And onto the preview…

The Niners are a mess, word came out this week about Jimmy Raye having to frantically shuffle through papers looking for plays as the play clock ticks down, conjuring up images of a drunk Bob Uecker trying to find stats in Major League.  They've gone as far this week as to give Alex Smith plays on a wrist band. This type of act is normally saved for a College freshman, not a guy in his 6th year, needless to say the Alex Smith experiment has turned into a grease fire. 

Just to add insult to injury, the Niners could have drafted Aaron Rodgers–these are the things that keep me up at night.  Just in case there weren't enough chips stacked against them, Vernon Davis told the media that he "guarantees" that the Niners are the better team.  Like I said, grease fire.   

That being said, if the Niners are any type of a team and if Mike Singletary has any motivational tricks up his sleeve, or down his pants, the Niners will be ready to play their home opener on Monday night.  If they don't show heart here and if Mike Singletary is thanking Sean Payton for another wake up call, the season is over. 

The Saints, acting like professionals, have been quiet since they beat the Vikings on September 9th. In that first week against the Vikings, Brees and company looked good during the opening drive, but stalled after that. 

I say the Saints improve this week. Keep this in mind, they opened the season on Thursday night and are now playing the Monday night game, which is a long layoff for Sean Payton and company.  A lot of time to heal those initial bumps and bruises and more than enough time for Sean Payton to develop a devastating game plan. Grease fire.

Brees is one of the best in the game at picking apart a defense; the Niner's only have three healthy defensive backs and none of them were that good to begin with.  Look for solid games from the New Orleans passing attack, plenty of looks for Colston running those mid-length routes and Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem going deep.  I think Pierre Thomas will have a little tougher time though with the strength of that Niner team up the middle.  I'm looking at a very steady 250 yards and two TD’s out of Brees; Pierre gaining 75 yards and a TD; and Marques Colston is looking at seven receptions for 80 yards and a TD.

My gut says the Niners cannot be as bad as they were last week.  Whenever a good team is that bad, you bounce back right? Please? 

Vernon Davis looked good last week and I expect that to continue.  Expect a better game from Michael Crabtree, somewhere around 6 catches for 70 yards.

Also keep an eye on Josh Morgan, as Alex Smith went to him a lot last week, when he wasn't throwing it to the Seahawks. 

I think Gore plays more of a role this week, but I don’t see the historic game that I need to hit fantasy gold.  My hope is that the Niners were conservative last week, on the assumption that their game plan would be enough to beat the Seahawks and they wouldn't give anything away to the Saints.  Obviously they were wrong, but they'll be better this week.

One last thing to remember–last year's Niners played to the level of the competition, nearly beating Indy on the road, losing in the last minute to Minnesota, yet got waxed 27-7 in a must win game to the Seahawks.  If this trend continues, they keep this game a lot closer than last week’s results would indicate and maybe, they exercise their demons and pull off the upset. Who dat gonna beat the Saints? The Niners? Please?

Written exclusively by Chris Summers for www.thefantasyfix.com. Chris is an attorney, who lives and breathes sports in sunny California. Look for more of his great insight weekly.



Who are you picking as the big studs tonight?
Leave us a comment or reply to  us on Twitter @TheFantasyFix

Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Sports Blog, Fantasy Football Advice, Fantasy Football, Monday Night Football, NFL, Tips, Preview, San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints