SANTA CLARA — The 49ers defense has played solid all season except for one game: an Oct. 19 blowout loss to the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning.Can Manning's brother Eli use that game film as a blueprint to lead the reeling New York Giants past the visiting 49ers on Sunday?"If you can run the ball decently and have good pass protection, that's always helpful in being successful against any defense," Eli Manning said Wednesday on a conference call with Bay Area media. "(The Broncos) protected well. They ran the ball decently. And they were able to hit big plays in the passing game because the protection was solid."That's always a pretty good blueprint to have. It's just a matter of if you can execute it."The Giants (3-6) have lost four straight, so execution has been a problem throughout their skid.The Giants, however, have won five of the past six meetings against the 49ers since 2005, including the 2011 season's NFC Championship game en route to a Super Bowl triumph. Manning sees different personnel but a similar scheme to those 49ers defenses of past years."Yeah you see some different players. They've had some injuries, especially at the inside-linebacker position with (NaVorro) Bowman and Patrick (Willis) playing at such a high level the past couple years," Manning said. "Guys seem to be playing well and still making plays and being efficient on defense."It's a lot of the same scheme I've seen over the past years. I don't think it's maybe changed a whole lot. They might change a few things."One familiar aspect is expected to return to the 49ers defense in Aldon Smith, who's coming off a nine-game suspension. Manning said the Giants are anticipating they will face him."I don't think it changes our gameplan," said Manning, who then added: "If he's in there and playing well, it obviously changes some of your protections to get help on that side, if need be."Manning's older brother did not get sacked in the Broncos' 42-17 rout of an Aldon Smith-less defense."Yeah, they played well," Eli Manning said of the Broncos. "They had a good gameplan. They ran the ball pretty well. They were able to hit some big plays in the passing game. They hit some screens, hit a little fake screen. He made some nice throws. Hopefully we can go out there and be somewhat as efficient."* * *Here are Giants coach Tom Coughlin's thoughts on various aspects of the 49ers, whom he expects to deploy Aldon Smith in third-down packages in the linebacker's season debut:On the 49ers offense: "I see a team that starts out and declares they're going to run it. They've done an outsdtanding job doing that. They're 10th in the league in run. They have all the play-action passes and empty sets. You can't be lured to sleep, because they've got speed on the outside, they can go up and get the ball. They play various combinations of athletes for specific purposes. They have a good solid tough two-prong running attack. Gore is an outstanding player and has been for many years. Hyde comes in and gives them a another change of pace."On Colin Kaepernick: "What you see is a young man who has a very strong arm and certainly has the ability to the run the football. But the play he made the other day to get them into overtime with the transcontential throw and the scramble, etc., he certainly has the ability to do that. He can stand in the pocket. He's big and tall with a real strong arm. He throws the out touch probably as good as any call he throws. He can also run the football."On what he expects to see from Aldon Smith: "We know he's been in the building and conditioning. I would expect he's a player that's been in the meetings and conditioned himself very well. They're just not going to throw him out there in his first game back. I would imagine he'd have an 'X' amount of plays and may very well be in there as part of their third-down package."On dealing with job-safety scrutiny, and how it relates to Jim Harbaugh's: "I'm not sure I'm in a position I want to speak to that. There are plenty other topics. Jim Harbaugh is a heck of a football coach. He's coaching his team as hard as he can and his team got a heck of an overtime win the other day." For more on the 49ers, see Cam Inman's Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CamInman.