Cards week 3 coaches film analysis

Jonnydel is Chris Culliver not the same player he was prior to the Superbowl? I see him allowing catches and not challenging receivers like he did before, is this because of the new rules?

wanted to show the crabtree TD as well:


Arizona loves to play man coverage near the goal and bring heavy pressure. That's what they're gonna do, it's an all out blitz with anyone who's man stays in pass pro is going to blitz as well. Similar to what the Ravens did to us 4th and goal in the SB. So, we're going to run a little "pick" play with Boldin and Crabs and move the launching point to help deal with the blitz.


you see how Arizona overloads the right side - as that's the side we'll run a lot of PA rollouts to. This is us expecting them to stop what they expect us to do. Kind of an "i know that you know that I know" kind of thing. So, we roll out to the left - good call.


You see how Boldin's slant brings his defender in as well and the defender on Crabs has to go around - creating separation.


You see how much extra ground the defender has to cover to stay on his man - impossible.


Lots of separation and an open Crabtree


TD crabs

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
So......Roman isn't completely incompetent?

Madness.

I still think calling a read option play (3rd and long) or on (2nd and long?) was dumb. The TV kept saying 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and GOAL but really we needed a first down. and we didnt take 1 shot at the endzone.....

Arizona came out either in a shell cover 4, or with heavy pressure on those plays to not allow us to take a shot as those things take time to develop. Remember, they have some ballers at corner and they were wanting us to try and take a shot deep to the endzone to create a turnover. There's not much you can do with 2nd and goal from the 21 that will work. You just don't have a lot of plays designed for that kind of yardage that will work when the defense is expecting it.

so a read option was the better option?

When you look at the defense Arizona was playing, they lined up for heavy pressure up the middle, I'm not saying it was the perfect call, but I can understand why. You're backed way up with little to no chance of scoring a TD so you don't want to risk an INT and are trying to give yourself the best position for a FG in a close game. What would we be saying about Roman if he calls a pass to the endzone from 2nd and forever and it gets picked?? We'd say, "why didn't he run the ball".

I've read some posters wonder why the 49ers only gave Gore/Hyde 9 total carries? I've also read some of the same (I think) posters say that Roman never sticks to what works, which I agree is one of his flaws in some games. The 49ers were passing the ball around and it was working. Had they ran the ball into the teeth of one of the best run defenses in the league and got stuffed, pretty sure some here would say "why didn't they stick with what was working (passing the ball)".

I thought the 49ers could have attacked the edges with swing passes to Ellington/Hyde. We saw two great chances blown by shoddy blocking on screen plays. Forget the screen plays, the ARI CBs lined up wide near the sidelines were manned up, the LBs in the middle were zoned. Get Ellington in space versus a LB in the flats to start widening the middle of the field defenders who were so worried with Kap's scrambling.

On defense, I thought Fangio did well to increase the frequency of blitzes. He should have forced the issue and never allow Stanton to sit comfortable in the pocket. Force the inexperienced QB to make quick decisions. It would put pressure on the DBs to cover with little underneath help, but not putting pressure on the QB also puts pressure on the DBs to cover for 4-5 seconds which is nearly impossible with the quality of the ARI WRs.

completely agree with you.

I feel like some people are thinking that we're trying to make a defense for Roman. I know I'm not and I don't think Thl is either. What we're trying to point out through film analysis - is that the players are just as culpable and have to execute calls that are good calls at the right time against the right defense. I don't think Greg Roman is the greatest coordinator that has ever been or that he's the best in the league.

I'm from the perspective that it seems like everyone wants to blindly throw everything at the feet of Roman which would ignore a myriad of other causations to the problem.

Could Roman have made some better calls? Absolutely, and he should've. Could Fangio have made some better calls to knock Arizona off it's game? Sure.
Did Roman make some great calls to set us up for success - yes. Did Fangio make some great calls to neutralize what Arizona wanted to do -absolutely.

For us, the key is trying to find out why things worked or didn't work. Was it a bad call or was it a blown assignment? Then go from there.

Well stated. I've been accused of wanting to take a bath with Roman (something like that) just because I don't join the lynch mob with pitchforks. I, also, can list his flaws because he is not perfect. His unwillingness to attack all areas of the field, habit of going away from what works without the other team showing the ability to stop it first, and a few other things, but the amount of blame he and the other coaches get right after a loss is pretty extreme. I don't blame anyone for thinking this. It's a natural reaction for us fans. However, this is why I always wait to see the all22 before blasting the coaches, the QB, or the secondary. We simply cannot see it all from the TV view.

ARI started cranking up the pressure after KAP was so efficient to start the game, Roman calls for swing passes (screens) to the flats. Player fail. Don't matter, fire Roman. The 49ers are missing two good run blocking TEs versus a dynamite run defense, don't matter, should have ran the ball.

