DT Review: Cowboys at 49ers Preseason 2019

Cowboys at 49ers Preseason Game 1

I'll start with the summary and then go into the details.

Summary:

• Hill was better than most fan/media claims.
• Woods same as last season.
• Covington was good overall.
• #67 & #68 could not draw double teams at 1-tech.
• #64 quick but small at DT. Also played DE.

Trysten Hill
- Hill played 3-tech DT.

Hill Paired with Multiple Other DTs:

• Hill did not play with starting 1-tech DT (Woods).
• Hill replaced Woods on a 3rd & long with Ross as the other DT.
• Hill played 10 snaps with Covington as the 1-tech DT.
• Hill played 1 snap with Hyder as the other DT on 3rd and long.
• Hill played about 16 snaps with #68 as the other DT.
• Hill played about 6 snaps with #67 as the other DT.

Primary Issue (Hill)
On almost all snaps with any DT other than Covington, Hill was doubled teamed.
- The 3-tech is intended to get single blocking in this scheme.

Overall (Hill)
- Good recognition on runs.
- Needs to refine technique against zone blocking.
- On a couple of zone run plays OLinemen caught him moving laterally and it looked ugly.
- Not much opportunity on pass rush. Primarly runs & screen passes.
- He was also the lead on some stunts (the lead ties up blockers for the stunting DL).
- Had a really good bull-rush on OG 5 yards into backfield, but quick screen pass.
- Had a really good play to come across 2 gaps to meet the RB head-on.
- He tends to stay with run a bit too long on run fakes. Needs to transition to pass rush quickly.

Woods
- Only played about 8 snaps.
- Looked about the same as last year.

Covington
- Good overall. Better than 4th DTs from last season (Ross, Reid, etc.).
- Played 1-tech but showed some pass rush ability.
- Quick to recognize run type/location and works to squeeze the gaps.
- Was consistently double teamed.
- A couple of ugly looking snaps when flowing laterally & had bad angle/leverage to resist double.
- Has similarities to Woods.

Ross
- Flashes occasionally as pass rusher but gets blown up often vs the run.
- They doubled Hill on the snap Ross & Hill were together.

#68
- Could not draw double teams when playing with Hill.
- Flashed some quickness.
- Just not big enough to consistently hold up vs the run.

#67
- Could not draw double teams when playing with Hill.

#64
- Played 3-tech DT and DE.
- Did not play with Hill.
- Quick at DT but engulfed by OLinemen on some run plays.


If anybody wants to see details about Hill, here is my play by play analysis:

Covington was good? The only thing I remember about him was getting blowed off the line numerous times. Maybe I was wrong. My impression of Covington was he would be cut.

Thanks for the write up.

Good to know our dts are still trash

ninja said:

Covington was good? The only thing I remember about him was getting blowed off the line numerous times. Maybe I was wrong. My impression of Covington was he would be cut.

Thanks for the write up.

Click to expand...

You can likely take any analysis from walker and flip it for the truth. He spends a lot of time charting things, but is terrible at analyzing what he sees.

Kevinicus said:

You can likely take any analysis from walker and flip it for the truth. He spends a lot of time charting things, but is terrible at analyzing what he sees.

Click to expand...

Trolls don't like it because I've ruined their troll narratives too often.

Thanks for the info

I appreciate it X. I like knowing exactly how many snaps Hill took and when he was in the game.

Nice chart with your play-by-play, as well.

ninja said:

Covington was good? The only thing I remember about him was getting blowed off the line numerous times. Maybe I was wrong. My impression of Covington was he would be cut.

Thanks for the write up.

Click to expand...

Looks can be deceiving.

DLinemen will look silly on occasion against zone blocking teams.

ZBS teams get DL moving laterally which makes them vulnerable to occasionally getting caught in a position of having no leverage.

Back in 2014 the Cowboys OL would repeatedly run zone left zone left, zone left and then when the DL is cheating to get a quick jump laterally, they would come back power right and just completely blow up some DLinemen. They Cowboys OL got away from some of that after Callahan departed.

Marinelli's frequent usage of stunts combined with playing against ZBS teams like Shannahan's or the Rams makes "grading" DLinemen more difficult than with some other teams.

Having said that, it was about 2 snaps each for Covington and Hill were they got caught without good leverage.

Daniel Ross on the other hand was easily manhandled repeatedly and by single blocking.

Kevinicus said:

You can likely take any analysis from walker and flip it for the truth. He spends a lot of time charting things, but is terrible at analyzing what he sees.

