What the 49ers' B-Team Must Do to Beat the Falcons

ATLANTA -- Nearly everyone expects the 49ers to win this Sunday, and they should, but not by much.

Sure, the Falcons aren't good, but they won't have to face the 49ers' full squad. Instead, Atlanta will face the B-team. The Niners currently are missing nine starters -- Trent Williams, Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, Azeez Al-Shaair, Emmanuel Moseley, Jimmie Ward, Elijah Mitchell, Trey Lance and Nick Bosa (assuming he won't play. He pulled his groin last week and is questionable for Sunday).

Combined, those players take up more than $53 million of the 49ers' cap space.

The 49ers defense is missing two starters in the secondary and three on the defensive line, and the offense has several question marks no matter who's healthy and available. So Kyle Shanahan will have to coach his best to win this game.

The Falcons will sell out to stop the 49ers running backs -- they'll try to put the game in Jimmy Garoppolo's hands, knowing he'll force passes over the middle because he doesn't throw deep well. If Shanahan calls lots of those passes, the Falcons probably will pick off one or two, and the 49ers could lose.

That's why Shanahan must bring back the "Jimmy Gimmies" this week. Those are the little tap passes from the shotgun to wide receivers running across the formation in jet motion. When was the last time Shanahan called one of those? He used to call them all the time for Garoppolo.

The 49ers have four wide receivers they can use on tap passes, speed sweeps, end arounds and reverses -- Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Ray-Ray McCloud and Danny Gray. Once Shanahan establishes these plays, he can fake the tap pass and use the jet motion of these receivers to widen the Falcons' defensive front and soften up the inside for the run game between the tackles.

If Shanahan does this, the 49ers B-team should win 20-16.