Tag: Kyle Shanahan

Scouting the San Francisco 49ers

A look at the San Francisco 49ers, who play the Ravens in Week 13, from a tendency point of view.

In one of the games of the week, if not the entire 2019 season, the red hot Baltimore Ravens take on the San Francisco 49ers at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 13. The Ravens have won their last six games and sit atop the AFC North at 9-2. The 49ers also lead their division and if the season ended today would have the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the back of their 10-1 record. These teams have met five times in the regular season since 1996. Baltimore has a 3-2 advantage. They also met in the Super Bowl following the 2012 season, with John Harbaugh emerging victorious over his brother Jim who was 49ers head coach at the time.

Let’s take a closer look at San Francisco to give us a better look at what we can expect to see from them on offense and defense.

Offense

Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has long been thought of as one of the better offensive coaches in the NFL. His team has certainly lived up to his billing this season as they trail only the Ravens in points scored. They sit at sixth in total yards. The 49ers, in another similarity to the Ravens, have found most of their offensive success on the ground so far this season. Their 1,602 rushing yards are the second-most in the NFL, while they are close to the middle of the pack in terms of passing. The 49ers have 2,603 passing yards this season, which ranks 14th.

From a formation point of view, the 49ers are one of the more versatile in the NFL. They line up in 11 personnel (one back, one tight end, three wide receivers) on 40% of their offensive plays, a long way below the league average and more than only two teams. They predominantly pass out of this formation, doing so on 70% of their plays. San Francisco averages 7.6 yards per passing attempt out of the 11 formation, but also average 5.4 yards per rushing attempt.

The 49ers use 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends, two wide receivers) on a quarter of their plays and tend to run out of this formation despite only averaging 3.4 yards per attempt.

The 49ers use 21 personnel (two backs, one tight end, two wide receivers at the second-highest rate in the league, lining up this way on 22% of their plays. They have a pass:run rate of 42%:58% with two backs on the field, averaging 9 yards per pass attempt and 4.9 yards per rush.

In a shotgun league, the 49ers put their quarterback under center at one of the highest rates in the NFL — 59% of their offensive plays are run with Jimmy Garoppolo under center. They run the ball on 69% of their plays when this happens. When Garoppolo has lined up in the gun, it has been a pass on 77% of the plays. In neutral situations (when the 49ers are up or down by seven points or less), the 49ers have a pass:run rate of 54%:46%. But their overall pass to run ratio of 0.83 is the second-lowest in the NFL this season.

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Can the 49ers stop Lamar Jackson from running wild? History is not encouraging

The 49ers have one of the NFL’s best defenses. But there’s one obvious vulnerability — and it’s one that Lamar Jackson can easily exploit.

So, we’re past the point where anybody is assuming Lamar Jackson is anything but a pure quarterback, right? Yeah, we thought so. Jackson’s bravura performance against the Rams on Monday Night Football — he completed 15 of 20 passes for 169 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions against Wade Phillips’ helpless defense — put the league on notice (as if the league wasn’t already on notice) that Jackson can beat you just as easily with his passing as he can with his rushing abilities. Through the 2019 season, Jackson has taken great strides as a quarterback, improving his ability to throw with anticipation and accuracy into tight windows, and to work through his progressions to find the ideal target.

“It was impressive,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said after his team’s 45-6 debacle. “When you sit there and watch, and you feel the operation up close and personal — you just see how sharp they are with their execution, what a dynamic playmaker he is, what a great job they do of creating conflict before the snap, changing your fits. And then on third down, they were really impressive. Just his ability to find some completions and make some plays with his legs — there’s a reason why people are talking about him as an MVP. It felt like it tonight.”

(Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports)

This Sunday, another NFC West defense has Jackson to deal with. The 49ers will travel to M&T Bank Stadium to try and shut Jackson down — or, at least, slow him down. On its face, San Francisco’s defense would seem to have a decent chance. The unit led by defensive coordinator Robert Saleh ranks second in the NFL in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted defensive metrics, behind only the Patriots. They rank second against the pass, and 16th against the run. San Francisco’s defensive front and linebacker corps is a quick-moving group in which everyone loves to get to the quarterback — especially rookie edge-rusher Nick Bosa, who has nine sacks, nine quarterback hits, and 36 quarterback hurries on the season, per Pro Football Focus’ metrics. The 49ers are also coming off a 37-8 Sunday night demolition of the Packers in which Aaron Rodgers and his crew couldn’t get out of first gear at all.

