Offseason All22 Film Study

TS versus Brandon Browner.

Stutter step then uses the left arm to shove BB's arm away to release outside. TS quickly pulls away and gets separation. The pass is underthrown and TS has to slow down to adjust. Catches the ball despite defensive pass interference.

On that Browner play, TS ended up getting a 15 yard personal foul for taunting. He spun the ball in front of Browner's face then jawed at him. BAL ended up scoring a TD on the next play anyway. Still, bad penalty in a playoff game (AFC Divisional).

It is really impressive how he eats up the cushions and really does give the qb a window on the fade/fly/stutter goes.

Originally posted by Niners816:
On post #5, check out the room the slot guy has. Attention has to be paid to Torrey, and that helps every other level. IMO, this will be the single biggest impact he has on our offense.

The uncertainty is how Geep plans to use TS since we know nothing about Geep. BAL almost always had TS and Steve Smith on opposite sides of the field, even in 3WR sets. They chose to force the safety(s) to defend the width of the deep portion of the field. Flacco took shots to whichever side he felt was a better matchup by targeting Torrey or Steve deep down the sidelines. Would the 49ers do that, or use TS and Boldin on the same side of the field where TS clears the deep defenders and Boldin can work directly underneath.

In the 49ers 3WR sets, who is the 3rd WR and will Boldin man the slot or be the other wideout? It will be interesting to see. To the point of how Torrey will open up other routes, here are a couple examples of BAL using a variation of Sail, a concept that the 49ers used many times to bust cover3 shells (3 deep defenders with zone coverage underneath).

Actually, let's first look at a poorly executed Sail concept. If you were with us during the 2014 season, you'll recognize this concept from the game breakdowns.

Boldin's route is designed to clear the deep 1/3 defender on that side of the field. The two underneath routes work to vertically stretch the underneath curl/flat defender on that side of the field and create a 2v1 situation.

Versus cover3


Boldin casually runs down the field and does a poor job clearing out the deep 1/3 defender (black). The orange defender is about to be stretched. Does he come up to play the flat route by Gore, or gain depth to cover VD's route?


Because the deep 1/3 defender is not threatened by Boldin's casual Go route, that is being ran by a WR not known for speed, the defender remains in the the area that VD is about to run to. He breaks off of Boldin's route and jumps VD's route.


If Boldin had pushed that deep 1/3 defender further downfield, no way this gets INT'ed.

Originally posted by thl408:

The uncertainty is how Geep plans to use TS since we know nothing about Geep. BAL almost always had TS and Steve Smith on opposite sides of the field, even in 3WR sets. They chose to force the safety(s) to defend the width of the deep portion of the field. Flacco took shots to whichever side he felt was a better matchup by targeting Torrey or Steve deep down the sidelines. Would the 49ers do that, or use TS and Boldin on the same side of the field where TS clears the deep defenders and Boldin can work directly underneath.

In the 49ers 3WR sets, who is the 3rd WR and will Boldin man the slot or be the other wideout? It will be interesting to see. To the point of how Torrey will open up other routes, here are a couple examples of BAL using a variation of Sail, a concept that the 49ers used many times to bust cover3 shells (3 deep defenders with zone coverage underneath).

Also, it's all kinda contingent on VD coming back to form. If they decide to keep TS and Boldin on the same side this would let VD work middle/flat/crosser. Basically it could help open everything for VD. I think the sail you re about to show could illustrate it. Basically VD could be that flat receiver in that concept. Then you have TS clearing and Boldin running the out.

Here is BAL executing a variation of Sail. The difference here is that the intermediate route comes from the other side of the field. This gives more time for the clearing route to work and clear space. Still, the concept is the same and what makes this route combination work is the same. The faster the clearing route can get upfield, the more room is opened up underneath.

Here, Torrey is running the clearing route. Versus fire zone blitz (5 man pressure, cover3 shell, 3 underneath)


Torrey quickly pushes upfield and will occupy two of the deep zone defenders.


A huge area is cleared for the intermediate underneath route to work.


Completed to the intermediate route (Steve Smith).

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by thl408:
The uncertainty is how Geep plans to use TS since we know nothing about Geep. BAL almost always had TS and Steve Smith on opposite sides of the field, even in 3WR sets. They chose to force the safety(s) to defend the width of the deep portion of the field. Flacco took shots to whichever side he felt was a better matchup by targeting Torrey or Steve deep down the sidelines. Would the 49ers do that, or use TS and Boldin on the same side of the field where TS clears the deep defenders and Boldin can work directly underneath.

