Offseason All22 Film Study

Originally posted by thl408:

All these throws are an easy read for the QB. As soon as Flacco sees the CB playing press on TS as the backside WR, with 1 deep safety in the middle of the field, he knows what is in the CB's mind - don't get beat deep. This allows for an easy read of man coverage. Kap sees this coverage a lot as teams went single high safety nearly all game long last season with no fear of getting beat deep up the sideline.

We also know how kap has favored the backside at pretty high rate. TS looks like he will give him a target that will win those situatuoob at a higher rate than in past years.

So naturally, a CB will also give a cushion to WRs that are deep threats. This is the area where I feel TS can improve on. Running short to intermediate routes with crispness. No wasted steps when coming to a stop or changing direction. It's not that he can't do it. It's that he doesn't always do it. Guys like Antonio Brown, Emmanual Sanders, Boldin. These guys stay in control when entering a change of direction.

Here is a not so crisp Curl route.


He begins his deceleration with his arms swinging wildly.




He turns before he is ready to turn and takes a hop step in doing so. It's important to get low, keep the head over the feet, then turn when in control. It didn't matter here because the CB is so scared of the vertical route that he ends up slipping.

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by thl408:
All these throws are an easy read for the QB. As soon as Flacco sees the CB playing press on TS as the backside WR, with 1 deep safety in the middle of the field, he knows what is in the CB's mind - don't get beat deep. This allows for an easy read of man coverage. Kap sees this coverage a lot as teams went single high safety nearly all game long last season with no fear of getting beat deep up the sideline.

We also know how kap has favored the backside at pretty high rate. TS looks like he will give him a target that will win those situatuoob at a higher rate than in past years.

Big time. Although, this is how I thought SJ would be utilized. SJ "the man coverage buster", I called him. I think what happened is that teams just didn't fear getting beat deep and played him for the slant route, daring SJ to beat them up the sideline.

Here's an example of TS running a much cleaner route.


Head over the feet, stays in balance.


No hop stepping. Comes back to the ball to help the QB.


No wasted steps when turning around. Nice hands grab.

10 yard cushion.



Drive hard upfield, plant and turn.


Too much separation for the CB to make up.


TS gets the CB to immediately backpeddle at the snap of the ball. His speed compliments his short game.

Post 64 again showcases kubiak's WCO roots. Looks like good ole 22 Z-in.



Hell, even the yardage breaks are pretty much spot on. Comeback at 12 yards, TE route at 5-6. I remember reading an article frm walsh about this play. He said the most important aspect for the comeback was running the route to get the CB to turn his hips as if the route is s take-off.

Flacco seems slow on his dropback. Its like his dropback is one, two, three, and, a, pop. Whereas Smith's route is a one, two, three, bounce, pop. Imagine what a half second would have done for Smith's production. I hope Kaepernick picks up the value of timing with his receivers. If he can master that, while looking off defenders, Smith could have monster games with the Niners. (Disclaimer, I'm not an expert, but Thl408's posts make me feel like an expert!)

Originally posted by thl408:
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.

Of course the problem with all of these clips is that Smith is also benefitting from some great throws by Joe Flacco. Kaepernick has yet to display anywhere near this kind of consistency on his deep ball. If you're going to show these clips you should also include some of the clips where Kaepernick has several receivers coming open on various routes and doesn't manage to get it to any of them and instead takes the sack because he didn't get the ball out fast enough.

NT Gold

Thanks guys for giving 49ers fans some comfort given the tumultuous off-season the team has had thus far. It refreshing to think that the 49ers might finally have a guy who can help spread defenses out a bit. It was getting tiring and repetitive in recent years to see teams play man with a single high safety and crowd the line all day without being able to do much about it. Kaepernick didn't have a good year last season but those WR's sure weren't helping him out either.

Originally posted by 49ers81:
Of course the problem with all of these clips is that Smith is also benefitting from some great throws by Joe Flacco. Kaepernick has yet to display anywhere near this kind of consistency on his deep ball. If you're going to show these clips you should also include some of the clips where Kaepernick has several receivers coming open on various routes and doesn't manage to get it to any of them and instead takes the sack because he didn't get the ball out fast enough.

Hilarious because the play you're talking about even Thl408 writes Flacco under threw the ball, lol the irony.

Originally posted by bzborow1:
Thanks guys for giving 49ers fans some comfort given the tumultuous off-season the team has had thus far. It refreshing to think that the 49ers might finally have a guy who can help spread defenses out a bit. It was getting tiring and repetitive in recent years to see teams play man with a single high safety and crowd the line all day without being able to do much about it. Kaepernick didn't have a good year last season but those WR's sure weren't helping him out either.

A lot of that had to do with the lack of a true SE or X receiver. Last year, to me, the receiving corps didn't make any sense - on paper it looked great, but from a strategic and schematic standpoint, it wasn't ideal. We had 3 Flankers or Z receivers, who are commonly referred to as the "possession" receivers. Whereas, you generally want an SE, Flanker and Slot guy. Your SE is going to be a bigger body, fast player who can defeat 1-1 matchups(Moss, Rice[the caveat is, Rice did play Flanker as well], megatron, Dez Bryant, Brandon Marshall). Brandon Lloyd was the closest thing we had to that last year. He was the guy who, if in a bind, you could throw it up to him - but his age and declining speed kept him from being a true every down reliable option.

