KC Chiefs coaches film analysis

Originally posted by thl408:

#4: SCTMotF!

1Q 1st & 5
KC: Packaged Play: WR screen + Inside Zone + TE quick seam route

QB will make the pre-snap reads to know which is his best option. There's the inside zone run, the WR quick screen, or the TE quick seam route. Skuta has press alignment on the WR screen so that's a no. No one is aligned over the TE Fasano. The line of scrimmage is the 17 yard line.


The inside handoff action to create a reaction from the defense as Alex makes his post snap read. Willis takes a step towards line of scrimmage to react to the handoff.


Willis reads run because the left guard has come 2 yards across the line of scrimmage to throw a block. The LG's foot is on the 15 yard line. Alex pulls the ball back and targets the TE who has space earned for him by, what is now, the fake handoff.


Fasano gain of +12.

This is just an example of an A+ play design. Shouldn't be surprised though Andy Reid been doing it as a HC for 15 years now. Over the course of his career he has been a little too pass happy for me, but I've always admired his offenses.

On this particular play, I love hiw fasano settles into his route.

Originally posted by thl408:
#5: SCTMotF!

1Q 3rd & 4
KC: Follow concept. Most clearing routes are vertical routes that clear an area for another route to work underneath. The Follow concept uses a clearing route that is horizontal. Below, the red crossing route is the 'clearing route' while the yellow crossing route works the vacated area by coming into the open space.


The first crossing route occupies Wilhoite and gets him to step to his left.


With Wilhoite out of the way, the second crossing route works the area by following the clearing route. Ward, playing over the top, is in no position to defend the short throw.


Gain of +7.

This is actually really fun b/c you can see what we did defensively AND you can see how exotic lots of these KC WCO passing formations are (and how the design itself is set up to get 1-3 guys open very quickly against a very very good defense, sometimes with just subtle moves/decoys). Win-win. And b/c of this, our defense will grow from it and it looked like we adjusted after the quick TD in the second half?

Originally posted by thl408:
Man was that frustrating to watch. All those completions directly over the middle of the field. Good play design by KC along with some blown coverages led to quite a maddening opening to for the 49er defense as they gave up chunk plays and numerous 3rd down conversions. They tightened it up later in the game as they were able to get off the field on 3rd downs.

This! And thanks for that...very cool.

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:

Originally posted by Paul_Hofer:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by thl408:
Dynamite writeup jonnydel. Not much too much to add.

KC mainly played coverage much like ARI did. That is, man on the outside with zone/spies over the middle. The difference in offensive gameplan between ARI and KC is that the 49ers didn't go spread versus KC. So we didn't see all those short curl routes over the middle that we saw versus ARI. It appears teams are very careful not to let Kap's scrambling ability beat them. Whenever KC played man coverage all around, KC would bring their LBs, who are covering the RBs, close up to the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball. This gives the impression of a blitz, and it clogs up scrambling lanes for Kap, which is what a defense usually gives up when they play man coverage all around the field. So even though they aren't blitzing, the LBs are close to the line of scrimmage, with their eyes on their man assignment (RB), clogging scrambling lanes to discourage Kap's legs. A drawback of this is the LBs can't play the passing lanes because they are too shallow. The big Boldin catch and run (+27 yards) was an example of this.

I agree that 'food was left on the table'. There were two instances where I thought Kap could have hit some deep TD passes. In one instance he looked backside immediately after the snap. This was the near pick6 in the 1st quarter. The other was on one of the plays in the horrific offensive sequence where they were 1st & 10 on the KC 20 yard line, then went offside (-5 yards), sack (-2), read/option (-2), sack (-5). Dawson to the rescue with another 50+ yarder. I'll try to hit these.

If there was ever a game that illustrated why the 49ers need a deep WR threat, it's this one. The 49er ground game was rolling, they tried to use playaction to hit some deep throws and the separation just wasn't there in most instances. Lloyds's amazing catch was a great individual effort. He did make one catch down the sideline where he had good separation on a double move, but a speed threat on this team, from the WR position, would scare defenses silly.

In the second half, the 49er defense did an excellent job getting off the field on 3rd downs even though KC had very manageable distances. I'll try to hit these 3rd down stops.

This, the lack of a deep threat is brutal, simply because of what it would force teams to do defensively, putting them in an even worse spot.

Guys, I'm right there with you. Not that I think it will happen, but the next draft should be sacrificed, if need be, for one top flight, great production, fast receiver.

Unfortunately, that doesn't really match Baalke's draft strategy. If anything, I think he looks in FA.

Agreed...Lockette, Ginn, Moore, Moss, etc. This is where he gets his "speed" guys. We just never use them in that capacity...like...ever. You can probably add Ellington into the mix now as well but we haven't seen an attempt yet so...?

