The San Francisco 49ers put on a clinic on how to run the football down an opponent's throat for 4 quarters yesterday in their 37-20 dismantling of the Green Bay Packers from Santa Clara, CA. QB Jimmy Garoppolo was basically only needed to turn and hand the ball off to Raheem Mostert, who rushed for a 49ers ' playoff record 220 yards in the game on 29 carries.
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He gashed Green Bay's porous rush defense all night long, piling up 160 yards by halftime. 108 of those yards came before contact, meaning he basically had wide-open fields of grass to run through for the first 30 minutes. It didn't get a whole lot better in the second half for the Packers' struggling D either. With Mostert piling up over 200 yards and 4 rushing scores, Jimmy G only needed to attempt 8 passes all game long. Yes, that's correct - San Francisco only attempted 8 passes the ENTIRE GAME - good for the third fewest in a playoff game during the Super Bowl era. (He finished 6/8 for 77 yards and was sacked once.)
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Deebo Samuel also made his presence felt in the game. He only touched the ball four times (2 receptions, 2 rushes), but turned them into 89 yards - for a whopping 22.3 yards per touch. He had a 32-yard run & a 30-yard reception to help spark the 49ers' extremely efficient offense.
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On the other side, it was a rough game for Aaron Rodgers, but he didn't get a whole lot of help outside of Devonte Adams. The Packers D was far worse, however, as they provided gaping holes for Mostert to run through all night long, helping to make the 49ers 3rd option at RB at the beginning of the season look like a prime Eric Dickerson.
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The biggest gaff by the Packers offense happened at around the midway point of the second half as Green Bay was mounting their first sustained drive of the game, and gaining chunks of yardage. They had went 50 yards in 6 plays and were facing a 2nd & 5 at the San Fran 25 yard line when there was a fumbled exchange between center Corey Linsley & Rodgers. San Fran's Deforest Buckner promptly recovered the fumble, and completely switched the momentum back in favor of the home side.
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The 49ers cruised down the field and added 3 more points to make it 20-0 with 1:57 to go in the half. A Rodgers' interception just 3 plays later allowed the 49ers to build on their lead and take a commanding 27-0 advantage into the lockeroom.
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Green Bay started the second half in much better fashion, going 75 yards in 11 plays to finally get on the board and make it 27-7. The 49ers answered back with a TD drive of their own, however, and extended the lead back out to 27 at 34-7. From there, Green Bay had their longest & really only portion of the game that they controlled, as Rodgers went 75 yards on 10 plays to make it 34-13 after a missed 2-pt attempt (there was really no point whatsoever to go for 2pt at that point).
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The Packers' D finally responded by forcing a 3 & out, and then Rodgers went back to work, this time leading a 7-play 92-yard drive, capping it with an 8-yard TD strike to TE Jace Sternberger. The lead was down to 34-20, and Green Bay had scored on three consecutive possessions. With just 8:13 left to play, the defense needed another quick stop to give Rodgers another chance to continue to chip away at the 49ers lead. A tough penalty that extended the drive, and a few plays later, San Francisco was able to get into field goal range and effectively end the game by making it a three possession game. Robbie Gould hit from 42-yards out to put it away & SF made it 37-20 with under 4 minutes to go.
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In the end, it was an incredible performance for RB Raheem Mostert & the 49ers offensive line as he piled up the second most rushing yards in a playoff game in NFL history, totaling 220 yards and 4 scores on the ground, while adding 2 catches for 6 yards. Tevin Coleman rushed for 21 yards as well before leaving the game with an arm injury as San Fran ran 42 rushing plays.
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Rodgers completed a high percentage of his passes, going 31-39, for 326 yards and 2 TDs with 2 INTs & a lost fumble. He was also sacked 3 times. Aaron Jones had a solid game with 56 yards and a TD on 12 carries, although the Packers would like to see that number closer to 18-20 +. He also had 5 catches for 27 yards and a score receiving. Devonte Adams led the way for the receivers, as he had another big game, hauling in 9 passes for 138 yards.
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It was all too little, too late though for Green Bay, who struggled on both sides of the ball in the first half, and ultimately dug themselves too large of a hole to work out of. Hats off to the 49ers for a superb effort as they are headed to Miami and a date in Super Bowl 54 with the Kansas City Chiefs.
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