The San Francisco 49ers offense has cruised through three weeks, scoring 30 points in each of their first three contests, despite still having plenty of room for improvement.
As a result, the 49ers have the NFL's third-best scoring offense through three weeks, trailing just the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins, the latter having taken the league by storm with a 70-point performance last weekend.
The Dolphins have been one of the most explosive offenses since hiring head coach Mike McDaniel, a disciple of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, last offseason.
Year by year, however, there's a period of evolution in the NFL, and explosive offenses remain explosive with a new touch added to them.
The Dolphins started a unique trend, implementing a "fast motion" with wide receiver Tyreek Hill, essentially allowing the speedster to get a running start on his route, allowing for more separation and explosion at the stem.
The move caught the NFL and Shanahan's attention, as the 49ers utilized the motion in Week 2, adding an extra twist to their already-complex offense.
What did Shanahan think about McDaniel's implementation of the "fast motion"?
"Kind of what you expect [from McDaniel]," Shanahan said. "Tyreek [Hill] is such a unique dude. He's the one dude with those motions who is fast enough to run any route known to man off of him. And not many people are like that, so they get to try a lot of stuff with that, which Mike's as good as anyone at trying stuff and being creative."
"They did that in Week 1 with a little cheat motion. We did it in Week 2 after we saw it. The Rams did it about three times versus us in Week 2. I've also seen every team probably do it since Week 1. So it is a cool motion. And they've got a real cool guy to do it with."
Shanahan called the move a "cheat", pointing to how difficult it is to stop players like Hill and 49ers wideout Deebo Samuel when providing them the running start to allow for acceleration quicker into the route concept.
"It looks hard to stop people like Tyreek and Deebo and stuff with a running start. That's usually only in the CFL. So it's cool to get them running sideways and still find a way to hit it vertically," Shanahan said.
The NFL is consistently evolving, and the 49ers are looking to ride the wave, with Shanahan taking a page out of his close friend Mike McDaniel's playbook to aid San Francisco with their offensive attack.