Originally posted by thl408:
I've been accused of wanting to take a bath with Roman (something like that)

Originally posted by jonnydel:
wanted to show the crabtree TD as well:


Arizona loves to play man coverage near the goal and bring heavy pressure. That's what they're gonna do, it's an all out blitz with anyone who's man stays in pass pro is going to blitz as well. Similar to what the Ravens did to us 4th and goal in the SB. So, we're going to run a little "pick" play with Boldin and Crabs and move the launching point to help deal with the blitz.


you see how Arizona overloads the right side - as that's the side we'll run a lot of PA rollouts to. This is us expecting them to stop what they expect us to do. Kind of an "i know that you know that I know" kind of thing. So, we roll out to the left - good call.


You see how Boldin's slant brings his defender in as well and the defender on Crabs has to go around - creating separation.


You see how much extra ground the defender has to cover to stay on his man - impossible.


Lots of separation and an open Crabtree


TD crabs

The last two TD PASSES to Crabtree are starting to remind me of Jerry Rice during the dynasty years! Looks like red zone scoring will be up this year!

Originally posted by GORO:
Jonnydel is Chris Culliver not the same player he was prior to the Superbowl? I see him allowing catches and not challenging receivers like he did before, is this because of the new rules?

Well, it's hard to say really, I didn't watch a ton of film from that season - I did watch a bout 4 or 5 games though. One thing about Culliver is that he plays like a VERY confident corner. The way he plays reminds me a lot of Antonio Cromartie. He's got great top end speed and looks to jump routes when he can. He'll also try and "bait" a QB to throw it deep to him. That's what happened on the deep throw that wasn't complete where the receiver got behind him. It looked like he held up a little bit and thought he could close on the ball more. And also with the back shoulder throw, he let off the gas and then was hitting the afterburners to swoop in on the streak(which would've worked had the pass been thrown where it should've been) however, the ball was actually underthrown - I don't think Stanton meant to throw that ball short, Culliver was in a trail position when he threw it, and then Culliver was in a tough position to adjust.

But back to your question. I think he's still the same player - but he's given up a few back shoulder throws. Though, not sure any corners we've had in the past few years wouldn't have given those up. He's been a pretty sure tackler and does drive well on the ball. I think if he improves his ball skills more, he could be a top corner in the game.

It would really help us if Brock could come back though.

which players need to be replaced?

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by BleedsRedNGold:

Bubububb conspiracy theory! Don't blame the refs!

They either need to hire more referees, or coaches should be allowed to challenge penalties in which case the head officiator in NY is called to make a verdict. Same rules apply. The call must be blatantly wrong in order to be overturned. These can be the same challenges that coaches use for each half. Same rules apply. If the call on the field stands, team loses a time out. This allows the coaches the opportunity to decide which penalties affect them the most.

Referees are humans too and make mistakes. These mistakes can cost teams games. Coaches should be allowed to challenge these calls. This isn't basketball with 10 players on a small court with action only happening in a confined area.

agreed, I'm not saying ref's won't make mistakes or that it's a conspiracy theory, but, more like Boldin - this crap is costing us games and there needs to be some accountability.

The hope is it balences out over the course of a season. Let's just say we've due for some calls.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
agreed, I'm not saying ref's won't make mistakes or that it's a conspiracy theory, but, more like Boldin - this crap is costing us games and there needs to be some accountability.

Just for clarification, wasn't saying that you were making those arguments, I was just mocking the people that have made those arguments.

Originally posted by jreff22:
which players need to be replaced?

Again, hard to say. Because that infers that there's a better option available.

For me, we need Anthony Davis back. J Martin is a solid backup, but not great. To me, he's the weakest link on the O-line right now.

Also, I'm NOT saying we should replace him but, Ahmad Brooks needs to step up his production and eliminate the "illegal hands to the face" penalties. He's gotta have more of those than anyone in the league right now. I think he's got 5 or 6 in 3 games - those are automatic first downs.

After the Chicago game I thought Dontae Johnson needed to be replaced. He looked over-matched, unprepared and shaky. Then, they did replace him this game....

After that, there's no one doing anything glaring enough to say that guy needs to be replaced. We've got backups in who are playing solid football and veterans who are playing very well. Our base 3-4 D-line(McDonald, Williams, Smith) are playing at a very high level against the run. Those guys are dominating the LOS and shutting most runs down. Ever since the Dallas game, those guys have really stepped up their play.

We just gotta put it all together and eliminate the stupid stuff i.e. penalties and blown assignments.

I said it to my wife after the last game, "we have found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory".

As mentioned in the OP, the 49ers blew coverage which led to chunk gains for ARI. Two player mistakes led to the TD throws.

TD #1
Pre snap, pre-motion picture. WRs are color coded to show where they go.
49ers to the top of the screen are in Quarters "Box" coverage which allows the defense to combat the bunch formation. It's a 4 versus 3 situation which is fine for the defense.


Yellow is sent in motion to create a stacked, bunch formation. Below, the ball was just snapped.