Originally posted by Niners816:
This is just an example of an A+ play design. Shouldn't be surprised though Andy Reid been doing it as a HC for 15 years now. Over the course of his career he has been a little too pass happy for me, but I've always admired his offenses.

On this particular play, I love hiw fasano settles into his route.

I couldn't agree more! We have to steal some of these designs NOW! So simple...subtle...but very effective and all passes seem to be under 3 seconds, short and with plenty of room for YAC!

Everytime I see this thread, my first thought is "well there goes the rest of my day."

Originally posted by NCommand:

I couldn't agree more! We have to steal some of these designs NOW! So simple...subtle...but very effective and all passes seem to be under 3 seconds, short and with plenty of room for YAC!

I'm thinking Reid borrowed these from chip Kelly and the group of guys running the packaged plays. Imitation the sincerest form of flattery.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by Niners816:
This is just an example of an A+ play design. Shouldn't be surprised though Andy Reid been doing it as a HC for 15 years now. Over the course of his career he has been a little too pass happy for me, but I've always admired his offenses.

On this particular play, I love hiw fasano settles into his route.

I couldn't agree more! We have to steal some of these designs NOW! So simple...subtle...but very effective and all passes seem to be under 3 seconds, short and with plenty of room for YAC!

SCTMotF #4


Agreed this is a nice play design that allows for an easy read for the QB. Easy doesn't mean bad, it's a good thing. jonnydel (not in this thread) mentioned that the left guard going 2 yards past the line of scrimmage should have been called a penalty though. That's an illegal blocker downfield on a passing play and it may have influenced Willis to bite towards the inside handoff. Although he did do a jump step to the inside based off the post snap action of the RB.

Yeah 816, Fasano doesn't rush up the field because doing so puts Willis in the passing lane. He just holds up to give the maximum room for Alex to throw.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Agreed...Lockette, Ginn, Moore, Moss, etc. This is where he gets his "speed" guys. We just never use them in that capacity...like...ever. You can probably add Ellington into the mix now as well but we haven't seen an attempt yet so...?

need to get ellington out there and run those deep routes and throw it to him 3 times a game especially since vd can't get healthy.

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by NCommand:
I couldn't agree more! We have to steal some of these designs NOW! So simple...subtle...but very effective and all passes seem to be under 3 seconds, short and with plenty of room for YAC!

I'm thinking Reid borrowed these from chip Kelly and the group of guys running the packaged plays. Imitation the sincerest form of flattery.

It is...Alex "borrowed" quite a few AR 2's from us as well and then added a spin to it.

Sorry for the long delay, ended up really busy today. Here's some stuff in regards to the run game.


Here's a situation where all the shifts and motions make it so hard for a defense to know what to expect. We come out in 21 personnel - 2 backs 1 TE but then spread out in the pistol.

We then bring the FB back into the I and put the QB under center. So, the defense has to change all of their "alerts". Before, it's be alert for the read-option, the jet sweep, the curls routes. Now it's be alert for the curls, for play action pass, for a power play to either side.


We then motion the TE back to the formation - that's a lot of shifts to get back to a basic "I" formation. But, the defense has already had to think about 20 things that might come at them. Also, it brings a safety down to the strong side - which we want, because we're going to run away from him - so it takes him out of the play.

We're going to run a Tackle trap on this play. We'll have Staley block down on the tackle and have Iupati pull and kick out the end man on the LOS. Miller leads up on the LB. This is a great way, through all the shifts, to get guys in great angles for their blocks and keeps the defensive guys from being able to fly off the ball in any particular direction.


The angle allows Staley to get a great block on the DT and Kilgore passes off the NT to Boone(Boone doesn't really pick him up, but it's not a problem because getting him around on that side doesn't allow him to impact the play) and Kilgore gets to the 2nd level.

Kilgore(circled in black) gets a great block on the backside LB and Staley still holds his guy. Iupati takes it to his guy as well.

Miller takes on 52 in the hole and moves him back just enough. Also, squares up on him hard so the LB can't squeeze the hole.

You see how Miller dislodges the LB - violent block

Gore pops through on the other side, pretty much untouched.

He's in the open field now and does his thing. It's a nice 12 yard run. This is run blocking design and execution at a gorgeous level. I mean, this is like a Picaso to me lol. The execution and design of this play at all levels is a huge win.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:

Originally posted by Paul_Hofer:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by thl408:
Dynamite writeup jonnydel. Not much too much to add.

