Offseason Film analysis thread - Passing concepts

Here's a passing concept that CK usually does pretty well at - the curls concept. It's a horizontal stretch concept that usually creates either a 2-1 or 3-2 stretch of the defense.


This is deeper than most curls plays - mainly because it's 3rd and 10.
NO is running a combo coverage. it's cover 6 with the single receiver side corner playing man. This protects against any rub/pick plays on that side and then allows the corner on the single receiver side to play tight man-man.


At the snap - you can see VD was the primary read on the play(I'm 95% sure). Since CK first locks onto him as the receiver on his mid-in route the safeties take not and play good team defense. The safety on the inside quarter stays in position for an overtop route and the backside safety is ready to drive on any in cutting routes.


As VD comes over the top you see how it creates the horizontall stretch to open up a space. The outside defender has to respect the curl route from the outside receiver since the corner is going to be playing overtop coverage.


From this angle you can easily see CK looking to VD as his primary. He does a very good job of keeping his knees bent and climbing the pocket while keeping his left shoulder forward in a "throwing" position.


You now see how he's moved to Boldin. This is a really good read by CK as he saw how his looking to VD - and the resulting coverage, would open up Boldin. That's a good job of understanding how the concept will work and where his key defender is(the LB)

He then does a good job in his mechanics of driving off his back foot while keeping very nice knee bend. His shoulders are nice a square so he's able to deliver a very accurate pass with a ton of zip.


You see from this angle how the safety was ready to drive on VD's in route so it was very good that CK moved on. He's just finishing his release BTW. Boldin is right in that happy spot between the stretch of the defense.


Boldin makes a nice catch for a first down.

Johnnydel:
After all of this analysis have you concluded what our problems on offense was caused by? Was it:
1 roman
2 Harboughs
3 Kaeps immature defensive reading
4 Kaeps poor mechanics
5 poor offensive line production
6 poor wide receiver production
7 poor offense identity - shifting from run offense to passing offense
8 an unusual mix of circumstances and injury

What ever conclusions drawn what can we realistically do to correct our problems?

^^^^
Looks Double Slant-ish, but if it was, then VD isn't running it correctly. Nice ball placement by Kap (a little high) to clear the reach of that underneath defender. Very nice calmness in the pocket here.

Originally posted by thl408:

You think this is a %&*#@%ing game?

No but seriously, are there any passing concepts that exist in real life that don't exist in Madden? I ask because I don't play Madden.

Its pretty good with the depth of playbooks. The thing with madden is, it can play as realistic as you want it. Supposedly they have a guy that designs plays based on teams films. For example, "Vernon post"'from the 2011 divisional game is in the game. Madden really is the only game that I still play. It's fun to knock out a couple of games during the course of the season. Also, with the create-a-playbook I can make my perfect WCO playbook.

Originally posted by thl408:
^^^^
Looks Double Slant-ish, but if it was, then VD isn't running it correctly. Nice ball placement by Kap (a little high) to clear the reach of that underneath defender. Very nice calmness in the pocket here.

Nice pancake block by Iupati tho!

Awesome thread, one of my favorite thread in the zone

Here's a concept the 49ers did not run much in 2014. One, because it isn't very effective without speed on the outside. Two, because it's a concept that uses a 7 step timing on the dropback to allow it to fully develop, which is a risk to run considering the poor pass protection last season. Contrary to what some believe, the 49ers did not call many 7 step drops last season. These are two things the team have addressed (Torrey), or hope to address (better pass pro).

Mills is a concept that uses a Post + Dig (Deep In). It is a vertical stretch on the safety. This concept has been covered in other threads, but might as well drop it in this thread and discuss how this can be an effective play with Torrey Smith on board.


Focusing just on Crabs (Post) and VD (In).
Versus Cover3


Notice the CB on Crabs has taken outside leverage. This is what all cover3 CBs playing the deep 1/3 do, to funnel towards the middle deep safety. VD must get behind the LB level defenders in the middle of the field, before he breaks on his route since Mills attacks the safety level.