However, the same things that make this pass rush so formidable make the same defense vulnerable to the run — especially to specific run concepts. San Francisco ranks 13th in FO’s Defensive Adjusted Line Yards metric, and they’re not good at all against runs in the open field, ranking 25th in yards earned against runs 5-10 yards past the line of scrimmage, and 30th in yards earned beyond that.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked this week of Jackson’s success as a runner this season — he has 124 carries for 874 yards, a league-leading 7.1 yards per carry average, and six touchdowns on the ground — was the result of the NFL not yet catching up with Baltimore’s multi-faceted run game.

Shanahan had a ready answer for that.

“I don’t think it necessarily is catching up,” he said. “Just like I didn’t think the defense ever caught up with the zone-read either. It’s not a trick play. It puts guys in a bind. It makes teams play 11-on-11 football. You’ve got to decide whether you want to play 11-on-11 or if you want to keep things the same and play 10-on-11. Most people, usually the quarterback makes you pay if you play 10-on-11 when you have these type of quarterbacks. You do have to change some stuff up and then what else does that open up and how good are you at that? Eventually, you can take stuff away. Then you’ve got to balance it out and see what holes that opened up because they take it away. I Think it will be that way until the end of time. I mean, no one catches up with this stuff. It’s not a gimmick play, it’s a very sound way to run an offense and they are doing it at a very high level right now.”

So, the 49ers are aware of the problem. Even if they are able to limit him as a quarterback with their coverages, they will have to be on alert against his running abilities — and this is a specific vulnerability of Saleh’s defense. Designed quarterback runs, especially to the outside, have absolutely gashed the 49ers. In Week 11 against the Arizona Cardinals and rookie quarterback Kyler Murray this season, Murray attempted seven designed runs, six of which were to the outside. On those plays, Murray averaged 9.3 yards per play and had a 22-yard touchdown run.

The 49ers’ inability to contain Murray was obvious, and disconcerting with Jackson on the docket. The touchdown run is a graphic example.

There was also this 21-yard run, which mirrors some of Baltimore’s misdirection concepts. Teams are using San Francisco’s speed and aggressiveness against it in the run game, and it’s working.

It also worked for Seattle’s Russell Wilson the week before on this 18-yard scramble.

“We brought a five-man pressure and they blocked us up with seven and it created a lane for Russell to run through that C-gap,” Saleh said a few days later, when asked if the Wilson play represented a gap integrity issue. “The coverage we were playing on the back end caught us a little bit deeper than we wanted, and it gave him an exit lane.

“I wasn’t expecting the tight end to stay in. It was a good call by them.”

It’s a common problem, though Saleh said last week that it isn’t an overarching concern, and that Jackson brings different things to the run game.

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Jimmy Garoppolo’s stats after he throws an interception are amazing

Jimmy Garoppolo has to fix his interception problem, but he could be worse off.

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Watching Jimmy Garoppolo play quarterback is an emotional roller coaster filled with seemingly endless peaks and valleys that fluctuate throughout the game. However, while Garoppolo is throwing interceptions at the fifth-highest rate in the league (3.2 percent of his throws), his lows are generally followed by pretty substantial highs.

Josh Dubow of the Associated Press tweeted a remarkable stat about Garoppolo’s production on drives following an interception. While the 49ers’ quarterback is susceptible to making multiple mistakes per game, he never does it back-to-back.

His numbers immediately following an interception are tremendous:

Three incompletions in 10 series following an interception is a remarkable number. The low yardage and touchdown totals indicate Garoppolo is a little more conservative with the ball in the set of downs after a pick, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed Garoppolo’s sometimes reckless play during his Wednesday press conference.

