Category: 49ers

NFL playoffs: Secret Superstars of the divisional round — the offense

Doug Farrar’s list of Secret Superstars on offense for the divisional round is full of players who had to hit their second teams before things went well.

NFL players don’t always find their ideal environs with their first NFL teams. You can be drafted into a nightmare of an organization in which nobody is utilized to their ultimate potential. You can hit the bottom of a positional logjam. Or maybe your skill set just wasn’t developed enough in your first few seasons.

As we prepare for the divisional round of the 2022 season, there are all kinds of under-the-radar players who had to travel on a second (or third, or fourth) contract before things went the right way for them. But however they arrived, they arrived.

This week’s list of Secret Superstars on the offensive side of the ball is relatively packed with such players, along with some guys who have managed to have the lights go on in their first stop.

Here’s our list of the most underrated (and perhaps most crucial) players on offense for the divisional round.

49ers outscore Seahawks 25-6 after Johnathan Abram’s dirty tackle of Deebo Samuel

The Seahawks had a lead over the 49ers in the wild-card round. Then, Johnathan Abram made Deebo Samuel mad. You don’t want to do that.

You generally assume that all NFL players come into any postseason game at the very height of personal intensity. That said, there are actions on the field that can ramp things up for a player, or for an entire team.

The Seattle Seahawks discovered this the hard way in their 41-23 wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The underdog Seahawks actually led 17-16 at the half, and then, safety Johnathan Abram poked the wrong bear at the wrong time.

With 10:26 left in the third quarter, Brock Purdy threw a short pass to Deebo Samuel, who trucked 18 yards after the catch for a 21-yard gain, taking the ball from the Seattle 37-yard line to the Seattle 16.

That wasn’t the problem. The problem was what Abram did after the play was over — he tugged on Samuel’s left leg when the play was obviously over. For whatever reason, Abram was not flagged for the extracurricular incident.

If you want some more background here, Samuel had missed Weeks 15-17 of the 2022 season with knee and ankle injuries. So, you can imagine that he was unhappy with this move. You can also understand why Samuel’s teammates were a bit put out.

That caused a fight between the two teams, who don’t really like each other anyway.

After the game, several 49ers players — including Samuel himself — pointed to this as the difference in the game.

As for Samuel, he got his revenge on the field, as his 49ers outscored the Seahawks 25-6 following that play.

How the 49ers kill defenses in the passing game with the threat of the run

The San Francisco 49ers have interesting ways of killing defenses in the passing game with run threats and pre-snap motion.

It’s a long-held belief that you need a strong run game to be effective with play-action. Not true, and it’s been proven over time that it’s not true. What you need as an offense is the threat of the run, and run looks, to displace and fool a defense into thinking you’re going to zig, when zagging is all that’s on your mind.

If you have a great run game, however, and your offensive play-designer understands perfectly how to upset defensive assignments with play-action and pre-snap motion… well, you have what the San Francisco 49ers did to the Seattle Seahawks with 14:02 left in the fourth quarter of their Saturday wild-card game.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan comes into a stadium with a serious advantage in this regard, because the run game he’s designed over time is one of the NFL’s most diverse and effective. In-game, the little wrinkles he throws at defenses can open things up in ways defenses just can’t stop.

The play in question was a seven-yard pass from Brock Purdy to running back Elijah Mitchell. Pre-snap, this looked like a run — the 49ers had fullback Kyle Juszczyk motioning from left to right, and left guard Aaron Banks pulling the same way. With Mitchell in the backfield, this could have easily been a run, and you can see that Seattle’s linebackers reacted completely to that idea.

Purdy’s first read was backside to receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but Seattle cornerback Tariq Woolen had Aiyuk locked down. Now, Purdy had to deal with pressure, and he rolled right to get away from it.

Seattle’s defenders missed Mitchell entirely, which gave Mitchell a wide-open shot.