This concept targets the safety whether it's a cover2 or cover3 safety. Here, it's the cover3 safety (blue). If blue stays back to provide help on the Post, he'd be at the red X, then the Deep In route is open once VD finds a passing lane for the QB to use - between the two orange defenders. If blue comes forward to help on the Deep In, which he did here, then the Post is open as it breaks inside with the CB playing outside leverage.


This isn't the best example of Mills, because the coverage starts to breakdown due to Kap stepping up into the pocket and posing a threat to scramble. Because Kap steps up and poses a scrambling threat, the LBs freeze and VD becomes really open. Notice the deep safety has come up to defend the Deep In and Crabs has broken to the Post. Replace Crabs with Torrey Smith and this can be a huge gain. Had the safety stayed back to respect Torrey's Post, then VD can have more room to work the Deep In and get some RAC.


Here, the play is a 5 step drop concept to Kap's right, and Mills (7 step) to Kap's left. You can see Kap initally looking to his right, red light that concept, then hit his next progression - Mills. If you can try to imagine, the Post isn't open until the 2nd hitch step. That makes it: shotgun snap (2 steps) + 3 step drop + 2 hitch steps.


Mills, also called "Pin (Post + In)" can be a go-to concept for big gains in 2015. I'll be differentiating between the two by calling it Mills when the Post + Dig come from the same side of the field. When the Post and Dig come from opposite sides of the field, I'll call it Pin. Just semantics.

Originally posted by Niners816:
Its pretty good with the depth of playbooks. The thing with madden is, it can play as realistic as you want it. Supposedly they have a guy that designs plays based on teams films. For example, "Vernon post"'from the 2011 divisional game is in the game. Madden really is the only game that I still play. It's fun to knock out a couple of games during the course of the season. Also, with the create-a-playbook I can make my perfect WCO playbook.

Lol really? I've never seen Vernon post in the niners playbook. What is it called?

Originally posted by spizzy:

Originally posted by Niners816:
Its pretty good with the depth of playbooks. The thing with madden is, it can play as realistic as you want it. Supposedly they have a guy that designs plays based on teams films. For example, "Vernon post"'from the 2011 divisional game is in the game. Madden really is the only game that I still play. It's fun to knock out a couple of games during the course of the season. Also, with the create-a-playbook I can make my perfect WCO playbook.

Lol really? I've never seen Vernon post in the niners playbook. What is it called?

It sucks that that play is not shown in the all22 film on NFL Rewind. The NFL film crew messed up when it cut the film and that play is omitted. It completely skips over that play when watching the coaches film.

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
Johnnydel:
After all of this analysis have you concluded what our problems on offense was caused by? Was it:
1 roman
2 Harboughs
3 Kaeps immature defensive reading
4 Kaeps poor mechanics
5 poor offensive line production
6 poor wide receiver production
7 poor offense identity - shifting from run offense to passing offense
8 an unusual mix of circumstances and injury

What ever conclusions drawn what can we realistically do to correct our problems?

Well - that's a pretty loaded question for the zone haha! I think there are a number of reasons and I'll start with my list - I know it's not going to please everyone - but, it's just my opinion.

