Tag: Steve Wilks

Cam Newton: David Tepper never should’ve gotten rid of Steve Wilks

Panthers great Cam Newton on David Tepper: He does not have a culture there, by no stretch of the imagination

Carolina Panthers great Cam Newton may have stated the obvious, even though he said he wouldn’t.

On Wednesday’s episode of his podcast 4th & 1, the franchise’s all-time leading passer and only Most Valuable Player gave his thoughts on the fluctuating state of his former team. He told guest Dan “Big Cat” Katz, following Monday’s firing of head coach Frank Reich, that the Panthers and owner David Tepper should’ve just made the popular choice back in January.

“Without stating the obvious, he never should’ve gotten rid of Steve Wilks,” Newton said.

Wilks, who led the Panthers to a relatively impressive 6-6 mark following last year’s axing of Matt Rhule, was passed up for the opportunity this offseason in favor of Reich. The 54-year-old Charlotte native would then move on to land the defensive coordinator gig for the San Francisco 49ers shortly after.

Newton then expanded on his thought, stating that Tepper’s Panthers lack an established culture.

“When you look at it through the lens of coaching, I think Tepper has not found out—during my time there, first time there—was the importance of continuity in a locker room,” he later added. “He flushed the toilet. Got rid of a lot of key guys—the Ryan Kalils, myself, TD [Thomas Davis] and Luke [Kuechly] was just already one of those guys that, for health reasons . . .

“And when you’re expecting a guy who doesn’t know the game off the field, and his talent hasn’t really produced anything on the field—it’s hard. It’s hard to run a locker room where you got guys that may be kinda gettin’ distracted during the year.

“And I don’t think he valued that and it shows. He does not have a culture there, by no stretch of the imagination. And his presence is more so business rather than team.”

Tepper has now fired three head coaches—Reich, Rhule and Ron Rivera—in his six-year run as owner. The Panthers, who do not have a winning record in any of those seasons, are a combined 30-63 since the team changed hands in 2018.

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The good and bad from the 49ers’ blowout win over the Jaguars

Here’s a look at all the good and bad from the 49ers’ blowout road win over the Jaguars.

Coming off the bye week, the San Francisco 49ers faced the streaking Jacksonville Jaguars in a crucial matchup. Riding a three game losing streak, Sunday’s contest in Duval County felt like. a turning point in the 2023 49ers; campaign.

With the pressure on, Kyle Shanahan, Brock Purdy and Steve Wilks answered the bell in a big way. Behind an impressive performance on both sides of the ball, the 49ers rolled to a 34-3 win on the road against the Jaguars. While snapping their losing streak, the 49ers also broke the Jags’ run of five consecutive wins.

Here’s a look at some of the good and the bad from the 49ers’ blowout win over the Jaguars on Sunday.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

Fred Warner on adjustment with DC Steve Wilks on sideline

Fred Warner talked about how Steve Wilks’ move to the sideline went.

The 49ers defense responded well to defensive coordinator Steve Wilks’ move from the booth to the sideline. In his first game on the field instead up up in the coach’s box, San Francisco’s defense allowed only 221 yards and three points in perhaps their best performance of the season.

Team captain and defensive signal caller Fred Warner in his postgame press conference talked about the adjustment from the coach.

“It was good. It was good having him down there,” Warner said. “The communication was flawless, and yeah, it was good having him down there.”

Communication was a big key in Wilks’ decision to get out of the booth and onto the field. When he’s upstairs he has to relay play calls to a coach on the sideline who then relays the plays to Warner.  Then there’s the issue of direct communication between players and the DC.

Those issues would seem to make some of the team’s defensive woes make sense. There have been a lack of in-game adjustments and some struggles specifically with players being in the wrong spots.

Warner said the improved communication was helpful.

“I think it was pretty similar honestly,” Warner said. “I think the thing was just kinda like us just going into it we wanted to make sure the communication was good in terms of the microphone and him getting the calls to me and I thought he did a great job.”

There were other things the 49ers defense needed to do well Sunday. It was better in coverage and better at getting to the quarterback, but those were likely things fixed over the bye and not a matter of where Wilks called plays.

If the improved communication was helpful, then it’s likely the sideline move will be a permanent one for Wilks.

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New 49ers teammates Nick Bosa, Chase Young don’t take long to terrorize quarterbacks

It didn’t take long for the 49ers’ new dynamic duo of Nick Bosa and Chase Young to make a huge difference on a Trevor Lawrence sack/fumble.

