Amateur SF scouting report

[Mr_437]

I will preface by saying I never played nor coached, but it is pretty easy to spot certain tendencies after spending quite a bit of time watching a team play. Sorry to throw the encyclopedia at you guys.

After watching the bulk of plays that the San Francisco offense put together:

1. Jimmy G. loves throwing between the numbers on in breaking (slants, crossing, posts) routes mostly. He dislikes throwing outside the numbers, especially on routes that end with the receiver running away from him (I don’t think he trusts his arm strength much beyond 5 yards on these routes).

2. SF oline is either very good or very good at holding and not getting caught. Not too many plays where Jimmy G. sees lots of pressure or gets sacked (most sacks I saw were coverage variety). Tons of time to survey the field and make decisions.

3. The enormous majority of targets are within 5-10 yards of the line of scrimmage, with heavy doses of rb/fb/te (not so much wr) screens at or behind the line of scrimmage. They like bootlegs and hitting long crossing routes coming to the same side of the bootleg. Jimmy occasionally will throw across his body but it is very rare.

4. They play a bludgeoning style that revolves around traditional running plays and stretch plays with a sweeping style run. Most of the Deebo carries that had great success were not jet sweeps. They would line the running backs up in the backfield with him and hand it directly to Deebo who would try to run alongside scrimmage looking for gaps and then run up the sideline if he could get there before tacklers (which he had great success doing).

5. Deebo and Kittle especially are Jimmy’s favorite targets. He will look to them quite a bit before turning to someone else. I would consider bracket coverage for both players. Take comfort away from Jimmy and make him delay just a bit longer as those are his typical first reads. Whoever would provide underneath coverage on Kittle better jump right through the rafters as Jimmy will high point it with him all the way down the field.

6. Jimmy makes the majority of his mistakes trying to fit the ball in over the middle or occasionally trying to throw outside the numbers. He will put too much air underneath the throw and throw it directly into a safety that has over the top coverage.

7. The bulk of their most explosive plays are running gains (either after the handoff or after a catch). Quick play recognition and sure tackling slows that offense to a creep. An enormous majority of their explosive passing plays were in breaking routes where the receiver outran and outmuscled the other players after catching on the run (see Deebo).

8. Players that are good at underneath zone and reading reacting to a QB’s eyes are very good to have against this team. Pressuring Jimmy is a must and he will make mistakes and poor decisions when pressured. Like I said they spend buckets of effort keeping Jimmy protected from even getting hit let alone sacked.

With regards to there defense:

1. The front four they present are likely the best the Cowboys will face even if they win. The Cowboys o-line will need to turn in their finest performance of the season for the offense to move the ball consistently.

2. They are good at tackling for the most part, and aggressively try to punch the ball out when tackling (like every time trying to punch the ball out).

3. They have trouble guarding draw plays and misdirection. They are so hyper aggressive that it can occasionally backfire when a team puts together a nice gadget misdirection (or just good fakes for play action passing attacks).

4. The passing plays that seemed to really hurt them were outside the numbers (especially deep down the field when the receiver had a step and the QB did not completely underthrow the ball). They lost games this way. Russell Wilson beat them with plays like these.

5. They are susceptible to QB runs, and based on all the plays I watched- Dak must use his legs quite a bit either to extend plays or gain yardage. This is a must in this game (they are just too good at defense otherwise). Some of the biggest plays against this defense came on broken plays.

6. Wide receiver screens at the line of scrimmage did not work, but Green Bay had some success at setting some up a little further downfield. Bunch formations where two receivers would run routes about 10 yards downfield and one would cut his off around 6-7 yards and then catch and run.

In summary, this will be a difficult but winnable matchup. SF thrives off of taking the ball away (mainly because they have a stifling defense and yeoman like offense). Don’t do stupid and give extra possessions away (protect the ****** ball). Spread the attack as much as possible and make their defense chase the ball a lot if possible. This will likely be a slugfest because that is the style that SF makes the opponent adopt. Not many losses for them where they got way behind (not their style). Very important to try to build a lead and keep pummeling and looking to force turnovers. Can’t wait!

Good thread post. Good eye.

 

[ak47kaehu]

Great breakdown! In addition to that, Baldinger had a little clip on Twitter showing a play from the rams game where the 49ers love to give defenses a lot of eye candy with motions and fake counter steps and play action. The play fooled the rams defense and and the 49ers were able to complete a 20 yard pass on only a two man route with about 5 to 6 guys in coverage. The Cowboys defense just needs to play disciplined and not fall for all the motion and eye candy.

 

[perrykemp]

In my mind the only way the Cowboys lose this game is if the Cowboy's OL gets dominated by that excellent 49ers front.

If Dak is under moderate to constant pressure, I think the 49ers win. If the OL holds up, Cowboys win and probably easily.

 

[visionary]

Our defense can’t tackle (see Diggs and LVE)

Our OL can’t block

Dak can’t run

if you wanted to say we will lose, just say it

 

[jterrell]

Very good breakdown.
I only watched 2 49ers games in full but those 2 were exactly as described above.
Aiyuk is also a good WR on those interior type slants and crosses.
Samuel is just a great athlete and Kittle is probably TE1 today.
You are going to give up plays to someone of course.
But the QB is limited. You can shrink the field on him.
The 49ers are a good defense but it is getting pretty overblown at this point. They play almost solely 3 deep defense. (cover 9 which is just a weird name for cover 3 and weakside rotation)
They attack off the ball much like Marinelli's rush into the run lanes philosophy.
They do tackle well and the CB are tough as nails and come up versus the run but can be beaten on deep plays.

The Rams played into their hands by stacking everything so close to the LoS. This is IMHO why they struggled so much.
With WRs and TEs inside they can be bullied a bit.
Stafford's inability to move became a huge liability.
And the Rams idea of mass protection was 2 TE blocking it seemed.
Dallas can release a TE(Jarwin/Schultz) into a pattern and have Zeke block because he is so good at it.

 

[Blast From The Past]

Whiners fans think they can beat us because they beat the Rams multiple times. But they don’t mention they lost to Seattle twice and Colt McCoy led Cardinals.

From what I understand the 49ers fans think they hit the jackpot by playing Dallas this round. They may wish they had wished something different after the game is over.