NFL playoffs: Four things to watch for in Lions-49ers in NFC Championship Game

1) Deebo is set to play after Divisional Round injury. Deebo Samuel (shoulder) left last week's Divisional Round win over the Packers after only 10 snaps, unable to continue after briefly reentering last week's game. His status was up in the air for much of this week, but on Friday he was able to fully participate in practice and removed the injury report heading into the weekend. He's one-quarter of the 49ers' four horsemen with Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk. With the four of them on the field, the offense has averaged 7.3 yards per play with a 52.6% success rate, per Next Gen Stats. Without Samuel, they're at 6.9 and 45.4%, respectively. To put it another way, after Samuel got hurt nine plays into the Browns game in Week 6 and missed the next two, the Niners lost all three games. It wasn't until Samuel returned that the Niners ripped off six wins in a row. The Lions have had some issues tackling in space this season, so Samuel's availability is a particularly huge boon from a YAC standpoint. On the flip side, the Lions have defended the run and screen passes -- that's McCaffrey's music -- very well this season. Detroit's secondary showed its vulnerability against the Rams and Buccaneers, and it might have been more trouble against the Bucs had Mike Evans not dropped at least two big passes last week. The 49ers now know they'll have all the weaponry possible at their disposal for this game, which should make them more comfortable against Aaron Glenn's defense. This unit has had some struggles against higher-powered offenses but might be more confident stacking the box against CMC on early downs and playing more two-deep-safety looks in passing situations to guard against Aiyuk, Kittle and Samuel.

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