Originally posted by thl408:
Originally posted by Wubbie:
Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
CMC, Trent and Brock are the MVPs
I was just thinking about how important it is that we have all our core offensive players: Purdy, Aiyuk, Deebo, CMC, Trent, Kittle, Juice.
Shanahan has catered his offense to the things that make these players special. If you lose a guy to injury, yes, we can make it work, but it hurts when they're out.
- Brandon Aiyuk: Our best route-runner, and probably the best we have on deep routes and just "conventional" WR functions. Has emerged as a true #1 WR-type in this league. Take him away and we don't threaten as much in the intermediate/deep areas of the field. He's also the WR that Purdy has the most chemistry with.
- Deebo Samuel: Like CMC, he's a guy that lines up everywhere and can play both RB/WR. We can exploit matchups moving him and CMC around. Because of these things, both he and CMC have tremendous gravity, opening things up for others guys in a Steph Curry type of way. But not only that, Deebo's a tone setter. The way he runs is so violent and just gets the guys amped up. If you take Deebo out, you lose the gravity, and you lose his energy.
- Christian McCaffrey: Like Deebo, he's a super versatile chess piece that can line up everywhere. Our scheme starts with running the ball effectively, and CMC can run all our runs at a high level. Like Deebo, he has a certain gravity and can just do it all. The guy is a consistent chain mover that also has home run ability. Take him away, and our run game doesn't threaten as much with motion and play action.
- George Kittle: I have a ton of confidence that if George Kittle was played purely as a receiving option and the #1 option, he'd be putting up 1200+ yard campaigns every year. But Kittle is the best run-blocking TE in the league and is like having a 6th offensive lineman on the field. In the Shanahan era, we haven't really fielded a top tier RG and RT, so Kittle will often help out in pass protection there. And we need him and Juice to help out, because without Trent Williams, our offensive line would be a huge liability. He's a match-up nightmare for linebackers and safeties. Take him out, and we'd suffer in pass protection, run blocking, and attacking safeties/LB's.
- Kyle Juszczyk: He's a Swiss Army knife. Can take the occasional quick FB dive. He can catch passes everywhere on the field. Does it all in pass protection and run blocking. And ultimately, just a very smart player. This goes for all of our players, but Juice's pre-snap motion and post-snap movement makes it very easy for us to have a dynamic run game where we can run between and outside of the tackles. Take him out and we just don't have the same smoothness in all the things we do.
- Trent Williams: The anchor of our offensive line. The sheer fact that he can one-on-one a defense's best pass rusher gives us tremendous confidence that we can allocate pass protection resources elsewhere. In the run game, he's just... dominant. To the point that we have a highlight this season of an opposing defensive back running away at the sight of him. Take him away, and the 49ers have to have 6, 7, 8 guys in pass protection at all times, limiting the offense.
- Brock Purdy: The playmaker that sets everything up. Other QB's have had productivity in this system, but Purdy is the QB we have that allows it to start reaching its potential, but also make plays outside of the design. He can hit all the throws with anticipation and accuracy. Take him out and replace him with a lesser QB? This offense would still be effective, but we're limited to whatever areas of the field that QB can attack. With Purdy, he's showing the sky is the limit.
Nice summary. What's also awesome is how bought in they are to the team. The skills players all haul ass to block when they don't have the ball and seem genuinely happy for one another. I was watching a Kyle interview (CSNBC?) and he said that he has told the players that the offense attacks coverages. So who gets the ball depends on the coverage, not because Kyle feels the need to feed a certain player their proper share of touches. I'll try to find it.
That's huge that we have the talent that Shanahan can aggressively attack. The offense has answers. No, Shanahan won't win every playcall against an opposing defensive playcaller, but more often than not, he does. And he puts defenses in binds because there are few defenses that have the talent to keep up with us.
(Interestingly enough, I think the 49ers own defense is one of the few defenses that have the personnel and scheme to potentially stop our offense).
