chance, you have to close the deal.e1 this is play-off football. you can'ti] give a potent offen second chances. that's what the detroit lions did, and that's what killed them. >>y1 another thing they sit bac in that zone coverage againstfá this team. >> yeah, yeah. >> you can't do that. you got to bea5 able to mix it with the man-to-man coverage. and i think if the 49ers cançóào that, their pass rushers will opportunityçó to get some balls. >> romo, you are bigok on diali it up. do you dial it up against drew hr(t&háhpú3 >> youñi have to be careful, because you can't dialñr it up o much, because he'll dial it upx against you. but you have 3'y be careful because you have to mix it up. >> let's look at the 49erq offense, they gave up 28 points lions. how do you attack the saints? >> they are not strongmy?hpt(r' the run, alex smith won't get the rush. 00phat's one thing the offensiv line of the'y9s is built to

do, to run the ball, they are not a big pass protection type of team, but on theñi edges attk holes in the secondary, they'li be able to run the offense, the slant, the dump passes that the detroit passesfát(xd were getti >> and then they got to make sure that they don't get in a position where they have to pay catch-up football. you know as well as i do, the 49ers are not a catch-up football team. >> reme=b1i the first time the played, the preseason, greg williams. >> it was the preseason.çó >> defensiveñiqçóq coordinator e sai saints, he was dialing itq up. >> it's preseason, don't look at any of that film. you're saying don't worry aboutq that. >> no, don't worry about lxit(t. >> we'll continue. by the numbers the saintsvp sco more than the 49ers but the defense they -- they've got their situation that they've got toq take care of. so let's bring inq right now --i tell you what, let's go back to new orleans right now and hear from jim schwartz, the lions' head coach, go ahead.

[ inaudible ] çó >> if you had a chance to put them on their back? >>e advantage of turnovers, after the turnovers. it wasn'tw3 like we were gettin them at the plus 20 yard line. that game had everything to do with missed opportunities on defense.t(c )()jw3 that all take pointsfá off the board, two failed fourth downs. i mean, when you face a team like that, you have to be able to take advantage of thoset( opportunities. you got to be able to get off  on the third downs and the fourth downs. we wereñii] awfulfb on third an fourth down. we dropped chances to make interceptions. nothing to doq with capitalizin on turnovers, i mean,o7oe1 that wasn't it. i mean, the onefá turnover it would have been nice to have capitalized odi was the sack forced fumblefá that should hav other time in this league they letlp that play goi] and they d blow the whistle.

we were a victim of that last week with them continuing plays and for some reason in this game theyñiñi decided to blow the whe seven points in this. i think that's -- those kind of missed opportunities are more the -- where this game went, not on offense.xd >> you don't necessarilyñi lookt thiss7 as a great offense and great quarterback doing what specifically think you didn't do? do? )yrñ is itxd quarterback or >> i'llqñr repeatñi it. we missed opportunities to makeñ interceptions. we failed on third and fourth downs.çóñr too. >> jim schwartz makingjf friend everywhere helpq goes. by the numbers that the saints areñi scoring more than the m y niners, but the defenseq has an

overwhelming advantage and they ave the home field crowd at cand>e.tick park. let's take a look at what's going on for the 49ers now fromp csnbayarea.com. matt, what's happening at 49ers headquarters? what areçót( the coaches ñidoin? >> they're probably eating pizza and doing a lot of game planning. jim harbaugh said that his staff and as soon as it's over, as soon as they know who they're playing, they would get to work. now, they did a lot of work on kicks into high gear. >> all right. we saw what that offense can do for new orleans. is this san fjv%m defense going to be the thing that has to push the 49ers to the victory? it done in this game? >> it's always been up to the defense, and so they have to be able to limit what the saints you know, people askñi can the 49ers score with the saints or score with the packers. well, if they ever get into that position where they have to, it's over, because the 49ers are a defensive orientedxd team.

