Coaches Film Analysis: 2018 Season

Originally posted by littleken:
When teams do play man against us going forward, do you anticipate that we will use more bunch up formation and pick/rub plays?

Yeah I would think so. Those are the usual ways to aid in getting separation vs man coverage. In this game, DET was very physical with the 49er WRs and it eventually bit them when it mattered most, the INT that was called back. On the day, there were 4 penalties called on DET related to illegal contact with the 49er WRs (one illegal contact beyond 5 yards, one defensive pass interf, two defensive holdings). There should have been at least two more penalties of this variety imo.

I also thought some of the picks the 49ers tried to run weren't effective. Either their spacing wasn't good or something was off because no picks were actually being made on a few plays, below is one play. Maybe DET was just good at playing them. This was a designed throw to Breida. I can tell because Juice never even looks back for the ball. He knows the ball is going to Breida off the pick that never occurred.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
I expect us to spend a lot of time on task working on that man-coverage stuff. I doubt they got a ton in during TC because we were playing our defense, which is primarily a zone team or a Mable, with man-coverage only on one receiver.

In Kyle's presser he mentioned Garcon was the only one that was able to fight through the contact being made on the 49er WRs. Pettis might be a slick route runner, but his play strength to fight through contact may be something he works on in the offseason to add some man muscle to his frame. I also noticed his hand fighting near the LoS needs improvement. He allowed DET CBs to grab and tug at him more than he should.

I didn't realize that the Lions has such good DBs, was impressed with their man coverage...

and ya, if we see that type of coverage every week and we can't break them out of it, then ya Jimmy G is going to struggle in the passing game

if our receivers can't gain separation on their own using speed/quickness or with doubles moves, then all you have left are picks/rubs utilized by formations, motions, or combo design

we have to consistently beat man coverage, no two ways about it

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
I expect us to spend a lot of time on task working on that man-coverage stuff. I doubt they got a ton in during TC because we were playing our defense, which is primarily a zone team or a Mable, with man-coverage only on one receiver.

In Kyle's presser he mentioned Garcon was the only one that was able to fight through the contact being made on the 49er WRs. Pettis might be a slick route runner, but his play strength to fight through contact may be something he works on in the offseason to add some man muscle to his frame. I also noticed his hand fighting near the LoS needs improvement. He allowed DET CBs to grab and tug at him more than he should.

hmm, I wonder why...

Originally posted by thl408:

Just tallied all the dropbacks where Jimmy faced zone coverage and I got 9/11 for 95 yards. Obviously no sacks since all the sacks were against man coverage. Interestingly, both of Morris' +16 yard catches came against zone.

So against man he was 9/15 for 111. That's 7.4 per attempt and 60% which isn't terrible. It's not great but it's not awful. Well, aside from the sacks.

These three plays are the bigger gains when DET played zone. 9/11 for 95 yards with one def pass interference penalty on the day when Jimmy saw zone.
vs Cover3
The outside release that Pettis takers is important in making this read easier for Jimmy. Pettis aligns tight to the formation but needs to stem outside for a reason.


Pettis takes a wide outside release so that he gets into the territory of the sideline deep 1/3 CB (blue). That CB is now being threatened by a vertical #2 (Pettis) and needs to back up to defend his deep 1/3 no matter what Morris does. But what Pettis' route also does is prevent the curl/flat defender (orange) from threatening Morris' Curl. Pettis is basically running interference by being in the way and not allowing that curl/flat defender from getting out to the flat if he wanted to.


Pitch and catch for +16.

So, not everything we did to beat man-coverage didn't work, lol. Sometimes it can seem that way. But, it wasn't all doom and gloom.



One thing Shanny is really good at is figuring out ways to disguise patterns with personnel and formations but achieve the same results. This is going to allow the same release as a bunch set, and be a similar type of play you'd see out of bunch sets, but done with 12 Personnel. We motion Garcon across and the CB follows, revealing man-coverage. This puts a S on Kittle. We have a short "dagger" concept up top with the WR's and a 'sucker' concept to the other side. 'Sucker' us usually used to beat zone coverage but we use it here to beat the man with underneath zone coverage. This is the same concept, similar design, to the catch Vernon Davis made in the playoffs against the Saints in 2011.



By having Kittle as the EMLOS it prevents the S from being able to get up and jam him as the S is now responsible for far outside contain. This allows Kittle to get a free release off the LOS. We then dress up Celek with Morris's route to the flat as a pick/rub route to draw it as the primary option when it's really the decoy.



Morris and Celek's routes create a rub/pick action on the LB and the defender on Celek thinks Celek is the main target, so he's got his back to the QB. This action also draws the underneath "lurk" defender.



With Celek's route gathering a double team and Kittle's free release it opens up a small window. It's a tight throw but one Shanny has full confidence in Jimmy making.



Here's another example of how DET was getting really grabby with these over-the-middle curl routes. This is the exact same route they got flagged for holding on the INT.



Jimmy drops the pass over one defender and between 2 others.



+17

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by thl408:
Just tallied all the dropbacks where Jimmy faced zone coverage and I got 9/11 for 95 yards. Obviously no sacks since all the sacks were against man coverage. Interestingly, both of Morris' +16 yard catches came against zone.

So against man he was 9/15 for 111. That's 7.4 per attempt and 60% which isn't terrible. It's not great but it's not awful. Well, aside from the sacks.

Yeah it's the sacks that made the team total passing yards look bad. -50 yards worth of sack yardage

The other Morris catch.
Three level Flood vs Cover3.
Red removes the deep 1/3 for yellow and orange to vertically stretch the curl/flat defender. It's a little odd how DET plays this and it leads to a wide open Morris.


