The 49ers defense made life easy for themselves Saturday in a 27-10 win over the Vikings in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Their performance in which they allowed just seven first downs and 147 total yards meant a light workload for the finally-healthy unit.
San Francisco’s defense was so dominant that they held the Vikings to just 46 offensive snaps. That was the fewest they played since their Week 5 win over the Browns, which coincidentally also came after a bye week.
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The low snap count meant the 49ers defense had a relatively light work day. That was especially important for players like Dee Ford, Kwon Alexander and Jaquiski Tartt who were all coming off injuries and seeing their first action in several weeks.
Tartt didn’t miss a beat. He played all 46 of the downs the 49ers defense was on the field. That’s not a huge surprise since the bye week effectively let him get back to full strength after a rib injury in Week 13 sidelined him for the rest of the regular season.
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Ford and Alexander were the two big question marks though.
Ford was used a a pass-rush specialist and played 22 snaps, good for 48 percent. That raw snap count actually falls in line with the number he was playing prior to his Week 11 hamstring injury. After Week 1 when he played 40 snaps, he didn’t eclipse 26 the rest of the year due to a lingering quad injury.
Getting him to emerge healthy from Saturday’s game is significant given the impact he has on the 49ers’ pass rush. He recorded a sack late in the first half and was around the quarterback a lot in his limited action. It’s within reason to think he’ll land between 22 and 30 snaps the rest of the postseason, even if his hamstring is 100 percent healed.
Alexander took over the Sam linebacker spot from Azeez Al-Shaair in his return from a torn pectoral. Dre Greenlaw stayed at Will linebacker, which belonged to Alexander prior to his injury. Getting Alexander in at the Sam spot allowed the 49ers to use him significantly, but on fewer snaps than if he played Will.
Alexander saw action on 25 snaps, which comes out to 54 percent. Greenlaw was in for 39 plays. The 54 percent falls in line with the amount Mark Nzeocha played at the Sam spot in the 49ers’ Week 1 loss to the Vikings a year ago.
It’ll be interesting to see how the 49ers deploy Alexander moving forward. It’s unlikely their base defense with a third linebacker on the field will be used as much against their next opponent, so Alexander’s role could change going into the NFC championship.
Here are the full snap counts for the 49ers on both sides of the ball, provided by NFL GSIS:
Offense
Defense
