Originally posted by thl408:Great points THL!
There were some questions as to which DT would play more 2i and which would play more 3tech. I spotlighted this in the PIT game and noticed that Armstead was always at leftDT and Hargrave was at rightDT. The 3tech was always to the offensive line's strongside, and the 2i was always aligned to the offensive weaskside. So it was the offensive line's alignment that determined who played 2i and who played 3t.
I am only referring to run/pass neutral downs. On obvious passing downs, the 49ers will often play with two 3techs.
It's only been one game so I'll see if this continues or if it was gameplan specific. So versus PIT, the 49ers were always in an Over front. Ryans last season switched it up throughout the course of a game, sometimes using an Under front (3t to the weakside, 2i to the strongside). Why is this noteworthy? The 2i is the guy that often faces the double team block.
I"ll just add that the last two minutes of the first half, Wilks didn't call many DLine stunts, but in the fourth Qtr, he started calling them and the 49ers got a couple of sacks from it. Looks like Wilks is still getting a feel for the Wide 9. I think the over and under fronts are from the old Saleh/Caroll alignments - whereas the dual 3tech is more akin to the basic alignment of the Wide 9 itself - as how DT's are aligned. I still don't like the Wide 9 in stopping runs as a base defense, but that's not why the 49ers run it though.
