Last year the San Francisco 49ers were embarrassed by the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta. The Falcons beat them 45-10.
This year the 49ers, coming off three straight losses, will look to avenge that loss with a defense who has been struggling.
There was talk earlier in the week that there were changes to be made and those changes could include the benching of veteran linebacker Takeo Spikes and veteran safety Michael Lewis. Spikes has denied that is the truth but it is still not known about Lewis and whether he will play.
Right now, the 49ers defense ranks 31st in points allowed per game and 17th in total defense.
Greg Manusky, the defensive coordinator, met with the media today to discuss all things defense. He doesn't seem to be to worried about his defense not playing well.
"It's amazing, you play New Orleans, you do pretty good against them and everybody's saying its good. Then you go to Kansas City and you don't do well and everybody's saying you're crap. So, it's a long season, it's 16 games. You take them one at a time and that's what we're doing defensively. Hey, you're going to have some bumps in the road, yeah. Across the board we've got to get better coaching and playing. So, that's the mentality that we're taking, one at a time. Let's roll and let's go."
The entire press conference transcript is after the jump.
On whether the Chiefs did anything that surprised them:
"No, they ran the ball physically up and down the field. We knew they were going to do that, we just didn't stop it. We didn't do a good enough job across the board from coaching to players."
On the Chiefs running stretch plays and why the defense couldn't stop it:
"Initially in the first half, we did a pretty good job at least tempoing it and doing it. As the game wore on, I think we wore down a little bit and they gained some yards, especially on the outside. We needed to do a better job of setting the edge across the board from the outside linebackers and/or safeties or corners, or whoever's on the edge. And we didn't do that."
On some guys over-running their lanes and not being disciplined on defense:
"I'm not going to go into particular things. We didn't set the edge the way we wanted to set the edge and put it back into the inside linebackers. I'm not going through play-by-play, but we didn't do a good enough job coaching and playing."
On whether that is an outside LB responsibility to set the edge:
"Well, at different times it is and sometimes it's a corner or a safety, depending upon the defense we play."
On whether he will have to prepare for screens and draws in the future in Nickel situations:
"Yeah, for the most part. Across the board we had the third-and-20 and they picked it up, the first down. We missed some tackles. We didn't do the things that we normally do week-to-week and game-to-game. It was just one of those days. I can't really say much about it, but we didn't play to our capabilities. We didn't coach to those capabilities as well. We just didn't do a good enough job and it showed."
On how the defense will combat the Falcons' speed on turf:
"I'm not going into particulars about how we're going to combat it. We've got to play fast and we've got to play physical. One thing they did last year when they came up here is they played fast and they played physical. We didn't match the intensity. Kansas City was the same thing. We didn't match the intensity that they were doing. So, when you play defense you've got to be balls to the wall. Let's go."
On whether he has been disappointed with the inability to pressure the QB:
"I don't think so. I think we've gotten good pressure on the quarterback. We hit [New Orleans QB Drew Brees] Breesy a number of times. We hit [Kansas City QB Matt] Cassel, we had some balls that were up in the air, but we didn't get the sacks. We hit guys, but we didn't have a chance to get any sacks last week. And Breesy's always tough to get to, always has been. For the most part we're pleased with it, but can we get better? Yeah."
On stressing the 10:00 am start and if that is a factor:
"I think it's always a factor. When you go and play a team there at 10 o'clock in the morning your time, it's different. You're playing at 10 o'clock in the morning, which is different. Even when I was in San Diego and even when I was a player in Kansas City, it's different getting up at that time unless you're in that time zone."
On whether the body isn't as in-tuned at 10:00 a.m.:
"True. Just think how you feel if you go back east and you wake up and all of the sudden you're groggy. You've got to mentally prepare yourself to get yourself up and get ready to roll and go."
On how he would assess the play of CBs Shawntae Spencer and Nate Clements:
"Okay, you know what I'm saying? Can we improve? I think so, across the board, not just with them. I think Shawntae's playing well, I think Nate's playing well, but I think as a group, we've got to be more physical. We've got to strike people, separate from people, get people off of us in the running game and in the passing game, get our hands on guys and cover them up. That's what we've got to do across the board and players know that."
On whether he is satisfied with the defense:
"It's amazing, you play New Orleans, you do pretty good against them and everybody's saying its good. Then you go to Kansas City and you don't do well and everybody's saying you're crap. So, it's a long season, it's 16 games. You take them one at a time and that's what we're doing defensively. Hey, you're going to have some bumps in the road, yeah. Across the board we've got to get better coaching and playing. So, that's the mentality that we're taking, one at a time. Let's roll and let's go."
On whether he looks at last year's game film against the Falcons:
"Yeah, of course. Just based upon what they did to us, they look at it and what we did, same thing. Even if you played a team two years ago, it's the same offensive, defensive coordinator that you're playing. So, of course you're going to give and take of what you saw on the tape and across the board. So, yeah we're watching it. We know we didn't play well enough in that game. We didn't play well enough last week and that's the facts. Let's move on. Let's do well this week."
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