“I think that’s part of football, you get used to that stuff,” Shanahan said. “What’s more frustrating to me is when a guy can’t make any plays and a guy can’t throw it at all and you just sit there and you’re beating your head against the wall for three-and-a-half hours. So, it’s nice when they do make a lot of plays and do some good stuff, but some bad plays do come with that. I understand that, I think Jimmy will get better in that area. I think he does continue to get in that area and I think we also could make it easier on him based on the type of game we call, how good we do around him, but that’s part of football. It’s very rare that you just come out and throw a ton of touchdowns and not picks, but I do like that Jimmy doesn’t seem to be affected by it, that he doesn’t go into a shell. He still gives us a chance to win. The more that he can keep playing the way he is without doing those turnovers, the harder he’ll be to stop.”

It’s important to remember with Garoppolo that he’s still just 20 starts into his NFL career. A bad throw here and there comes with the territory of being an NFL signal caller. He’s not near his ceiling in terms of development as a passer, so there should be some optimism that his turnover issues will subside at some point.

For now, San Francisco will have to take the good with the bad. Garoppolo racked up a career-high 424 yards, and tied his career-best with four touchdown passes in the 49ers’ 36-26 win over the Cardinals last week. He also tossed two bad interceptions – one of which nearly ended the game.

What matters when the clock hits 0:00 though is that Garoppolo threw a game-winning touchdown pass with 31 seconds left after his defense got him the ball back. It’s the good with the bad, and Garoppolo continues to thrive immediately following a mistake. It’s not perfect, but it’s a better spot to be in than having a quarterback who compounds his mistakes.

49ers vs. Cardinals ultimate Week 12 preview

The Arizona Cardinals will look to even the score against the 8-1 49ers as the team travels to Santa Clara this Sunday.

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Halloween night was heart-breaking for many Arizona Cardinals fans. Quarterback Kyler Murray and company very nearly pulled off an epic comeback against one of the top teams in the NFL on prime-time television. It certainly would have been great for the Cardinals, though Sunday presents a chance at redemption.

The San Francisco 49ers are down many starters due to injury, while the Cardinals are coming in relatively healthy. LT Joe Staley and DT D.J. Jones have been ruled out, with many others questionable.

The biggest storyline is tight end George Kittle, who is officially listed as doubtful (even though head coach Kyle Shanahan told Arizona media he wouldn’t play earlier in the week). Another big injury is WR Emmanuel Sanders, who is in a ton of pain due to a rib injury sustained in Monday Night Football’s loss to the Seahawks. He is officially questionable.

Some other names for the 49ers on the injury front is RB Matt Breida (doubtful) and K Robbie Gould (doubtful).

The Cardinals must capitalize on San Francisco’s injury-plagued roster. They owe them one for the loss on Thursday Night Football.

Read on for our game preview:

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Ex-Redskins coaches, players have found massive success since leaving

A number of the top minds in the NFL were at once a part of the Redskins organization, but they’ve found success elsewhere.

“I wish there was actually a way to know you’re in the good old days before you actually left them.”

Andy Bernard — played by Ed Helms — said that on the Season 9 finale of “The Office” years ago, but it fits pretty well with how the Washington Redskins might feel just about now. While they are currently sitting with the second-worst record in the NFL, a look around the rest of the league shows numerous staffers, coaches, and players finding great success in new locations. Whether it’s a coach who used to be a coordinator in Washington or a GM who found a new team to manage, it seems that the Redskins franchise was exactly the jumping-off point that these guys needed to get their careers going.

In case you need help remembering who all of those future stars were they go as the following: Kyle Shanahan, Redskins OC; John Schneider, Redskins VP of Player Personnel; Matt LaFleur, Redskins QB coach; Kirk Cousins, Redskins QB; Sean McVay, Redskins OC.

All of them were at one point in the building, working to bring success to Washington. Now, they’ve been able to find success elsewhere, and the Redskins are still sitting at the bottom of the league, looking for the right answers. Here’s to hoping that the good old days are right around the corner.

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4 takeaways from the Seahawks’ wild, overtime win over the 49ers

A tremendous game and an impressive performance by Russell Wilson.

If the NFC championship is a rematch of this Monday Night Football game, we’re in for a treat. The Seattle Seahawks’ 27-24 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 10 was wild, messy and exciting. It may have been the most fun game of the season.

The 49ers’ and Seahawks’ defenses gave their offenses every opportunity to win — and did some scoring, too, with each team logging a defensive touchdown. Because of those strong units, Jimmy Garoppolo and Russell Wilson had a few gaffes, which had the teams in a tight contest until kicker Jason Meyers hit the game-winner as time expired in overtime.