Shown are the pattern matching rules to be followed. The label "1st" is another word for 'shallow'. So Ward (1st Out) is to match up versus the first WR to break shallow and outside towards the sidelines. Reid is "2nd In" meaning he will match with the WR that goes deep and inside. Whilhoite and Cully are also involved in this coverage call.


All three WRs will go vertical. Notice Ward re-routing (slight jam) red before Ward passes red off to Cully. Ward will then match up to blue (1st), while Cully matches red (2nd). Refer to jonnydel's post about the rules of illegal contact. Red is running directly at Ward. It's okay for Ward to use his hands to fend off the contact.
Notice Wilhoite not re-rerouting yellow. The re-routing is vital in giving Reid some help by preventing yellow from running at Reid with a full head of steam. The routes on the other side of the field pull the two DBs (Cox, Bethea) forward, exposing the area behind them.


Reid is in trouble with yellow running full speed and lots of room to work his route. Stanton will lead yellow perfectly with the throw.


The 49ers use team concepts to aid each other in coverage. Wilhoite not re-routing the WR put Reid in a very tough spot. Nice play design by ARI, but this is on Wilhoite as much,if not more, than it is on Reid.

Here's some of the highlights from our late drive that almost set us up to go ahead again(until Boldin's bonehead - no pun intended, penalty).

This play is really impressive by CK.


As Thl has noted, Arizona pretty much manned up on the outside and then would run zone over the middle. We're going to run our outside guys on streaks to clear out the space and work the underneath zone. We're giving a hi/lo read with Crabs and Johnson over the middle and isolating Boldin on the slot corner. Arizona does a good job of taking Boldin away and CK makes a big time throw to Crabs.


You see the slot jumping on Boldin's route. CK then moves to the hi/lo read.

You can see he's mid wind-up and Crabs hasn't come open yet. He's just coming out of his break. This is a small window to throw into and CK has to hit this with anticipation.


It's not that big of an area between 3 defenders. Those windows close fast in the NFL.


To make this throw you gotta have a rocket for an arm and put it on the money with accuracy and anticipation.


From the endzone you see how Crabs isn't in the shot for where he's going to throw when he's in windup


Not a big window.


For those who say CK can't throw with anticipation and has to "see" his receiver open first - he doesn't. He just doesn't do it all the time.

Originally posted by thl408:
As mentioned in the OP, the 49ers blew coverage which led to chunk gains for ARI. Two player mistakes led to the TD throws.

TD #1
Pre snap, pre-motion picture. WRs are color coded to show where they go.
49ers to the top of the screen are in Quarters "Box" coverage which allows the defense to combat the bunch formation. It's a 4 versus 3 situation which is fine for the defense.


Yellow is sent in motion to create a stacked, bunch formation. Below, the ball was just snapped.


Shown are the pattern matching rules to be followed. The label "1st" is another word for 'shallow'. So Ward (1st Out) is to match up versus the first WR to break shallow and outside towards the sidelines. Reid is "2nd In" meaning he will match with the WR that goes deep and inside. Whilhoite and Cully are also involved in this coverage call.


All three WRs will go vertical. Notice Ward re-routing (slight jam) red before Ward passes red off to Cully. Ward will then match up to blue (1st), while Cully matches red (2nd). Refer to jonnydel's post about the rules of illegal contact. Red is running directly at Ward. It's okay for Ward to use his hands to fend off the contact.
Notice Wilhoite not re-rerouting yellow. The re-routing is vital in giving Reid some help by preventing yellow from running at Reid with a full head of steam. The routes on the other side of the field pull the two DBs (Cox, Bethea) forward, exposing the area behind them.


Reid is in trouble with yellow running full speed and lots of room to work his route. Stanton will lead yellow perfectly with the throw.


The 49ers use team concepts to aid each other in coverage. Wilhoite not re-routing the WR put Reid in a very tough spot. Nice play design by ARI, but this is on Wilhoite as much,if not more, than it is on Reid.

Wish we could incorporate Ellington like AZ is doing with Brown. I know they're not identical players, but similar skillsets and size no?

Thanks, jonnydel and thl, for your analysis and insights.
According to you, it seems like a lot of the failures the Niners have experienced in the second half of the last 3 games have come down to execution. Do you think this is due to the lack of practice?
I have never been a coach or a player, so pardon me if this is a silly question, but I was wondering: do teams practice not only the main game plan, but also the back-up plan in case the opponent comes up with in-game adjustments that effectively nullify the original plan? It seems like the Niners usually execute plan A very well (hence the great success in the first half), but when forced to go to plan B due to the other team's half-time adjustments, the players start to have all kinds of execution issues. Maybe our coaches need to try to predict what the opponent would counter with, and come up with a good plan B in advance, then have our players practice it as much as plan A during the week?

Originally posted by bsyde82:
Wish we could incorporate Ellington like AZ is doing with Brown. I know they're not identical players, but similar skillsets and size no?

Brown's faster, football speed faster but Ellington is more versatile, better overall build, you can use him in a greater variety of ways.