Yellow is the curl/flat defender (C/F), orange is the Hook. The way the 49ers and many teams defend Flood concepts when in Cover3 is the Hook matches any intermediate crosser. This would allow the C/F to stay in the flat.
Instead, DET on this play has the C/F (yellow) match the crosser. You can see the Hook (orange) pointing to the crosser, "you got him!" So who's in the flat?


No one is in the flat except Morris. +16. Morris with a spin move in the open field?


This is how the 49ers defend Floods with the Hook matching the crosser allowing the C/F to defend the low read.

Wanted to highlight some of the things Richard Sherman brings to this defense. Not only does he make QB's scared of throwing his direction, but he understands how to help the team defense. Again, I hated, hated, hated this guy in Seattle, but man is he nice to have, lol.



Here, it's 3rd and 2 and we're going to be in man-coverage. DET motions Tate across the formation, revealing man-coverage. They're going to look for a rub play. I forgot to draw it, but the WR Sherman is on is going to run interference with a short curl route. He's looking to push Sherman up in coverage so Williams will run into him. They then run Tate out to the flat. This play is purely designed to get Tate the ball with his defender picked off. Real tough to defend when a team does stuff like this.

Shout out to Warner here as the MIKE who's responsible for communication as he's calling out, "Alert, Alert, Alert" to let Sherman know there's a receiver crossing the formation. When in press man you can't look at the ball, you react to your man-moving. You have to rely on your teammates to alert you to this stuff.



As Sherm takes two steps back he see's what's going on and does a really nice thing here. He doesn't jam up his guy all that much so he doesn't draw a penalty, he sticks his foot in the ground and holds his spot, just long enough for Williams to get a clean runaround. When I put up the GIF, watch for that. He understands what's happening and makes a great effort to keep Williams from getting picked off.



Williams is allowed a great angle on Tate because Sherm kept his pick minimized. Sherm then peels off to go make the tackle too - ball is in the air, he knew what they were doing.



Williams makes a good tackle for no gain on the play. It was originally ruled a first down but after review was overturned.



Helping out in more than his area. Way to go, Uncle Sherm.

Damn! Look at Reuben run and shutoff that deep over route by the WR

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Wanted to highlight some of the things Richard Sherman brings to this defense. Not only does he make QB's scared of throwing his direction, but he understands how to help the team defense. Again, I hated, hated, hated this guy in Seattle, but man is he nice to have, lol.



Here, it's 3rd and 2 and we're going to be in man-coverage. DET motions Tate across the formation, revealing man-coverage. They're going to look for a rub play. I forgot to draw it, but the WR Sherman is on is going to run interference with a short curl route. He's looking to push Sherman up in coverage so Williams will run into him. They then run Tate out to the flat. This play is purely designed to get Tate the ball with his defender picked off. Real tough to defend when a team does stuff like this.

Shout out to Warner here as the MIKE who's responsible for communication as he's calling out, "Alert, Alert, Alert" to let Sherman know there's a receiver crossing the formation. When in press man you can't look at the ball, you react to your man-moving. You have to rely on your teammates to alert you to this stuff.



As Sherm takes two steps back he see's what's going on and does a really nice thing here. He doesn't jam up his guy all that much so he doesn't draw a penalty, he sticks his foot in the ground and holds his spot, just long enough for Williams to get a clean runaround. When I put up the GIF, watch for that. He understands what's happening and makes a great effort to keep Williams from getting picked off.



Williams is allowed a great angle on Tate because Sherm kept his pick minimized. Sherm then peels off to go make the tackle too - ball is in the air, he knew what they were doing.



Williams makes a good tackle for no gain on the play. It was originally ruled a first down but after review was overturned.

Helping out in more than his area. Way to go, Uncle Sherm.

Oh nice one. There was another play where Sherman and KWilliams switch off assignments in response to late presnap motion from DET. They sort things out very quickly and Stafford can't get the look he wants. It's the play where Marsh recovered the fumble.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
I expect us to spend a lot of time on task working on that man-coverage stuff. I doubt they got a ton in during TC because we were playing our defense, which is primarily a zone team or a Mable, with man-coverage only on one receiver.

In Kyle's presser he mentioned Garcon was the only one that was able to fight through the contact being made on the 49er WRs. Pettis might be a slick route runner, but his play strength to fight through contact may be something he works on in the offseason to add some man muscle to his frame. I also noticed his hand fighting near the LoS needs improvement. He allowed DET CBs to grab and tug at him more than he should.

Allen Rob... LOL, j/k.

But I was noting this very thing this off season on how important the Z plays a role in this offense and focused on Garcon specifically as he is strong enough to fight through contact, take the big hits on crossers, and specifically, run blocking (crack backs at the LOS and in open space). And he highlighted all of that against Detroit. I am hoping Bourne can grow into that physical role. But I highly doubt Pettis can replicate that skill set (better at the X or slot - Kyle calls it the 'F') as that's not really his game --- quite the opposite, actually.

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by thl408:
Just tallied all the dropbacks where Jimmy faced zone coverage and I got 9/11 for 95 yards. Obviously no sacks since all the sacks were against man coverage. Interestingly, both of Morris' +16 yard catches came against zone.

So against man he was 9/15 for 111. That's 7.4 per attempt and 60% which isn't terrible. It's not great but it's not awful. Well, aside from the sacks.

Great info on both accounts. I'll be looking for this more against KC.

There's been a lot of flak given to anyone who says, "almost sacks count too". But, they're not wrong. Disrupting the QB is just as important as actual sacks and can still positively affect the game.



We come with a zone blitz and E. Lee's pressure and beating the RB forces a bad pass from Stafford. He throws it behind his open receiver. This was 3rd down and got the defense off the field.