Gus Kattengell’s Saints Report

It is a battle of 13 win teams Saturday as the Saints take on the 49ers in San Francisco.

At Saints camp this week, the Black and Gold were quick to point out that they respect the 49ers, especially their defense. San Fran is tops in the NFL in stopping the run and tops in the NFL in takeaways.

Head coach Sean Payton with the 411 on the Niners...

Quarterback Drew Brees like his head coach expressed concern about the 3-4 defense he will face this weekend...

That all said, Brees feels the last thing the Saints should do is, you know go all Les Miles and just say hey they're so good at getting turnovers and stopping the run we shouldn't try...

The Saints have run the ball well this season, that said, the 49ers didn't allow their first rushing touchdown of the SEASON until game 16. Saints guard Carl Nicks feels the Saints do need to still try and run the ball, but must do it smartly...

On the defensive side of the ball, the game plan for the Saints defense is pretty simple, stop Frank Gore and limit TE Vernon Davis. Gore rushed for 1211 yards this season to go with 8 TDs. Davis had 792 yards on 67 receptions and had 6 TDs.

Saints LB Jo-Lunn Dunbar on each player. First on Gore.

And now on Davis...

Saints safety Roman Harper says it's obvious thought that making the 49ers one dimensional by taking away the run will be key.

I get the 49ers defense is good, good at taking away the ball as well. The Saints offense though is good at scoring, 42 points essentially a game at home, while on the road it drops to about 27 points. Its still 27 points. San Francisco benefits from shorts fields thanks to those turnover, but only manage field goals. They will need touchdowns I think to beat the Saints. The Saints defense against the run havnen't done a bad job, running backs like Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson didn't rush for over 100 yards against them this season.

I feel the Saints if they don't get all turnover prone, can win this game and win it easily. I'm thinking 34-20.