Niners Nation
Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Friday, November 1st, 2024
“It’s not that it’s a terrible offense: it’s that it is woefully inconsistent, and Brock Purdy has looked way out of sorts against tough defenses.
They have false starts or holds that negate key plays. When they have receivers beat man coverage — the Chiefs’ recipe that teams will keep using, especially without Brandon Aiyuk, and until McCaffrey returns — Purdy is either pressured, or misses the read, or the throw.
He’s often pressured because the protections are questionable against increasingly common overload blitz looks, or because someone misses their block, or gets beat off the snap. Purdy doesn’t trust what he sees in the same way because the protection is inconsistent, and he doesn’t have a rapport with anyone, really, but Jauan Jennings... who missed the last two games with a hip injury. Deebo Samuel hasn’t looked like himself and does not beat man coverage. A lot relies on Ricky Pearsall, who, to be fair, provides plenty of cause for optimism that he can challenge man coverage-heavy defenses. He’s also a rookie. Expectations should be somewhat tempered.
In order for the 49ers’ run game and pass game to operate in sync, it takes a delicate balance of execution. If one person misses a block on a crack toss run, the whole operation can collapse. Isaac Guerendo’s speed allows more room for error than Jordan Mason, and Guerendo is clearly an upgrade in the pass game. The 49ers might need to ride him a lot more than Mason after the bye.
So, what’s the solution? Be more clinical. Make less errors. Hope that McCaffrey comes back and destroys man coverage and defenses play more of the zone that Kyle Shanahan and Purdy love to attack. But if they keep allowing easy pressures, or miss key blocks regularly, there’s no reason to believe they’ll survive the gauntlet ahead.”
“Young hinted that the 49ers might be in a transition phase. Head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have typically focused on building a strong defensive front, sometimes at the expense of other areas. However, with the secondary emerging as a strength, there could be an unexpected shift.
“I’ve gotta admit, everyone’s pretty excited about the secondary,” Young said. “I am, too. I kind of like watching them.”
What I’m seeing from the 49ers: Brock Purdy adjusting to facing sticky coverages (paywall)
“The good news for the 49ers is that not every team has a secondary like the Chiefs and not every team is adept at man coverage. Of their nine remaining opponents, the Detroit Lions use it the most — 43.8 percent of the time, according to Fantasy Points Data. The other eight defenses use it less than 29 percent of the time and San Francisco’s upcoming opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, use it less often...
