3 ways 49ers ensure Falcons don’t upset them in Week 15
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: 49ers must capitalize in the red zone
Strength versus weakness here. And it fully benefits San Francisco.
Sure, it’s a bit of a cliché to suggest red-zone success will help. No team aims solely to get within an opponent’s 25-yard line to merely kick field goals.
Yet there are contexts where red-zone success matters a lot more than others, and Week 15 versus the Falcons is a primary example of why the 49ers have to be fully successful here and not frequently settle for three-point tries.
Atlanta enters the week with the NFL’s fifth-worst red-zone defense, surrendering a touchdown in this spot 68.75 percent of the time. This probably helps explain why the Falcons are also owners of the league’s 28th scoring defense despite being just a mere game below the .500 mark and still within reach of a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.
Read More: 49ers must be concerned about second-half offense
Fortunately, this isn’t a case where the Niners have to rectify red-zone woes. Already this season, Kyle Shanahan’s offense is scoring touchdowns in the red zone a whopping 72.97 percent of the time, which still ranks best in the NFL in a spot where San Francisco has stayed for a while.
Any threat mustered by Matt Ryan, Cordarrelle Patterson or Kyle Pitts can be almost fully negated merely by the 49ers executing properly and finding pay dirt in the end zone.