“Kyle is going to make you have to defend the entire field,” Seahawks defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt said this week. “Because of the amount of weapons that he has, you have to account for everybody, so it makes it a difficult challenge. It’s not like you can rotate a coverage or do things where you can eliminate one guy, you have to defend all 11 guys out there on the field. He does a great job of scheming up, calling it, and everything else, so like I said, it’s a great challenge that we have in front of us.”

That touchdown put the 49ers up 31-17, and San Francisco put the final nail in on their next drive, with this 74-yard touchdown on a short pass from Purdy to Deebo Samuel. Again, we have Juszczyk as a motion variable — this time, moving from the formation to the backfield. And again, a fake to the running back (Christian McCaffrey this time), and San Francisco’s offense was off to the races.

Good luck to any team having to deal with this offense throughout the rest of the postseason.

Brock Purdy connects with Deebo Samuel on 74-yard TD pass

The 49ers blew open their playoff game with the Seahawks in the second half

The fans at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday probably are starting to think about who the San Francisco 49ers’ Divisional round foe is.

Brock Purdy threw his third TD pass of the game. This one went to Deebo Samuel, who turned it into a 74-yard scoring play.

The team that trailed 17-16 at the break was ahead 38-16, having scored 22 straight points.

Purdy had plenty of reason to pound his chest. He had thrown for more than 300 yards — the game had 10 minutes left — and rushed for a touchdown.

This guy was the last pick in the 2022 NFL draft?

Amazing.

49ers convert Seahawks turnover into Elijah Mitchell touchdown reception

The 49ers are back in front of the Seahawks thanks to 2 TD drives in the second half

The San Francisco 49ers have regained control of their NFC Wild-Card game with the Seattle Seahawks.

The Niners scored the first 15 points of the second half to grab a 31-17 lead.

After a long drive to regain the lead, Charles Omenihu stripped Geno Smith.

Nick Bosa recovered.

The Seahawks could not afford a turnover and this one came at the worst possible time.

Brock Purdy led a 7-play, 70-yard drive that finished with the rookie QB finding a wide-open Elijah Mitchell for a 7-yard touchdown.

The Niners went for two and Purdy connected with George Kittle and suddenly the gap was 31-17 early in the fourth quarter.

49ers regain lead after 13-play touchdown drive

Brock Purdy has given the 49ers the lead on a quarterback sneak

The San Francisco 49ers chewed up more than half of the third quarter on Saturday en route to moving in front of the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC Wild-Card game at Levi’s Stadium.

The drive concluded with a quarterback sneak by rookie quarterback Brock Purdy. The PAT put San Francisco up 23-17.

The 13-play march was the longest drive of the year for the 49ers. It was comprised of 10 running plays and 3 passes.

Christian McCaffrey sets up 49ers TD with 68-yard run

Christian McCaffrey had a huge role in the 49ers’ first TD drive

The San Francisco 49ers have roared out of the blocks against the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC Wild-Card game at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday.

After settling for a field goal on their opening drive, Brock Purdy handed the ball to Christian McCaffrey

Sixty-eight yards later, San Francisco was set up for a bigger score.

Purdy finished the drive four plays later, finding McCaffrey wide open on a check-down and the running back could have waltzed into the end zone.

Less than 10 minutes into the game, the NFC West champions were up 10-0,

Tariq Woolen is faster than you, and he’s happy to let you know

Once again, Seahawks cornerback Tariq Woolen proved that he’s faster than anybody else on the field.

Now that Seattle Seahawks first-year cornerback Tariq Woolen is justifiably in the discussion for Defensive Rookie of the Year, we can go back and wonder why it was that Woolen lasted until the fifth round of the 2022 draft out of the University of Texas-San Antonio. Some NFL shot-callers believed Woolen to be too raw in coverage, and some questioned his strength of competition.

1,135 snaps, 38 receptions on 68 targets for 549 yards, 207 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, six interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 70.0 later, nobody is wondering about Woolen’s NFL potential.

