I’m mostly with you here, though I’m not sure what you mean when you say our offense is +13 in this game. We’re playing hot, so I’d say we’re getting closer to parity on that side of the ball, but the Niners scored 120 more points than we did in the regular season. To say our offense is superior on the road by nearly two touchdowns is a screaming hot take—though I’d love that to be true.
On defense, we’ve got our work cut out for us. I think Walker will be a key contributor, but it’s all hands on deck. I expect any weaknesses to be exploited, so look for the Niners to try and get Walker playing apprehensively, Nixon to be overly aggressive, and to get Ballentine one on one with any of their physical freak pass catchers. Jaire playing will be huge. But most of all, the front seven must have a clear win over the Niners o-line—they aren’t the absolute road-graders they used to be, and we need to more than hold our own in the trenches to take this one.
Carlson…I’ve just baked a miss into the cake every game. It is what it is at this point, so the mindset is you have to win by at least two.
Overall, I like the idea that if the offense gets into the mid-thirties, we have a really good shot, but then it’s down to the defense and special teams avoiding catastrophe.