By John DeShazier | Senior Writer - NewOrleansSaints.com
Possibly, we'll learn as much about the New Orleans Saints (6-2) in Sunday's game against San Francisco (4-5) in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as we learned about them in their last game, a 38-3 demolition of Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium.
How the Saints handled that success might determine how effective they will be against a banged-up 49ers team whose lineup is littered with stand-ins for starters.
It'll help that New Orleans hasn't forgotten that last season, San Francisco won a 48-46 thriller in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. It'll help more that the Saints, winners of five straight, are chasing another NFC South Division title and have the No. 1 overall seed for the playoffs in their sight.
Here are a few ways in which New Orleans can take another step toward reaching those goals:
1. THE EYES HAVE IT: The Saints are wary of what the 49ers can do as a run offense, and they should be. San Francisco's ability to deceive, to get defenders looking for one thing when it's running something else, has made it one of the best-run offenses in the NFL the last three seasons. The Niners average 119 yards per game this season, but don't forget the 153.5 per game they rolled up last year. New Orleans is coming off a phenomenal defensive performance (eight rushing yards allowed on five carries) and, as usual, making an opponent one-dimensional is the top priority. That's the charge for linebacker Demario Davis, safety Malcolm Jenkins and the rest of the crew. New Orleans has to stay disciplined, make the right reads, and stuff the run. It allows 80.4 rushing yards per game, second-fewest in the league, so it knows what to do.
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