what the offense does great, they avoid the turnovers. >> now you turn it around and look at the questiont( about offense, and every time, matt, you've been addressing it all season longxú(o we might as wel jfu smith, what does he have to do to make this 49ers teamxd mo+x potent once you get to the play-offs? >> i don't think they haveñi to change anything. what alex smit[w did so well i the regular season4' better tha any quarterback in the league wasçó that he didn't give theçól away. five interceptions, two lost fumbles, the 49ers tied an nfl record for fewest ñiturnovers ia seaslñé if they can continue to do that, the 49ers can march çóon, becau so much about the nfl play-offs isn't the quarterback who wins the game, it's the quarterback who loses the game.ñiok >> great teams are playing their best football at the end of the regular season going into the play-offs. play-offs. $m his 49ers are playing their best football of the season?e1 >> i believe he does.okñi and that's certainly what he'si telling them because he's a man

who tries to get his players in the right#uát of mind. he wants themçó to believe that they can beat the saints, a team that's won nine games in a row and theçó 49ers had thejf saint candlestick park, they fought hard for the number two seed and now they have to take advantage of it. >> all right, matt, ñiñit( !bqjái insider,c moreçó from you later on. comcastq sports net is the home of thejf 49er, it gives you 49ers play-off coverage on sports central and then again on "chronicle live" every night and every evening on e1nbc bay area news, special reportse1 on the 49ers.4:#r(t&háhp &hc the saints are ready to march into the bay,jf loaded an eager for action. how the niners will combat a >> the stakes getxd bigger. it's still the same game. you don't need tofá do anything different. >> a recipe for successc playin out on the biggest ofñr stages.

ì& is thexd only way the 49ers can advance.t( ♪ first you take the jumbo jack, then you add two tacos. ♪ ♪ waddya get? jumbaco! ♪ jumbaco! ♪ jumbaco! jumbaco! jumba-jum- jack, i don't know why you keep pushing the jumbaco. research shows normal people like the jumbo deal. your classic jumbo jack made with 100% beef, two tacos, fries and a drink for just $4.29. it's all their favorites in one meal. they killed my jumbaco idea? i tried.

delanie walker, money! ♪+ >> who gets hott(t( sums it up. >> no way!c >> so, the 49ers they host the at candlestick. remember when those two teams played to begin the preseason? i know eri says don't even think about it, butok 49er quarterbacks were sacked six times. smith just 2 for 7 for 10 totald yards. niners lost that game 24-3, but, oh, how times have changed and

utt)háhe 13-3 49ers had the bye week and theyú.iñ it to prepare for the home play-off game when the saints were getting just a little bit more of that special attention. >> it's all downhill now. you get one shot pretty much.fá you lose, you go home. that's what it is. everyone knowsçó that around he. so, we really havelp toi]lp zon and get ready for this run. >> this is a team that understands the opportunity we have in front of us, you know, and, you know, and we need to take advantage of these opportunities. i think becauseñr of that, don' come around, you know, allc tha this time to rest, like i said, and get better. >> everybody is very focused on what they have to do.e1 i think, you know, attention at i thinkxd everybodyt( knows wha at stake. excited for th opportunity and are ready to get going. >> what does history tell usi] first-round bye, well, since

1981 things have gonexd prettyçñ they've hadok 13 first-round by, ten times they've gone to the championshipxd game, five times they've won super bowle1 titles teams since 1990 have had the first-round bye for and for more dñjz the niners chances let's g it over tojf eric and matt. well, whether ñ 49ers win this game or lose the game will be based on the way the defense plays and i think stopping that running game's got to be a very, very important part of that. >> when you look at the last two were up against marchand lynch and steven jackson. jejtc backs are more in their wheel house, willis, guys that can run to the thomas and darren sproles. >> exactly. after watching this game, you de. you touched on the fact that bowman,

ék#pbeat those guys up and take them in that passing game, screen game and not let the them get out.passing game, how important will that be? >> içó think patrick willis has you know, he's going to have to be a surew3 tackler. he's coming back from the injury. i think it was good for him to knock the rust off against the patrick willis before he got injurodñ a lot of times locked á on the tight end. he was able to take good tight ends out of thefá game. that will be key for him to play that kind of game against jimmie >> i'm interested in what the secondary does versus this team. today, the detroit lions had game down the field to be able to get some interceptions. the 49ers have been coming up with tha"! you got a coupleçó of pro bmwim in that secondary that's%/g goi to be big for them tooh$1 that way. >> yeah, you look-u what they've done with the 49ers t( defense, heçó doesn't blitz ver much. he lets the guy in the back play coverage and the guys in the back have taken advantage of