Your Flanker is going to be the bigger body, catch in traffic guy. Mainly because you're going to be utilizing him for a lot of concept designs because having the TE on that side makes those concepts available even out of a 2 RB 1 TE set. He'll be running more "drive" or shallow cross(just a couple different names for them) routes in conjunction with the TE on short to mid in routes for your "drive/levels/mesh" concepts. So, you want a bigger guy who can catch in traffic and run after the catch amidst LB's. He'll also run more "spot" routes and mid-in routes. All these routes take that receiver over the middle of the field so, again, you want your bigger body guys doing that. Anquan Boldin is probably your prototypical "Flanker"(Rice played Flanker fairly frequently as well, but, as he got older, they phased him out of his Flanker position for fear of running him into LB's - he did not agree haha).

Your "Slot" receiver is going to be a shorter base, quicker than fast, great COD player. Mainly, because, from the slot, the defender will almost always have safety help on any vertical routes because no matter if it's cover 1,2,3 or 4, there's a safety in range for a vertical route. So, it's not very logical to put a speed guy in the slot. You want a guy who can stop on a dime and change direction, mainly because, where the defender has the advantage for the verticals, they have to defend either direction so it's tough for them to use leverage in any way. So, if you have a super quick guy in the slot, you can defeat the defender very easily. This is why Wes Welker is the ideal "slot" guy but doesn't work well on the outside.

If anything, I could see us utilizing Reggie Bush in the "slot" now with some 2 RB sets - that would give us the ideal SE, Fl, Slot, TE matchup across the board - ala the Saints over the past many years.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
A lot of that had to do with the lack of a true SE or X receiver. Last year, to me, the receiving corps didn't make any sense - on paper it looked great, but from a strategic and schematic standpoint, it wasn't ideal. We had 3 Flankers or Z receivers, who are commonly referred to as the "possession" receivers. Whereas, you generally want an SE, Flanker and Slot guy. Your SE is going to be a bigger body, fast player who can defeat 1-1 matchups(Moss, Rice[the caveat is, Rice did play Flanker as well], megatron, Dez Bryant, Brandon Marshall). Brandon Lloyd was the closest thing we had to that last year. He was the guy who, if in a bind, you could throw it up to him - but his age and declining speed kept him from being a true every down reliable option.

Your Flanker is going to be the bigger body, catch in traffic guy. Mainly because you're going to be utilizing him for a lot of concept designs because having the TE on that side makes those concepts available even out of a 2 RB 1 TE set. He'll be running more "drive" or shallow cross(just a couple different names for them) routes in conjunction with the TE on short to mid in routes for your "drive/levels/mesh" concepts. So, you want a bigger guy who can catch in traffic and run after the catch amidst LB's. He'll also run more "spot" routes and mid-in routes. All these routes take that receiver over the middle of the field so, again, you want your bigger body guys doing that. Anquan Boldin is probably your prototypical "Flanker"(Rice played Flanker fairly frequently as well, but, as he got older, they phased him out of his Flanker position for fear of running him into LB's - he did not agree haha).

Your "Slot" receiver is going to be a shorter base, quicker than fast, great COD player. Mainly, because, from the slot, the defender will almost always have safety help on any vertical routes because no matter if it's cover 1,2,3 or 4, there's a safety in range for a vertical route. So, it's not very logical to put a speed guy in the slot. You want a guy who can stop on a dime and change direction, mainly because, where the defender has the advantage for the verticals, they have to defend either direction so it's tough for them to use leverage in any way. So, if you have a super quick guy in the slot, you can defeat the defender very easily. This is why Wes Welker is the ideal "slot" guy but doesn't work well on the outside.

If anything, I could see us utilizing Reggie Bush in the "slot" now with some 2 RB sets - that would give us the ideal SE, Fl, Slot, TE matchup across the board - ala the Saints over the past many years.

My one question Johnny would be whether Geep/Kap can utilize Reggie effectively. I really hope he doesn't become the token back that is brought out on trick plays because he legitimately could bring another dimension to this offense. Just like I think Torrey Smith will.

I completely agree with your assessment of the receiving corp last year. It was a great wideout lineup on paper, but they all played similar roles and I think Kap suffered because of it. From your's and THL's cutups, it really seems like Kap likes to see the field spread out so he can make a clean read. Smith and Reggie have the potential to make the defense play more on their heels which I think may help Kap in identifying where he wants to go with the ball that much quicker.

We'll never know until the season starts of course, but I think this offense might be making addition by subtraction. with Stevie and potentially Crabs gone, it might open up opportunities for the younger Patton and Ellington who showed flashes near the end of last season. I would really like to see them get some playing time as they seem like they could develop into some solid receiving threats.

Originally posted by 49ers81:
Of course the problem with all of these clips is that Smith is also benefitting from some great throws by Joe Flacco. Kaepernick has yet to display anywhere near this kind of consistency on his deep ball. If you're going to show these clips you should also include some of the clips where Kaepernick has several receivers coming open on various routes and doesn't manage to get it to any of them and instead takes the sack because he didn't get the ball out fast enough.

you mean aside from the last time we had legit deep threats and he led the league in deep ball accuracy right? aside from that you're right

There is a play against the New England Patriots in the this year play offs and Ravens fans blame Torrey Smith for the interception, claiming he should of went after the ball. Can TH1408 or Jonnydel review this play and give a none biased view of it.