In the 49ers 3WR sets, who is the 3rd WR and will Boldin man the slot or be the other wideout? It will be interesting to see. To the point of how Torrey will open up other routes, here are a couple examples of BAL using a variation of Sail, a concept that the 49ers used many times to bust cover3 shells (3 deep defenders with zone coverage underneath).

Also, it's all kinda contingent on VD coming back to form. If they decide to keep TS and Boldin on the same side this would let VD work middle/flat/crosser. Basically it could help open everything for VD. I think the sail you re about to show could illustrate it. Basically VD could be that flat receiver in that concept. Then you have TS clearing and Boldin running the out.

Agreed. Also, if VD gets any of his mojo back, then the 49ers will again have two deep threats and that opens up either side of the field. It would give Geep another chess piece to move around.

Sail concept (Z Cross). Same idea with Torrey running the clearing route (black) to push the deep 1/3 defender out of the area.

Versus cover3


TS quickly pushes the deep 1/3 defender away from where the pass is designed to go.


With a fast WR running the clearing route, the play can develop faster. More space underneath also makes it a larger throwing window. Orange is the key defender on the play. He comes up to play the short flat route. This opens up the intermediate crossing route.


TS occupies two deep defenders and a huge area is opened up behind the LBs and in front of the safeties. Completed to SSmith.

Throughout next season, I'll be sure to examine the effects Torrey has on the 49ers offense by pointing out plays where his impact won't show up on the stat sheet, but where he has a direct influence on the play. Route combinations like Sail, Mills, 4 verticals, etc. can all benefit from having a deep threat that is feared by the safety(s). If Torrey can move safeties around, other routes will benefit.

Originally posted by FL9er:
th, next or whenever you feel like it, can you examine the 49ers run game from 2014. People rave about Greg Roman's creativity in the run game and I'm curious if it was still there or poor execution as to the uneven play of the offense last year.

Sure thing. We can get in depth later, but the short quick answer is that with a power running game, losing ADavis and having an inconsistent Boone really put a damper on things. JMart is not a good pass blocker, but he is an even worse power run blocker imo. Couple those with VD's back injury that didn't allow him to put power into his run blocks, then losing Vance in the middle of the season, then losing Kilgore, and it really compounded upon itself. MMartin was very up and down.

As far as creativity and the variation of run plays called, it's been mentioned by others that there were not many trap plays last season, for whatever reason. But, there were more zone running plays than I ever remember seeing from the 49ers in 2011-13. Not enough to label them a zone running team, just more than what they've been doing in previous years. Their staples were still Power and Counter FB Lead.

Originally posted by FL9er:
th, next or whenever you feel like it, can you examine the 49ers run game from 2014. People rave about Greg Roman's creativity in the run game and I'm curious if it was still there or poor execution as to the uneven play of the offense last year.

line was the reason for the run game not performing properly. they just didn't block as well and we missed anthony davis sorely. not a coincidence that once he came back gore had his 2 best games of the season.

Thl-sponsored thread.

I'm excited to see some PA BOMBS from Kaep to Smith. Kaep only takes one read on PA anyway. Might as well be 60 yards downfield. TS could be the key that unlocks Kaep's arm strength, which I still think is tops in the league.

Also think TS could open up the screen game. I read somewhere that the Niners only ran 5 screens all last season. Probably because everyone had their eyes on Kaep and didn't respect a deep ball.

Either way, very happy to see how Chryst and Logan use this weapon.

I listed that double moves were not seen much from TS's repertoire, but here is a gem of a route.

This is the Pin concept which usually consists of a Post route + an In route (Pin). It acts as a vertical stretch on the safety and is usually used to bust cover2.

Here, instead of a post route, BAL dials up a Dino route for Torrey (Post, Corner, Post - triple move). Versus cover3.


Torrey fakes to the Post.


Fake to the Corner. The deep In route (red) has caught the attention of the deep middle safety (blue arrow) and he comes up to play the deep In. This opens up the area for TS to work. With the CB playing outside leverage on TS, he stems his route towards the Corner in order to set up his final move.


Back to the Post, with the deep middle all to himself.


This is where Kap can show off his arm and hit a streaking WR. A few of us have mentioned how Kap doesn't often put enough high arc on the ball. Here, with a crossing element to the Post route, not needing to drop it over the shoulder of a defender, Kap can afford to flatten the pass if he wants to. As long as he gets it there. Recall that Kap hit VD a few times during 2013 on bombs to VD for TDs.


Pass completed.