The 49ers D line is good, but the Chiefs will score on them all the same. The biggest concern is the ability of our defense to slow down their running attack without leaving themselves vulnerable to getting burned by play action.

I really wish people would read this shit 20 times. No defense is out there shutting other teams out completely. But you get into the game thread and people act like the defense from last year is out there.

The 49ers are going to score points. It’s going to ****ing happen. If you’re going to bleed out of your vagina because of it....then do that shit now and keep it out of the game thread.

Looking at you, Showtime.

Other than Mahomes is discussing that Kobe meant a lot to him and frankly...I still maintain if there are fishy calls in this game they go our way, the NFL has a star making opportunity here with a young player that says all the right things.

The thing is Dean Pees has an insanely long track record of having really good defenses and coming up with great gameplans, what he said and did speaks volumes to his respect for Mahomes.

Wouldn’t surprise me. The Narrative so far has been all about the Great QB vs the Great Team...almost like they’re giving Mahomes an excuse if the Chiefs lose and anointing him a hero if the Chiefs win.

It’s either:

Mahomes didn’t have the supporting cast to win. He still has several more opportunities.

Or

Holy shit. Even with the worse supporting cast, Mahomes took the Super Bowl over and won it. He’s only just getting started too.

Re-watching some of the Colts game still has me a tick nervous.

Beating a zone is really easy when someone makes a mistake and often teams will. But man, if you have smart, responsible zone defenders and 4 linemen that can get there in under 3 seconds, those zones (especially the Cover 3s, IMO) can be awfully damn difficult to deal with.

And for all the talk about Mahomes legs of late - zone coverages kinda take those out of the equation as well. Mahomes is a smart runner but he's not a dynamic one - he's not gonna go creating yards against dudes that are facing him.

Saleh could hit all the right notes. That's the weird thing I've noticed about zone defenses over the years - they're oddly rhythm based. For whatever reason, they either seem to work really damn well or just completely fall apart. Either the DC has found the right keys in his game-planning and his guys are seeing them well, or it's swiss cheese.

If the 49ers zone comes out early and holds strong, that's the kind of snowball that can oftentimes turn into an avalanche.

The 49ers running game will get yards, but as long as it's nothing insane, it should be okay on its own. The only aspect of the 49ers offense that really concerns me is their PA game. They're basically a better version of the Titans with better WRs, a great TE, and a good stable of RBs, though none as good as Henry.

Luckily, the Titans should be a good tune-up for this.

The Colts played like 80% man that game IIRC. And that was without Hill and Watkins...

I'm a little less worried because they have 1 good CB and you can dictate his matchup so that is an advantage.

That game is irrelevant.

No Tyreek, no Sammy, no Fisher, No Wiz at LG. Pat’s ankle was hurt.

The Titans tried playing zone against Pat and he destroyed them. Even with a quality rush, Pat is buying time to extend plays to 4-5 seconds. He constantly gives himself more time to see the holes and let guys move to get open.

Pat is too talented and smart. He knows who is going to have the favorable matchup pre-snap. If that’s taken away, he’ll buy time.

Yeah, but can they do it all game, against Mahomes?

Even if they come out early and hold strong, 15 is pretty good at finding a way.

It'll take longer than 2 years to shake the influence of Martyball in this town.

Too many people cut their teeth on 13-7 games and the idea that any points scored were borderline disastrous. And if the defense gives up 17 and we lose, it's somehow the defenses fault.

If the Chiefs score fewer than 24 points with these weapons and these rules, I don't care if the defense gave up 24 to yield the L - that loss is the offenses fault. This team is backwards from everything we grew up on. The offense will dictate what the opposing offense can do just as much as our defense can. And ultimately it takes a few drives for the offense to impose that kind of pressure AND they have to actually execute to do it.

Defense these days should be measured in punts and turnovers. Hell, with his offense you see a FG as a win. Yards and first downs just don't matter a whole hell of a lot over 60 minutes. Keep making them work, hold them out of the end-zone by hook or by crook and sooner or later the pressure exerted by the offense can/should force them out of their comfort zone.

I understand the folks that don't like it, but it's the way the NFL works these days and the Chiefs are largely at the front of it. It's a nice place to be for once...

:clap::clap::clap:

Your analysis the last couple of days has been 100% spot on, brother.

No Sammy and Tyreek was big. Even bigger was Mahomes’ ankle problem that happened in the 2nd quarter. They were moving the ball and scoring before that.

The NFL isn't in business for games to be 13-7, that shit is bad for ratings.