Is Dre Greenlaw Still Running Around Levi’s? Your 49ers NFC Championship Preview

Created with Canvas AI image generator

Now that it’s Wednesday afternoon and my heart rate has finally subsided to its normal pizza and chicken wings resting rate, we can unpack some things about last weekend’s Niners’ game.

Dre Greenlaw single handedly put an entire region, let alone the city of San Francisco, into what can only be explained as pre-cardiac arrest. For those that don’t know – or maybe you were unwittingly walking down the street and found yourself ducking behind a bus shelter when the entire city in unison started screaming “get down!” – Dre Greenlaw picked off the game sealing Jordan Love pass with roughly 44 seconds to go. And, instead of just hitting the deck to seal the deal, he found himself wildly running around the field at Levi’s Stadium while teammates chased him urging him to go down. Why do you ask? One simple answer. “Fred [Warner] told me I had to get a pick six,” Greenlaw stated postgame. “So it’s kind of his fault. He told me I had to get one, so I was trying to get one every time I had the ball. But yeah, I know I need to go down.” Glad we’re on the same page my man.

Brock Purdy had one of those games. Made some throws and definitely missed some throws, some of which could have been costly interceptions. You could tell he was uncomfortable with the weather and the wetness of the ball. He was wiping his hands constantly and even attempted to wear a glove at one point causing him to have a completion percentage of 53% up until the final drive. Throw all that out of the window because he was nails when his teammates needed him the most, going 6 for 7 on the game winning drive. After a quick little 6 yard Christian McCaffrey touchdown and Dre Greenlaw’s on field version of a sideshow, the San Francisco 49ers are once again back within a game of the Super Bowl.

What can we expect?

Deebo Samuel suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter of the divisional round matchup. As we all know the 49ers’ offense tends to struggle without Deebo in the lineup, hence the 3 game losing streak earlier in the season. Look for him to play Sunday afternoon as all MRI’s came back negative and there is no way that dude is not going to play with everything on the line. The weather looks to be dry so we can toss the “Brock can’t play in the rain” narrative back over to the national media.

In comes the unthinkable, the Detroit Lions playing for a chance to make it to the Super Bowl. Before this year Detroit had won only one playoff game in the Super Bowl era, that was in 1991. If Aaron Jones and the Packers showed us anything, it is that the 49ers need the defensive line to step up and stop the run and get pressure on the quarterback.

Detroit brings in a highly competent backfield led by Jahmyr Gibbs who can pretty much do it all. The Bay Area is very familiar with QB Jared Goff from his time with the Rams, and his years chucking it and chugging it around Berkeley for Cal. He is having a no doubt fantastic year. The 49ers secondary will have their hands full with Amon-Ra St. Brown and rookie tight end Sam Laporta. The Detroit D is no slouch either but is prone to giving up big plays if you can keep Aidan Hutchinson out of the backfield and get Brock some time and McCaffrey some holes.

Bottom Line

The outcome of this game is going to weigh heavily on which 49er defensive line shows up.

Let’s go Faithful, Gold Blooded! Be on the lookout. I’ll be interviewing some artsy friends this week on their favorite go to big game spots and snacks in the neighborhoods they represent. Let’s go!