Big Blue View
The New York Giants are coming off of a rough five quarters of defensive football to say the least. Week 9 gives the Giants a chance to add a game in the win column when they return home to face the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers shouldn’t be taken lightly, but they aren’t the juggernaut they’ve been in the past. Certain players getting older, as well as some key injuries, have weakened a team that has the potential to be formidable. That makes this a much-needed break in a string of tough games for the Giants.
The Giants’ defense — and secondary in particular — has been ravaged by injuries over the last two weeks. Can they overcome those injuries against San Francisco?
Kyle Shanahan’s scheme is pretty familiar by now. He, along with Sean McVay at the rival Los Angeles Rams, have helped create the foundation for what I’ll call “The New West Coast Offense”. Though I should also note that they have very different approaches to a similar result.
The 49ers’ offense makes heavy use of condensed formations, with the entire formation (even wide receivers) fitting between the numbers on almost every play. They also make heavy use of 21 (two running back) and 12 (two tight end) personnel packages. It gives them the look of a run-heavy power offense, but Shanahan is an advocate of the mantra “go heavy to throw, light to run”.
His use of heavy, condensed formations is designed to manipulate defenses into base, or heavy nickel, personnel packages, then throwing the ball. Shanahan capitalizes on the run heavy looks by frequently incorporating pre-snap motion and run-action play fakes. The combination of condensed formations, play-action, and route design serve to create safe throws and run-after-catch opportunities.
Furthermore, the use of pre-snap motion helps to create misdirection and slow down the defense as well as gives players a flying start at the snap. That can either let the quarterback get the ball in their hands with a head of steam, or allow blockers to beat defenders to the point of attack.
San Francisco’s blocking scheme is similarly sophisticated. They seem to be at their best in zone concepts, but also frequently use pulling blockers. The 9ers’ use of pullers — often with multiple linemen pulling on the same play — is designed to change the math at the point of attack. Getting a numbers advantage on the play side is a potent advantage, that can lead to big plays when it works.
The Houston Texans held the 49ers to just 15 points last week. And as with the Giants’ Thursday Night game against the Philadelphia Eagles, I would strongly recommend going to school on what worked for the Texans.
The good news here is that the Giants and Texans have several high level similarities in their defenses.
To start, the two teams play nearly identical rates of middle of field open (MOFO) and middle of field closed (MOFC) coverages. The...