When the San Francisco 49ers traded last week for Washington Commanders edge-rusher Chase Young, they did to so upgrade an outside pass rush that had mostly been absent when Nick Bosa wasn’t a part of it. It also reunited two of Ohio State’s most remarkable players in recent years. Bosa, selected second overall in the 2019 draft, and Young, selected second overall in the 2020 draft, now had the opportunity to mess with opposing quarterbacks together as they hadn’t in a while.

Turns out, it didn’t take long for Bosa and Young to reclaim their collegiate magic. With 13:26 left in the second quarter of the 49ers’ game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bosa and Young met at Trevor Lawrence, causing a fumble which Bosa recovered.

Coming into this game, Bosa led San Francisco’s edge defenders with 44 total pressures. Drake Jackson and Clelin Ferrell tied for second with 14. Young was having a bit of a career year with 38 pressures, and you can see the cumulative effect of that trade right away.

What 49ers DC Steve Wilks said about move from booth to field

Steve Wilks downplayed his move from the booth to the sideline.

One of the 49ers’ adjustments over the bye week was a move for defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. He’s called each game from the coach’s booth this season, but after his defense struggled the last three weeks he made the decision to start calling plays from the sideline.

The last two defensive coordinators for San Francisco have been on the sideline so this is a logical change that may or may not have much impact. Wilks downplayed the decision and indicated that communication with his players was the biggest key in the move.

“Oh, I mean guys to me, just very candid, I think we’re making a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be, to be honest,” Wilks said in his Thursday press conference. “I just want to be able to communicate with the guys a little bit more during the game. Certain things that I’m seeing, I’d rather be able to talk to them directly than to communicate with coaches. I think our coaches do a great job, number one, throughout the week, but also in-game adjustments. That’s one of the things that I really pride ourselves on and how we communicate as a staff and making the right things throughout the game. So, it is just really with me just wanting to be able to communicate with those guys a little bit more.”

Former 49ers defensive coordinators Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans were both demonstrative when coaching from the sideline, but bringing that type of energy wasn’t why Wilks made the switch. Instead he emphasized that communication was a significant factor.

“Well to be honest, when you look at our guys, and I’ve been doing this for a while, I don’t think that’s part of what they’re missing and what they need,” Wilks said. “Sometimes it can be good. I think we all feed off each other, coaches, we feed off one another. I feed off the players. So, it depends. But, I think it’s more or less in the communication part that we can have that dialogue, direct face-to-face and try to make the adjustment that we need to make throughout the game.”

Making adjustments during games is something the 49ers have struggled with in their three consecutive losses, so if the move to the sideline helps Wilks in that realm it’ll be worth it.

There’ll have to be more to it for the 49ers though. They’ve been getting beat in ways a team as talented as theirs shouldn’t be getting beat. There are schematic changes that needed to be made during the bye week, and whether those changes are made and effective will have a much bigger impact on the success of San Francisco’s defense than where Wilks calls plays.

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49ers DC Steve Wilks to coach from field beginning Week 10

Steve Wilks is moving down to the field from the coaches’ box.

The 49ers have already made an adjustment on defense. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will make a move from the coaches box to the field starting in Week 10 according to head coach Kyle Shanahan.

San Francisco’s last two defensive coordinators, Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans, both coached from the sideline so having a DC in the box was new for the established members of the 49ers’ defense.

This may not be a significant change for the 49ers’ defense since they’ll still need to figure out how to improve in coverage and how to affect quarterbacks with their pass rush. However, having the coach on the sideline may help Wilks communicate with his personnel to make more swift adjustments during games when they’re required.

If his move to the field is the cure for what’s ailing San Francisco, it’ll come at a good time. Wilks and his defense have a tall task ahead of them in Week 10 when they visit the Jaguars and ascending star quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Kickoff for that game is slated for 10:00am Pacific Time.

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4-Down Territory: Stroud vs. Young, Ravens at the top, coaches on the edge, Worst of the Week

Stroud vs. Young? Are the Ravens the NFL’s best? Which coach needs to go? What’s the Worst of the Week? It’s all in 4-Down Territory!

With nine weeks of actual football in the books for the 2023 NFL season, it’s time for Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, and Kyle Madson of Niners Wire, to come to the table with their own unique brand of analysis in “4-Down Territory.”

This week, the guys have some serious questions to answer we pass the halfway point for a league that no longer has a halfway point:

  1. Should the Carolina Panthers have drafted C.J. Stroud instead of Bryce Young?
  2. Are the Baltimore Ravens the NFL’s best team?
  3. Which coach or coordinator might deserve an early exit from his current position?
  4. What was your Worst of the Week?

