 sacks.  The Lions finished up with 116 yards rushing on 20 carries (5.8 ypc) and they also completed 15 of 31 passes for 124 yards.  The 49ers are now 2-1 on the season with this win.

This is a game that has a lot of bad blood involved in it.  Niners’ offensive co-ordinator Mike Martz held the same post with the Lions last season but he was fired in the offseason.  QB J.T. O’Sullivan also was a Lion last year as he backed up Jon Kitna.  The 49ers should be able to do whatever they want on offense in this game as the Lions are allowing 220.5 yards rushing per game and 240.0 yards passing per game this season.  With that in mind look for Frank Gore to get the ball quite often as he already has 250 yards from scrimmage this season.  QB J.T. O’Sullivan already has 516 passing yards this season and he will likely spread the ball around to a lot of receivers with Bryant Johnson and Isaac Bruce getting most of the downfield passes.

The Lions must be able to run the football against the 49ers to keep their offense on the sidelines.  Rookie Kevin Smith and Rudi Johnson will likely get most of the carries against a Niners’ defense that is allowing 139.0 yards rushing per game this season.  It appears however that this game could dissolve into a shootout and the Lions’ are equipped to throw the ball downfield with WRs Calvin Johnson, Roy Williams, Shaun McDonald and Mike Furrey.

PREDICTION:  SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 41, DETROIT LIONS 34

This was a shootout in Seattle which ended on a 40-yard FG in OT by Joe Nedney.  J.T. O’Sullivan showed his toughness in this game as he was sacked 8 times.  He completed 20 of 32 passes for 321 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 interceptions.  He also ran the ball 4 times for 32 yards (8.0 ypc).  Frank Gore was busy again as he carried the ball 19 times for 61 yards (3.2 ypc) with a TD run.  He also caught 5 passes for 38 yards (7.6 avg) against the Seahawks.  Isaac Bruce only caught 4 passes in this game but they covered 153 yards (38.3 avg).  Bryant Johnson also had a big game for the Niners with 6 grabs for 78 yards (13.0 avg) with a TD.  The 49ers finished up with 93 yards rushing on 23 carries (4.0 ypc) and they also completed 20 of 32 passes for 272 yards.

Linebacker Patrick Willis led the way for the Niners’ Defense with 8 tackles and a interception that he returned 86 yards for a TD.  CB Nate Clements pitched in with 7 tackles in this game.  The Seahawks finished up with 169 yards rushing on 34 carries (5.0 ypc) and they also completed 18 of 36 passes for 182 yards.  The 49ers are now 1-1 on the season.

The Seattle Seahawks swept the 49ers by a combined score of 47-3 last season.  But, the Niners have a new look this season especially on offense so this game should be a battle.  The Niners lost 4 fumbles and threw an interception last week and only lost by 10 points (23-13 to Arizona) so if they just can hold onto the football this will be a good football game tomorrow.  The 49ers would be smart to get the ball in Frank Gore’s hands (96 yards rushing, 55 yards receiving) as much as possible.  It will be up to linebackers Leroy Hill, Julian Peterson and  Lofa Tatupu to contain Gore and make the Niners pass the ball.  The Buffalo Bills were very effective throwing the ball against the Seahawks last week especially when throwing the ball to the TE so Vernon Davis could have a big game.

The Seahawks would like to run the football due to all of the injuries in the WR corps but that will be easier said than done as the Niners only allowed the Cardinals 2.9 yards per carry last week.  Julius Jones will likely have a huge workload for the Seahawks tomorrow due to an injury to Maurice Morris that will keep him out a couple of weeks.  The Seahawks must block well in the passing game to give Matt Hasselbeck a chance to succeed as he was sacked 5 times last week by the Bills.  Look for the Seahawks to throw the ball a lot to rookie TE John Carlson who caught 4 passes for 52 yards (13.0 avg) in his NFL debut last week.  WRs Courtney Taylor and Logan Payne must step up in the game tomorrow or the Seahawks could be in trouble.

PREDICTION:  SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 17, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 13

The 49ers have signed 38-year old veteran QB Jamie Martin to a 1-year contract.  Martin will serve as the #3 QB on the Niners and he has experience in Mike Martz’ offense in his days with the Rams.  Martin played in 3 games for the Saints last season but he didn’t even attempt a pass.  Martin has played in 53 games (8 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 355 of 541 passes (65.6%) for 3,814 yards with 20 TD passes and 21 interceptions (82.3 QB Rating).  He has also carried the football 44 times for 16 yards (0.4 ypc) in his career.  This was a solid signing for the Niners at this point in the season as Martin knows the Niners’ offense.

The 49ers have placed QB Alex Smith on the Injured Reserved List ending his season due to a fracture in his right shoulder.  The fact that Alex Smith couldn’t beat out J.T. O’Sullivan in training camp shows how far the former 1st pick in the NFL Draft has fallen.  Smith might be nearing the end in his career with the 49ers as they seem to already be looking in a different direction.  Smith has played in 32 games (30 starts) in his career with the Niners and he has completed 435 of 800 passes (54.4%) for 4,679 yards with 19 TD passes and 31 INTs (63.5 QB Rating).  He has also carried the football 87 times for 339 yards (3.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs in his career to date. 

The 49ers were incredibly sloppy on offense and it cost them this football game.  The Niners only had possession of the football for 22:55 in this game and it’s hard as hell to win that way.  J.T. O’Sullivan made his first start for the 49ers and it didn’t go too well as he completed 14 of 20 passes for 195 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 interception.  He also lost a fumble.  Frank Gore was effective in this game as he carried the ball 14 times for 96 yards (6.9 ypc) with a 41-yard TD run.  He also caught 4 passes for 55 yards (13.8 avg) to lead the way in the passing game for the Niners.  The 49ers finished up with 108 yards rushing on 20 carries (5.4 ypc) and they also completed 14 of 20 passes for 183 yards.

Considering how long the defense was on the field for the Niners, they didn’t play too bad.  Safety Michael Lewis (7 tackles) and DE Justin Smith (7 tackles, 1/2 sack) led the way on defense for the Niners in this game.  The Cardinals finished up with 109 yards rushing on 39 carries (2.8 ypc) and they also completed 19 of 30 passes for 176 yards.  This was a very bad start to the 2008 season for the Niners.