1. Poor team chemistry - I saw a lot of lacking in execution throughout the team. It was like everyone was just a step off here and there in a lot of what we did - especially in the run game. Power run schemes require the lineman to be VERY precise in their footwork and timing of the pulls and combo blocks - we didn't do well with that all year. We also struggled in finding good timing in our passing offense. The WCO if very much a timing offense and it all starts with the QB's footwork. There's teh 3 step drop, 5 step drop, 5 step with a hitch, 7 step, step with a hitch, rollout - all of which are designed to nail down the timing so that when the Qb hit's that last step, he's driving on the throw. Receivers have to be exactly where they're supposed to be and the QB has to have gotten through his progression to know exactly where to throw the ball. We didn't have that this year. There were times when CK hit his last step and the receivers - for one reason or another, weren't to their spots yet. Other times, he hit his last step and hadn't decided where to throw, so his throw was off target cause it threw his whole mechanics off a bit.
2. Lack of cohesion in the personnel:
Our most success in the passing game came mostly out of horizontal stretch passing or vertical and horizontal stretch passing. Vertical stretch passing - not so much. With a power run game - it lends to a vertical passing game, ZBS lends itself to horizontal passing. Our lineman were much better suited to a power run game yet our receivers were much more suited to a horizontal, RAC offense. Not sure where the blame lies for that. I'd say it's both on the coach and the GM and really on the two not working well together to build a team that fits the system.(I.E. Bill Walsh, Bill Bellichick, Tom Landry).
3. I think there's a 3-way tie for 3rd: CK's growth - or lack-there-of in his progression passing, full on potato play calling at times, poor line protection. I think all those things were about equal.

What we can do to fix this problems: What CK did this offseason by going and training with football guys and trying to learn more about football - like Peyton Manning does in the offseason and not trying to shave .01 off his 40 yard dash with Olympic sprinters.

Attaining a true SE or "X" receiver to aid a vertical passing game and give CK a viable 1-1 deep threat - which we did via TS.

Better line protection - well, we have a new O-line coach, other than that, it's hard to say that we'll be able to "upgrade" the line. I have a hard time seeing us get a better guard than Iupati - although I know several around here weren't that high on him, he was all-pro for a reason. I'm not a big fan of A. Davis in pass pro - so, unless he's magically learned how to get quicker feet, I'm not super hopeful here. To me, they should've given the extension to Iupati, not A. Davis - just my opinion though.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

Originally posted by spizzy:

Lol really? I've never seen Vernon post in the niners playbook. What is it called?

"Niner TE Post"----I believe it's in the double on gun form. The play art here is a little deceiving. In game, the TE is flexed out a bit with the WR stacked close.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by spizzy:

Originally posted by Niners816:
Its pretty good with the depth of playbooks. The thing with madden is, it can play as realistic as you want it. Supposedly they have a guy that designs plays based on teams films. For example, "Vernon post"'from the 2011 divisional game is in the game. Madden really is the only game that I still play. It's fun to knock out a couple of games during the course of the season. Also, with the create-a-playbook I can make my perfect WCO playbook.

Lol really? I've never seen Vernon post in the niners playbook. What is it called?

It sucks that that play is not shown in the all22 film on NFL Rewind. The NFL film crew messed up when it cut the film and that play is omitted. It completely skips over that play when watching the coaches film.

http://www.49ers.com/video/videos/Anatomy-of-a-Play-Vernon-Post/10df3a2d-c978-4a1c-a7d3-4074382a7327

Somehow, NFL network got the flm - it's very similar to a sucker concept with a post instead of a square in. They knew they could hit the post because Roman Harper was scouted on film as playing 2-3 yards deep in the endzone.

Originally posted by Niners816:


"Niner TE Post"----I believe it's in the double on gun form. The play art here is a little deceiving. In game, the TE is flexed out a bit with the WR stacked close.

Dude, you need to charge your phone - just saying

Originally posted by thl408:
^^^^
Looks Double Slant-ish, but if it was, then VD isn't running it correctly. Nice ball placement by Kap (a little high) to clear the reach of that underneath defender. Very nice calmness in the pocket here.

I think Boldin was just trying to maintain his spacing back after getting bumped by the LB, that's why I thought it was a curls concept.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Dude, you need to charge your phone - just saying

Great ole iPhone....I always have a charger nearby

jonnhydel, do you think there was a struggle between to FO and coaching staff and going to a horizontal/vertical passing scheme? Or was it simply deficiencies in personnel to really dedicate to one?