Another tough week upcoming for the 10-1 San Francisco 49ers as they try to contain perhaps the best running back in football, who’s also the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback.
After a dominating performance overAaron Rodgersand the Green Bay Packers last Sunday night, theSan Francisco 49ersnow travel to Baltimore to take on a frontrunner for MVP inLamar Jacksonand the 9-2 Baltimore Ravens.
Once again the 49ers proved to rise to the occasion with their thrashing victory over Green Bay in a game in which they dominated all facets and held the great Aaron Rodgers to just 104 passing yards and one touchdown.
Rodgers was also 1-for-15 on third-down conversions. And the fact that Green Bay actually won the time of possession battle 35 minutes to 24 minutes just goes to show how dominant this 49ers defense can be even against the best of the league’s quarterbacks.
They came up short againstRussell Wilsona few weeks ago, but they certainly made up for it here by crushing a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Rodgers.
Now for this week.
This is a very tough game for the 49ers. Lamar Jackson has only one loss in his career against teams he’s seeing for the first time.
We just saw him run up and down the field onBill Belichick‘s defensepick take apartDeshaun Watsonand the Texans, and completely demolish the Los Angeles Rams last week.
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The Ravens are a team on a nice little trajectory towards a potential Super Bowl appearance this season if they can continue to steamroll competition like they’ve been doing.
My problem here for the 49ers is the fact that Jackson is as good as he is this year. We’ve seen all year how this 49ers team can win in a multitude of ways on both sides of the ball. Even in their only loss to Seattle, they had opportunities to close out that game and secure the victory.
But for me, the Ravens are at home here and I don’t think anybody is slowing down Jackson anytime soon, especially on a first try as the Niners will be on this week against him.
The way to beat Jackson and the Ravens is to adjust to their offensive gameplan and knock them off in a second meeting. I just think the way Jackson is playing, it’s going to be very hard to make that kind of adjustment in only sixty minutes.
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But hey,Robert Salehis calling a phenomenal season as the 49ers defensive coordinator, and we saw how they completely took apart good teams like Green Bay, Carolina, and the Rams (awhile ago when the Rams were better).
If they can contain Jackson and make him beat them from the pocket with 30+ throws, they may very well be in business.
I’m going to say the Ravens win this game, but I still don’t want to completely fade the Niners being that I think even if they go down, they’ll go down swinging. So, I’ll say the Ravens win this game 31-28 and the 49ers cover the 5.5 point spread.
Yes, the Ravens are statistically the best offensive team in football, but a 5.5 point spread is a lot to bank on against a one-loss team like San Francisco.
I think Jackson does his usual damage, butKyle Shanahan‘s bunch will push them to the brink.
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