those opportunities and they've come up with a lot of picks. guys like carlos rogers and deshawnxd qlpgholston, when the he ball, they'rexd able to make the plays. the keys toúmí will be if the 49ers can get pass rush, on brees, with four men and not have to send extraq guyst1o)out sort of hurt the integrityz] of their pass coverage. >> on the offnáive side of the. no tricks, don't try to do anything better. let thexd offense do what it's done, run the ball with frank gore, get it in the end zone when you get your chances. you?rf25"yrabsolutely. i think when you look at the 49ers offense, what havet(f tx7y done well? football. they haven't always turned those opportunities into seven points. they've relied ai]e1 lot ouá da akers, that will be key. you know, we've talked about it before, it's sort of been omu r those themes the whole season, red zone and third downs, that's where the 49ers offense really has to keep the chains48ñsju)jt and really put itt( to the -- t thee1 saints and take better advantage ofñr the saints'

mistakes than the lions did today. >> you do hang aroundi] there a lot. youlp sound like a little coordinator. back to you, jim. >> matt and eric, thanks very much.xd uromo, there was chase in the afc. let's take a look at what was going on with the bengals and the houston texans going at qitd the afc wild card xdgame. theok bengals and texans this w the first play-off game in nflf history where two rookie p (t&háhp &hc& played against añr rookie quarterback in the play-offs? >> absolutely. a pretty even game up until the first half. pretty boring, running the ball, a little bit of play-action 7m9ñ so, pretty boring football game until, you know, right before @dd they get this interception.q j.j. watt, and he takesvp:#ñ in for a touchdown. that pretty much was the / the play tha(> so, saints score late third quarter and t.j. yates looking for andre johnson wide open in the corner and a ñi40-yard

touchdown makes it 24-10, i tell you withçó yates you can't leava receiver like johnson that open. >> a double move against pacman jones was unbelievable.w3 and foster was superb in this football game.i] was unstoppable. they didn't have an answer. they couldn't tackle him. they couldn't get him jfdown. >> yqñ the texansxd get the win 31-10. they'll visit baltimore next sunday and the texans with the 31-10e1 victory, xdi]well, how "q turn, you're right, romo, and the defensive touchdown before the half, foster for 153e1e1 yards and 2 scores, thexd katy, texas, natió dalton's return not that good, he had three picks. and the texans heading to ñy cfo baltimore. >> it took me a while to get the jitters out. you know, thefá way that this stadium was rocking even during pregame, it felt like an end-game situation lpso, you kn, it was harzd not to get some butterflies out there. but once i got a chancee1 to ca down a little bit and work through the offense, started moving the ball a little bit, you know, i felt really comfortable.

>> so, what's next for t.j.lp ya,e; the texans? how about john harbaugh and the smothering baltimore ravens defense, the ravens a perfect 8-0 at home this season butxd t numbers with these two teams are close and give houston the advantage when it comes to those all-important takeaways.lp the raiders taking steps to joinw3 the play-off party, soon well, maybe rather than later. will be part ofztbe silver and black attack for the foreseeable future. sweetheart. we need to talk.

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i would hope that the organization understands that i where we where we to. be where i'm sitting.g so, at the end of the day, i think i have a pretty good idea now that i've been throughñi th for a year, that i've done it, be it coaching, be it all kind

of sort of different hats andxd duties dealing with you all and everybody, iñ@uhink i know exactly what this team needs to do and how they need to do it. >> that was raiders coach hue jackson on monday following a disappointing 8-8ymç$season. this week the raidersñi hired reggie mckenzie to be their new jackson's s/h could be inq jeopardy.xd butçó reggie mckenzie is keepin huej and for the entire inside story go to csnbayarea.com. welcome in to "xfinity sports sunday" eric and romo remain, reggie mckenzie in charge. uáu heard hiád comments, what's tf%ui]tájáv like between the two? >> he's been the guyi] guiding e ship since mr. davis died and he didn't want to give that up, but i think he's going to be better served by not doing that. he'll be a better coach.

