This season, the Chiefs have been pretty good against the deep ball, allowing just two touchdowns and amassing three interceptions on throws of 20 or more air yards. But that doesn’t mean the 49ers shouldn’t take one or more deep shots right off the bat, just to get Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo wondering if that’s going to be a more common part of the game plan in the Super Bowl. Garoppolo hasn’t thrown a lot of deep balls this season — he ranks 30th in the league among quarterbacks who have taken at least 20% of their snaps with just 32 attempts of 20 or more air yards, but he’s completed 20 such passes for 673 yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions. It’s worth keeping the Chiefs on point for explosive plays.
On this 21-yard pass to rookie receiver Deebo Samuel against the Seahawks in Week 17, Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner and safety Bradley McDougald double tight end George Kittle, and everyone else has a man assignment. Samuel has cornerback Shaquill Griffin playing right on top of him in aggressive coverage, and he does a great job of selling inside movement and losing Griffin along the way.
It’s likely that the Chiefs will double Kittle frequently, so it behooves Garoppolo to find the weakness in coverage elsewhere. He’s not going to match Mahomes blow-for-blow, but a few shot plays will be necessary.
Get Garoppolo outside the pocket.
As was the case for Shanahan’s father Mike when Mike Shanahan was calling offenses in the NFL for decades, boot-action and the overall bootleg passing game is a big part of Kyle Shanahan’s arsenal. In Garoppolo’s case, boot gets him away from the pass rush, cuts the field and his reads in half, and allows him to use his athleticism to extend the play and try to break coverage apart and get a receiver open through unexpected movement.
On this six-yard touchdown pass to Bourne against the Saints, Garoppolo finds his targets in trips left to be covered in man on first reaction. So, it’s his job to move left, extend the play, and wait for a receiver (Bourne, in this case) to get open outside of structure. Bourne is able to do this against cornerback P.J. Williams by extending his quick comeback route back to the goal post from the middle of trips.
Kudos to Garoppolo here for making a throw while rolling against his momentum to his left. He may be asked to make a similar big-time throw in Miami.
Use trickeration to further upset the defense.
Back to the Saints game — a 48-46 win for the 49ers in which Drew Brees threw five touchdown passes, and Shanahan had to keep his foot pinned to the gas pedal all the way through. The Chiefs will likely present a similar scenario. Garoppolo threw four touchdown passes in that game, and Emmanuel Sanders added another with this 35-yard throw to running back Raheem Mostert. Here is the full Shanahan reveal — play-action, motion, and trickeration. Kansas City’s defense has improved drastically in the second half of the season, but any defense can be upset by the right surprise.
It’s my belief that Kyle Shanahan is the NFL’s best play-caller and play-designer, especially when it comes to giving his own guys a schematic and spatial advantage, and putting defenses in discomfort. He is limited to a point by a good quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo who has specific things he doesn’t do well, but this challenge isn’t anything Shanahan can’t handle. It will simply be up to him to put Garoppolo in the optimal situation on every play.
Because one thing’s for sure: If Garoppolo throws eight passes in Super Bowl LIV, he won’t be the quarterback heading home with a ring.
Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar previously covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post, and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018 and won the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for “Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography.”