Niners Nation
A lot has happened since the Seattle game last Sunday. There aren’t many news cycles where the annual Apple event, releasing brand-new iPhones and AirPods, fades to the background of what people are talking about. Don’t let that distract you from the fact that the week Apple announced their new products… we Niners fans are all forced to switch to Mac.
If this were later in the season, before the Texans or Rams game, I’d be more concerned. Thankfully, Mac Jones will be starting against the Saints.
The Saints are not as terrible as they seem on paper, but their defense is not close to as good as the Seahawks’. Cam Jordan is no slouch off the edge, and the linebackers have improved, but they just lost star safety Julian Blackmon to injured reserve. Kool-Aid-McKinstry gave up a 155 passing rating whenever he covered Marvin Harrison Jr. Ricky Pearsall should handle him just fine, especially after what he did to Tariq Woolen. The Saints’ run defense was exploited by James Conner and Trey Benson, who ran all over them. This performance is promising for Christian McCaffrey and Brian Robinson Jr., who had previously torched a much better run defense in Seattle.
With all this support from his receivers and running backs, Mac will be coming with AppleCare. The Genius Bar will scheme him some open passes and big runs with a Mac-hiavellian game plan. Jones just needs to handle the edge pressure. But ultimately, I think the offense will be fine, as long as they’re not in any tight spots and aren’t relied upon to win the game.
The main way to guarantee that is if the defense steps up to make it easy for the offense. I wrote in my season preview that in order to beat Seattle, the defense had to be competent AND disruptive. I also wrote that a win would be a proof-of-concept for Robert Saleh that he has a defense that can carry the team on its back, at least against subpar OL/QB combos.
Despite having a weaker opposing defense, this applies even moreso to the Saints game now that Brock Purdy is out. It’s still very winnable with Mac Jones, but we can’t bank on the offense popping off like it could if they had Brock Purdy (and George Kittle, for that matter). The Seattle game showed that the capability to play at a high-enough level is there… the only question is the sustainability.
The Saints’ offense hung in there against Arizona, and they were a 14.9% chance of a catch away from taking the Cardinals to overtime. If Juwan Johnson pulled a Jake Tonges did and held on to the ball, the story would be much brighter on Spencer Rattler. He took them down the field in a two-minute drill when the stakes were the highest. I don’t care who you are; if you can do that, then you’re a quarterback worth respecting at least slightly.
He has a weapon in Chris Olave,...