Wilson, even with an almost-costly interception, should be a front-runner in the MVP race, and because of him, the Seahawks will be in the hunt for the top seed in the NFC, with the 49ers entering an absolutely brutal stretch in their schedule. They are no longer unbeaten — along with the rest of the league — and perhaps their weaknesses were on display for upcoming opponents.

Here are four takeaways from the Monday night thriller.

1. Russell Wilson finds a way to win, even amid struggles.

He didn’t put together the spotless performance we’ve grown accustomed to seeing this season. His interception, for example, was out of the norm for him. He entered the game with preposterously efficient touchdown-interception ratio at 22:1, but threw that INT in overtime, when the Seahawks seemed to be on the verge of putting the game away. It was also a bad sign that the passing stats between Wilson (232 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 5 sacks) and Garoppolo (248 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 5 sacks) looked similar.

But make no mistake: Wilson was by far the better quarterback, going 3 of 3 for 15 yards on the Seahawks’ final overtime drive to set up the game-winning kick. He also scrambled for a third-down conversion on an 18-yard pickup on that final drive. He did that without top wideout Tyler Lockett and with an otherwise unimpressive supporting cast.

This 49ers defense has challenged every quarterback they’ve faced. Wilson’s struggles are minor in that context. And the fact that we’re picking nits is probably a testament to how superb he’s been this season. Wilson is clearly still an MVP candidate. This win over the 49ers keeps him in the discussion as the favorite for the award.

Even when — and perhaps especially when — he was running for his life, he was making jaw-dropping plays.

2. It’s hard to feel good about Jimmy Garoppolo.

On the 49ers’ final offensive drive of the fourth quarter, Garoppolo seemed intent upon throwing an interception. Both Seahawks linebackers K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner dropped passes that were gimmes. Garoppolo may have put together one of his best games in his career in Week 9, but his performance in Week 10 was another reminder of why Kyle Shanahan seems to keep telling Garoppolo to do less, do less. He looked a little bit like a liability.

Garoppolo was frantic in the pocket, and was inaccurate in the fourth quarter and in the overtime period. Perhaps more poise and comfort will come with time. For the time being, Garoppolo looked like he was playing scared. He was probably a microphone away from admitting he was seeing ghosts.

The running backs are the key to this offense for a reason. And Shanahan went to them in overtime, with three runs and two passes on their opening overtime drive. When he let Garoppolo throw the ball on the second drive, he threw three consecutive incompletions, which made him 1 of 5 in overtime for seven yards.

It’s unfair to say that the young quarterback was a total mess. After all, he did get San Francisco into field goal range on that final fourth-quarter drive. But even when he was effective, his play was ugly.

3. I’m kind of in love with this punt formation.

If you’re a football nerd like me, you might appreciate this oddity.

It looked almost like a formation from the Canadian Football League. (Shanahan actually stole this strange play from the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, who probably stole it from a team in the 1940s.) The 49ers put a gunner in the backfield near the punter. That allowed him to run free without getting pressed off the line. In this instance, it ended up backfiring, with the player hitting the returner before he had time to field the ball cleanly. That’s right: he got there too quickly.

Still, it could make for an interesting opportunity to run a fake punt. In the meantime, it allows a 49ers’ gunner a free run and a head of steam in the open field for a tackle. With the except of the penalty, this seemed to work nicely.

4. Fantasy football thought: Where did Tyler Lockett go?

Not only did he finish with just three catches for 26 yards, but he suffered an injury in overtime, and the Seahawks turned to Josh Gordon, D.K. Metcalf and Malik Turner. (Turner, by the way, managed a clutch 28-yard catch on third-and-16 to extend the Seahawks’ first drive in overtime.) So after Lockett exploded in Week 9 (13 receptions, 152 yards, 2 TDs), he was a relative non-factor and may be a concern in the coming days with a leg injury.

To make things worse for Lockett’s owners, Gordon looked competent in the Seahawks’ offense, and his role is sure to increase in the coming weeks. Seattle doesn’t throw often — it’s bad news Lockett is losing a share of the targets.

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