And the 4.26 40-yard dash speed Woolen put up at the 2022 scouting combine has showed up more than once this season with Woolen’s ungodly recovery speed in coverage. Woolen showed it off once again with 10:19 left in the first quarter of Seattle’s Saturday wild-card game against the San Francisco 49ers.

49ers quarterback Brock Purdy tried to get the ball deep to receiver Jauan Jennings, and Woolen just wasn’t having it. This despite getting baked a bit on the route. When you can play catchup to this degree, you can erase a lot of mistakes.

Not the first time this season that Woolen has shocked an opposing offense with his downfield speed.

Tariq Woolen is faster than everybody else, and the Chiefs just found that out

NFL Playoffs: Secret Superstars of the wild-card round — the defense

Which unknown players will step up in the wild-card round? Here are this week’s Secret Superstars on the defensive side of the ball.

If your team is going to win a Super Bowl, at some point along that ride, your team will have to get at least one remarkable postseason performance from a player nobody saw coming. Yes, we all expect the big names to come up big in big moments in big games, and other attendant cliches, but somewhere along the line, you will need a Secret Superstar to get the job done.

If you expected Buffalo Bills receiver Gabe Davis to go off for four touchdown catches against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 divisional round, you should probably be working for a team. Because, with all due respect to Davis, I don’t think even the Bills were expecting that.

The same could be said for Houston Oilers defensive back Vernon Perry in the divisional round of the 1979 playoffs against the San Diego Chargers of Don Coryell and Dan Fouts. The undrafted rookie from Jackson State picked off four of Fouts’ passes, and blocked a field goal for good measure. As the game ended 17-14 in Houston’s favor, that block was as important as any of the picks.

You get the idea. At some point in the wild-card round of the upcoming playoffs, there will be at least one player whose name you don’t know who will pop up on the screen, and grab your attention. Here are my most likely players to do just that on the defensive side of the ball; the Secret Superstars on offense for the wild-card round can be found here.

NFL Playoffs: Secret Superstars of the wild-card round — the offense

And here’s the wild-card schedule for all who are curious; I tried to focus on repeat matchups as much as possible.

NFL sets Super Wild-Card Weekend schedule: Times, days, and networks

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NFL Playoffs: Secret Superstars of the wild-card round — the offense

Which players whose names you might now know could go off in the wild-card round of the playoffs? Here’s our potential Secret Superstars.

If your team is going to win a Super Bowl, at some point along that ride, your team will have to get at least one remarkable postseason performance from a player nobody saw coming. Yes, we all expect the big names to come up big in big moments in big games, and other attendant cliches, but somewhere along the line, you will need a Secret Superstar to get the job done.

If you expected Buffalo Bills receiver Gabe Davis to go off for four touchdown catches against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 divisional round, you should probably be working for a team. Because, with all due respect to Davis, I don’t think even the Bills were expecting that.

The same could be said for Houston Oilers defensive back Vernon Perry in the divisional round of the 1979 playoffs against the San Diego Chargers of Don Coryell and Dan Fouts. The undrafted rookie from Jackson State picked off four of Fouts’ passes, and blocked a field goal for good measure. As the game ended 17-14 in Houston’s favor, that block was as important as any of the picks.

You get the idea. At some point in the wild-card round of the upcoming playoffs, there will be at least one player whose name you don’t know who will pop up on the screen, and grab your attention. Here are my most likely players to do just that on the offensive side of the ball; the defensive players on this week’s Secret Superstars team will be up shortly.

And here’s the wild-card schedule for all who are curious; I tried to focus on repeat matchups as much as possible.

NFL sets Super Wild-Card Weekend schedule: Times, days, and networks

[mm-video type=video id=01gpe6x1ntf8apd3n095 playlist_id=none player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gpe6x1ntf8apd3n095/01gpe6x1ntf8apd3n095-5a613d3dbce0f48bdaa5643e7e138467.jpg]