whenever it's the off-the-field issue[;buz administrativew3 issues, the team wasn't prepared. i think he'lló2cexdw3 better se the coach. >> we realize this day and age to be general manager and coach is too hard. >> it'seozi]xdq oxymoron. >> yeah, you / to have thee1 help. >> you start to look at what reggie mckenzie will have to work on and that's really the defense. romo, i'll start with you, you watched them nz season long. where do you begin to fix the team? >> you need more talent, to me, that came out ofq player percen nall, somehow, some way, through free agen@ix they've got to fid some more talent for this defense. >> all right, so the raiders will look forward to the off-#]=9uz try toe1 get better, but there's more to come when it comes to the play-offs and we've got it for you. staying in the afc west and looking ahead to tomorrow's action, tim tebow »!"át broncos will take on the pittsburgh steelers at mile high, where despite three straight losses to finish the season, all eyes will be on thec

teammates, but i know there's a lot of guys that had to change kind of their offensive schemes and howo7o they run and the thi they did off the run and they probably don't get the pop that he does, but it kind ofht gtlu along with the quarterback position. >> it will be a toughfá challen for us, it's not about just, you and for us, you know, wuk know they'ret(8ñxdñp good with time of possession, so we have to maximizóm the opportunities we have when we3w an score touchdowns and that'sl@(t& something that we haven't done of late.i] >> hey, that's not tim tebow doing that. .spáerial. oh, where's the u% gone? in tebow's first eight startsñie was a world beater, 7-1, and five fourth-quarter comebacks for wins but the last for tebow and they squeaked in with an 8-8t( record. 48t's go to the experts. shall we start with romo?

kl"we had all the e1nonbeliever start turning and thenjf as soo ast( they lose three cgames, it like, theyok turnedjf real quic. >> at no point was he a world beater. >> he wonw3 games but his game right now i think he has more éo pressure, this guy has more has had on him this weekend because he's playing for his starting job. if he stinks it up tomorrow, i ;"r'k he'll be a starter next year. this is his opportunity to show a team that i might not be pretty butxd iw3 can win a play game. he loses this one, i don't think he'll even stasú again. >> do you know the trouble i have is i don't know if -- they don't have any5a talent on tha team other than mcgahee.fá decker is really the only receiver they have. so, i'm, like, how canx1 you ev think that this young quarterback can do it. >> they don't have talent at quarterback either. >>xdq remi/ me of the story abt a guy standing in aokñi boat ane wavest( start to churn and chur

and people started to jumplp of the boat and swim awayt( and he ust relax andxd everything will be calm and it didn't work. bandwagon. >> i'm not jumping off. >> would you want him to be your quarterback? enough said. >> yeah, i know. >> i'll take him. >> you'll take him? >> i'll take him. >> he wins games. >> you win the game. >> he wins games. >> and that's the bottom line, he's a winner. it's go time now, play-offs are a different story. >> so we'll see if he'sçó a winner. that's what i'm saying, he'ss7 u career right now. >lll right, there you have it from the experts everybody. two teamsok i]down, nine more t, who will be leftçó standing in e ultimate tournament?cá' cf1 o hc sunday."q ring, ring.

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net it's the home of t the 49ers, 49ersñi play-off you'll get it on sports net central and all wíuh on chronicle live and then you get

the nightly reports on nbc bay area news. ñ continue on "xfinity sports sunday," a special saturday night edition. matt rejoins the party. bill and eric are here as well. how about this on ñisportsbet.c because i have it as an app on my phone, right now the 49ers are a three-point underdog at home.çó matt, you go first, does that surprise you? >> no, it qdoesn't.ñr because i thinkh(ve perception is that the saints are the hottest team in football and i think a lot of people still believe the 49ers werec doing i with mirrors, so, no, it doesn't surprise me at all. >> all right. let's get to our super bowl predictions, i bring you experts, they bring you predictions, and, romo, i want to open with you, asw3 you lookt all the teamsxd who is playing e best football, who is playing the bestq football? >> clearly, it will be new orleans/new england. pretty simple for me. >> yeah. >> anyone else out there evenjf close. >> green bay is very close. >> hold it. oh, i thought it was who is the

game. >> in today's game? >> you'd have been t(right. yout( picked winners today. >> the backt( story is i pick t saints and the texanslp before e season started to be in the super bowl, so why change now. >> ie1 don't know if we're prou of eric or ashamed of eric. flames of the home fan. >> the beginning of thelp seaso1 preseason i picked green bay/pittsburgh, there's no way i'm picking green bay now. no, it's the niners and new england, that's  i'm going to pick. call me what youi] want to ca e ìáh& football? >> new orleans. >> go ahead. "á(qáu football. but i don't think the packers are going to win this. packers are 15-1, i." don't th season. >> new orleans playing theq bes football offensively. >> all right. >>t( ninersko playing the best defense. is next, but this wasc e1fun.

this was fun, bill, matt, eric, and back tonightçó rememberxd charles barkley on "saturday night live" tonight. did you see the promos?

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