49ers vs. Bills key matchup: Niner offensive line faces off against Bills pass rush

On Sunday, the Niners will host the Buffalo Bills at Candlestick Park. In Week 4 the Bills were up big on New England before collapsing in the second half and losing by 24 points. Conversely, the Niners went into the New Meadowlands and demolished the Jets by a score of 34-0. On the outside, this would appear to be a mismatch of gargantuan proportions. However, the Niners know better that this is a classic trap game, as they have already lost one earlier this season to Minnesota.

The Niners lost to the Vikings for two reasons: Christian Ponder played exceptionally well, and the Vikings defensive line was ferocious and totally shut down the Niners' prized running game. Ryan Fitzpatrick is very capable of having a stellar game, as he threw for 350 yards and four touchdowns against the Patriots. However, the Bills allowed New England to rush for 247 yards on the day, which is something the Patriots are not typically wont to do. If the Bills cannot shut down a normally feeble Patriot rushing attack, how can they hope to stop the Niners and Frank Gore who, as the saying goes, do that for a living?

The bottom line is, the Bills have an excellent defensive line including stalwart defensive ends Mario Williams and Mark Anderson, and talented young tackles in Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams. They likely let the Patriots rush for so many yards mostly because they were not expecting that manner of attack and could not make adjustments quickly enough to stop it. However, they most certainly will be expecting San Francisco to run the ball and they will be ready.

It will be up to the big boys up front- Joe Staley, Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati- to slow down the Bills. If the Niners can impose their will and run the ball down the proverbial throat of the defense, they have a good chance of doing to the Bills what they did to the Jets last week.