Click to expand...

if that is the case then point out how he is wrong. the way you are doing it reeks of intellectual cowardice or just plain ignorance.

x and I have butted heads plenty of times over the years but I at least point out what I disagree with specific examples. try it and you might change some minds.

xwalker said:

Trolls don't like it because I've ruined their troll narratives too often.

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The only narratives you have ruined are your own.

FuzzyLumpkins said:

if that is the case then point out how he is wrong. the way you are doing it reeks of intellectual cowardice or just plain ignorance.

x and I have butted heads plenty of times over the years but I at least point out what I disagree with specific examples. try it and you might change some minds.

Click to expand...

The way I do it reeks of someone with a life. It's not like he actually presents evidence himself...it's entirely his opinion. He has demonstrated repeatedly in other threads where ecamples are present that his understanding (and possibly visual acuity) are lacking.

And the way I did it here was just make a comment on the likely reality based on past observances (I did not flatly dispute his "findings")...which is normal and not cowardice at all.

Kevinicus said:

The way I do it reeks of someone with a life. It's not like he actually presents evidence himself...it's entirely his opinion. He has demonstrated repeatedly in other threads where ecamples are present that his understanding (and possibly visual acuity) are lacking.

And the way I did it here was just make a comment on the likely reality based on past observances (I did not flatly dispute his "findings")...which is normal and not cowardice at all.

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@FuzzyLumpkins is correct.

He and I have often disagreed but I know that he actually reviews game footage himself to form his opinions.

I could list others like @buybuydandavis that often disagree with me but his disagreements are based on logic and like Fuzzy puts up a very good challenge when he disagrees with me.

You just don't like it because I proven you wrong when you've posted nonsense in the past.

I think the thing Fuzzy and I have in common is that we have a low tolerance for trollish type posters.

Insert Madden Joke here:

Line up Hill and Taco on either end and then stunt them both up the middle. If they don’t crash into each other and fall down hopefully one breaks thru for the sack...

my prediction is Collins will get doubled most of the time when the games actually starts.

Kevinicus said:

The way I do it reeks of someone with a life. It's not like he actually presents evidence himself...it's entirely his opinion. He has demonstrated repeatedly in other threads where ecamples are present that his understanding (and possibly visual acuity) are lacking.

And the way I did it here was just make a comment on the likely reality based on past observances (I did not flatly dispute his "findings")...which is normal and not cowardice at all.

Click to expand...

So you double down on the intellectual cowardice. this time you go for ad hominem attacks and sidestep important points entirely.

I said specific examples. you are basically saying, "don't listen to him," and nothing more.

xwalker said:

Cowboys at 49ers Preseason Game 1


Trysten Hill
- Hill played 3-tech DT.


Primary Issue (Hill)
On almost all snaps with any DT other than Covington, Hill was doubled teamed.
- The 3-tech is intended to get single blocking in this scheme.

Click to expand...

I noticed this as well (well, I noticed Hill getting double teamed a lot, not necessarily who was with him). What's the explanation for why this happened? It seems unlikely that the 49ers intentionally schemed a game against a rookie DT.

Hill and Collins will start at DT-3 and DT-1?

Kevinicus said:

The only narratives you have ruined are your own.

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pathetic, why dont you try doing the work @xwalker did and try to make an intelligent statement.

x, thanks so much for doing this.
was hoping for a thorough tape review and you did it in spades!

Eanwen said:

I noticed this as well (well, I noticed Hill getting double teamed a lot, not necessarily who was with him). What's the explanation for why this happened? It seems unlikely that the 49ers intentionally schemed a game against a rookie DT.

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The 3rd/4th string DTs just weren't a threat to the 49ers OLine.

It's often the Center's choice on which OG gets the help.

The Marinelli style defense is designed to get single blocking for the 3-tech (under tackle). When that does not happen the defense falls apart.

Covington did draw the double teams when he and Hill were together but with Ross or the 3rd/4th string DTs, Hill got almost all of the double teams.

The 49ers OL and the Cowboys DL did do some amount of "scheming". More than I would expect for a preseason game. Maybe scheming is not quite the right description but more than just the bare basics.

The Cowboys DL ran a lot of stunts which I didn't expect for ps game #1.

The 49ers used a lot of run fakes then pass or fake outside run and then cut back inside than I expected. It seemed as if the Rams were already implementing some concepts similar to what the Rams did that caused the Cowboys problems. I expected teams would do that in the regular season but not in ps game #1.

Maybe the 49ers just play that way already. I didn't watch them much last season but the similarities to some concepts the Rams used are interesting. On the surface it would seem that they are opposite of the Rams because the 49ers were #1 or #2 in snaps with a FB or 2nd RB whereas the Rams were #1 in using 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB sets.