KC mainly played coverage much like ARI did. That is, man on the outside with zone/spies over the middle. The difference in offensive gameplan between ARI and KC is that the 49ers didn't go spread versus KC. So we didn't see all those short curl routes over the middle that we saw versus ARI. It appears teams are very careful not to let Kap's scrambling ability beat them. Whenever KC played man coverage all around, KC would bring their LBs, who are covering the RBs, close up to the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball. This gives the impression of a blitz, and it clogs up scrambling lanes for Kap, which is what a defense usually gives up when they play man coverage all around the field. So even though they aren't blitzing, the LBs are close to the line of scrimmage, with their eyes on their man assignment (RB), clogging scrambling lanes to discourage Kap's legs. A drawback of this is the LBs can't play the passing lanes because they are too shallow. The big Boldin catch and run (+27 yards) was an example of this.

I agree that 'food was left on the table'. There were two instances where I thought Kap could have hit some deep TD passes. In one instance he looked backside immediately after the snap. This was the near pick6 in the 1st quarter. The other was on one of the plays in the horrific offensive sequence where they were 1st & 10 on the KC 20 yard line, then went offside (-5 yards), sack (-2), read/option (-2), sack (-5). Dawson to the rescue with another 50+ yarder. I'll try to hit these.

If there was ever a game that illustrated why the 49ers need a deep WR threat, it's this one. The 49er ground game was rolling, they tried to use playaction to hit some deep throws and the separation just wasn't there in most instances. Lloyds's amazing catch was a great individual effort. He did make one catch down the sideline where he had good separation on a double move, but a speed threat on this team, from the WR position, would scare defenses silly.

In the second half, the 49er defense did an excellent job getting off the field on 3rd downs even though KC had very manageable distances. I'll try to hit these 3rd down stops.

This, the lack of a deep threat is brutal, simply because of what it would force teams to do defensively, putting them in an even worse spot.

Guys, I'm right there with you. Not that I think it will happen, but the next draft should be sacrificed, if need be, for one top flight, great production, fast receiver.

Unfortunately, that doesn't really match Baalke's draft strategy. If anything, I think he looks in FA.

Agreed...Lockette, Ginn, Moore, Moss, etc. This is where he gets his "speed" guys. We just never use them in that capacity...like...ever. You can probably add Ellington into the mix now as well but we haven't seen an attempt yet so...?

The hardest thing about a speed threat though, is that unless that receiver has something to play off of that one trick, it's not that great of a trick and doesn't work all that well. Right now, when Ellington lines up, the corners give him a cushion expecting the deep ball. Adversely, we see more press against Crabs and Boldin, because they're so effective on the underneath routes. It's like Ashley Lelie, years ago, he had world class speed, but wasn't really a deep threat because everyone expected his one trick. What makes DeSean Jackson such a big deep threat is that he can do a lot of other routes fairly well too.

So, if Ellington doesn't do anything well besides his deep route, he's not really any more of a threat and doesn't threaten a defense any more than anyone else. Think about the ball that CK threw up to Lloyd, if Lloyd had continued running, like so many of our receivers have done, and doesn't jump up for it, it's probably gonna get picked because it's underthrown as a jump ball. So, the QB has to have a LOT of confidence in that receiver that he'll not only go get the ball, but that he can adjust himself to the ball and if he's not going to be able to get it, play defense...

Here's some more run game stuff:


Here, we're going to run a play we don't run a lot, but still do well. We're just running a stretch zone to the defense's right - a la Mike Shanahan


KC flows well to the play having 1 more guy than we can block.

What's great is that both Carrier and Gore see the backside open. I love that Carrier doesn't keep trying to flow with the play, he finds someone to block. Gore see's the same opening and cuts back.

They both hit the hole.

Gore gets small in the hole.

He gets tackled by the ankles - a nice 7 yard gain - real close to breaking this one out too.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:

Originally posted by Paul_Hofer:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by thl408:
Dynamite writeup jonnydel. Not much too much to add.

KC mainly played coverage much like ARI did. That is, man on the outside with zone/spies over the middle. The difference in offensive gameplan between ARI and KC is that the 49ers didn't go spread versus KC. So we didn't see all those short curl routes over the middle that we saw versus ARI. It appears teams are very careful not to let Kap's scrambling ability beat them. Whenever KC played man coverage all around, KC would bring their LBs, who are covering the RBs, close up to the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball. This gives the impression of a blitz, and it clogs up scrambling lanes for Kap, which is what a defense usually gives up when they play man coverage all around the field. So even though they aren't blitzing, the LBs are close to the line of scrimmage, with their eyes on their man assignment (RB), clogging scrambling lanes to discourage Kap's legs. A drawback of this is the LBs can't play the passing lanes because they are too shallow. The big Boldin catch and run (+27 yards) was an example of this.

I agree that 'food was left on the table'. There were two instances where I thought Kap could have hit some deep TD passes. In one instance he looked backside immediately after the snap. This was the near pick6 in the 1st quarter. The other was on one of the plays in the horrific offensive sequence where they were 1st & 10 on the KC 20 yard line, then went offside (-5 yards), sack (-2), read/option (-2), sack (-5). Dawson to the rescue with another 50+ yarder. I'll try to hit these.