You can watch this week’s episode of “4-Down Territory” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “4-Down Territory” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Kyle Shanahan’s explanation of Steve Wilks’ zero blitz at end of 1st half vs. Vikings is not good

The #49ers coaching staff made a mistake vs. the Vikings that can’t happen again.

An ill-timed zero blitz by defensive coordinator Steve Wilks may have been what ultimately doomed the 49ers in their 22-17 Week 7 loss to the Vikings. The blitz left cornerback Charvarius Ward on an island with wide receiver Jordan Addison, which allowed the receiver to go for a 60-yard touchdown after wrestling the ball away from the CB. It turned a 10-7 Vikings lead just before halftime into a 16-7 lead and swung momentum back toward the home team.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan after the game said he and Wilks would discuss the play call during the week. In his press conference Wednesday Shanahan was able to elaborate more on what happened on that play.

“Yeah he knows, you guys I think talk to him tomorrow, he knows he messed up on that call,” Shanahan said. “I have no problem with zero blitzes, especially when people need a lot of yards. If you need to get 20 yards to kick a field goal, I have no problem with a zero blitz. But I do when there’s 16 seconds left. That’s where he lost track. There was no necessary need for that just because of the time. I have no problem with that play call, but when it’s that time you can’t do that. That’s not an option.”

It’s pretty rare that Shanahan so strongly opposes a member of his coaching staff in a press conference.

While the play wasn’t the only thing that went wrong for the 49ers, the bigger issue at hand is that Wilks apparently lost track of the time.

Minnesota had no timeouts and 16 seconds left on a third-and-6 at their own 40 in a 10-7 game. All the 49ers likely had to do was tackle whoever had the ball in bounds and they would’ve entered the half down by three.

That Wilks didn’t know how much time was on the clock is a pretty massive problem that needs to be corrected immediately. It’s unclear whether that’s something the coach keeps track of or one of the numerous assistants in the booth with him, but regardless there has to be some kind of change that ensures that never happens again.

A bad play call is going to happen, but coaches losing track of the game clock when making their play calls is not a mistake that can be repeated.

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4 most disappointing aspects of 49ers 22-17 loss to Vikings

The 4 most disappointing parts of the #49ers Week 7 loss:

There wasn’t much that went right for the 49ers in their Week 7 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings. The 22-17 final was a mess from the jump as the Vikings led wire-to-wire to give San Francisco its second consecutive loss.

Pinpointing one bad thing isn’t particularly easy though, so we picked out the four most disappointing parts of a second uninspiring loss in a row for the 49ers:

Here’s what Kyle Shanahan said about Steve Wilks blitz call that led to long Vikings TD

Here’s what Kyle Shanahan said about Steve Wilks’ fateful blitz call that led to a Vikings TD late in the first half Monday night:

The 49ers looked like they were going into the half against the Vikings trailing by one score and with momentum on their side. Minnesota with 16 seconds left in the second quarter had the ball on their own 40 and no timeouts after San Francisco had cut their lead to 10-7.

All the 49ers defense had to do was not give up a big play. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks decided to dial up some pressure and bring seven pass rushers on the third-and-6 play. The result was disastrous. Cornerback Charvarius Ward whiffed an interception which led to a 60-yard touchdown for Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison that gave the home team momentum and a 16-7 lead.

According to ESPN Next Gen Stats it was the first time a team sent seven pass rushers in the final 30 seconds of a half and the ball in opponent territory since Week 11 of the 2020 season.

After the game head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t sound thrilled with the call.

“That’s stuff we’ll discuss throughout this week,” Shanahan said. “Obviously I did not like the result.”

There’s tape to watch and conversations to be had between coaches, but it’s hard to imagine there’ll be much justification for the call from Wilks. The one thing that can’t happen in that scenario is a long completion and the defensive coordinator left his cornerback on an island and susceptible to a long completion.

Letting Cousins sit back and have his choice of underneath throws would’ve been a much more favorable process than the one Wilks’ hyper-aggressive blitz rendered.

Ultimately if Ward comes down with the interception the play gets viewed much differently, but that play was a microcosm of Monday’s loss. The Vikings were just better in a big spot. They thrived on third down in part because San Francisco’s pass rush couldn’t get home, and Wilks felt the need to generate additional pressure on that play.

Shanahan and Wilks will need to get on the same page quickly. They have a quick turnaround to Sunday where they’ll face a high-powered Bengals offense that’s coming off its bye week.

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