If there was ever a game that illustrated why the 49ers need a deep WR threat, it's this one. The 49er ground game was rolling, they tried to use playaction to hit some deep throws and the separation just wasn't there in most instances. Lloyds's amazing catch was a great individual effort. He did make one catch down the sideline where he had good separation on a double move, but a speed threat on this team, from the WR position, would scare defenses silly.

In the second half, the 49er defense did an excellent job getting off the field on 3rd downs even though KC had very manageable distances. I'll try to hit these 3rd down stops.

This, the lack of a deep threat is brutal, simply because of what it would force teams to do defensively, putting them in an even worse spot.

Guys, I'm right there with you. Not that I think it will happen, but the next draft should be sacrificed, if need be, for one top flight, great production, fast receiver.

Unfortunately, that doesn't really match Baalke's draft strategy. If anything, I think he looks in FA.

Agreed...Lockette, Ginn, Moore, Moss, etc. This is where he gets his "speed" guys. We just never use them in that capacity...like...ever. You can probably add Ellington into the mix now as well but we haven't seen an attempt yet so...?

The hardest thing about a speed threat though, is that unless that receiver has something to play off of that one trick, it's not that great of a trick and doesn't work all that well. Right now, when Ellington lines up, the corners give him a cushion expecting the deep ball. Adversely, we see more press against Crabs and Boldin, because they're so effective on the underneath routes. It's like Ashley Lelie, years ago, he had world class speed, but wasn't really a deep threat because everyone expected his one trick. What makes DeSean Jackson such a big deep threat is that he can do a lot of other routes fairly well too.

So, if Ellington doesn't do anything well besides his deep route, he's not really any more of a threat and doesn't threaten a defense any more than anyone else. Think about the ball that CK threw up to Lloyd, if Lloyd had continued running, like so many of our receivers have done, and doesn't jump up for it, it's probably gonna get picked because it's underthrown as a jump ball. So, the QB has to have a LOT of confidence in that receiver that he'll not only go get the ball, but that he can adjust himself to the ball and if he's not going to be able to get it, play defense...

Very much agreed. That said, the difference in straight line speed of a 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5 guy isn't significant at the NFL level...it's how they are utilized. For instance, we run a fake handoff to Ellington outside while Gore runs up inside for positive yards. Wonderful! But it took us 4 games to actually hand off to Ellington and naturally, it was a success (and damn near a TD). Ginn and Lockette haven't had that much trouble contributing on ST and as a package WR with the Cardinals/Hawks. It's how you utilize them and set them up for success IMHO. Ellington is a guy you can use on backside fly sweeps, reverses, quick strike out of the backfield to space...put him in the slot and catch some shorter routes, outside on some square-ins and THEN hit him deep a few times a game. How about a double move? A few come-backs (curls) and then pop one deep and catch the DB flat-footed. There is a lot scheme/design and that in-game chess match mentality that can be used to maximize not only Elllington but others as well. Long-winded and back-door way of saying that I agree...if ALL we do is use him one way, the defense is going to flat out ignore him (ala Gore out of the backfield). I genuinely think one of the reasons Gore is having so much success off tackle is b/c for 10 years, defenders have only had to stack the box in between the tackles...and if you look at quite a few, Gore & Miller actually run up the middle and then quickly bounce it off the edge for big gains. I love it! Do that a few times and get the KC defense spinning and now you can run up inside as well. That's a good ping-pong approach.

Here's another example of how the little things matter so much:


here, KC is going to run a swing pass to a WR out of the backfield.

On his dropback, AS keeps his head down the middle of the field, so he doesn't give away the swing pass right away. This allows the receivers to get into good positions to block and holds the LB's.

AS then turns and floats the ball out to his receiver in stride.

Bethea defeats his block, but other offensive players make it downfield to block.

Bethea misses his tackle - tough duty though in open field against a receiver running full speed.

Result of the play is a TD for KC.

We're going to run pretty much the exact same play(earlier in the game though). This is a great example of how two teams can run the same play, but it comes down to the little things in execution.

The moment the ball is snapped CK turns his head to the receiver on the swing pass. You see how the defenders are reacting to CK's eyes. The LB flows that way and the DB's charge the blockers.

KC now has 3 on 2

They do a good job of containing the lanes.

Ellington gets 1 yard....

You see how Smith's head is down the middle of the field(this is actually about a half second later than I'll show CK's shot) how it holds the LB's in the middle of the field.


Ck's head was immediately out to the swing pass and the LB's are flowing towards the play.

It's this little stuff that's the difference between a 1 yard gain and a 17 yard TD.... In the NFL that half second is huge!