Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks managed to win the NFC West and also earned a bye in the first week of the playoffs, becoming the number one seed for the first time since 2014. The defense’s performance was near perfect. I confess I don’t remember a game so well planned and executed from beginning to end.
Jason Myers’ missed field goals and the offense’s performance left the game more open than it should have been, considering the score. However, the offense had a fantastic display of the running game and didn’t commit any turnovers, something that will be crucial in the playoffs.
Klint Kubiak built the plan around outside zone as the foundation, with complementary calls designed to punish defensive adjustments. Early in the game, Seattle leaned heavily on wide zone, forcing San Francisco’s edge defenders to widen and hesitate. Tackles focused on gaining width rather than quick wins, creating vertical lanes for decisive “bang” cuts (Ken Walker loves it).
Several first-quarter runs show 49ers linebackers aggressively flowing play-side. The running back reads the overpursuit, plants, and attacks the B gap, exploiting the lack of second-level integrity. When San Francisco adjusted with scrape exchanges, Kubiak countered with split zone, using tight end motion to seal the backside end. That prevented the defense from gaining numbers advantages and kept the read clean for the RB.
Seattle also leaned on duo concepts in predictable situations, particularly 2nd & medium. Duo allowed extended double teams inside, displacing defensive tackles and forcing the linebackers to commit early. On multiple snaps, the All-22 shows him stepping downhill just before the cut — too late to recover.
Here we have the play that led to the only touchdown of the game. The 49ers defend a short down situation with a Cover 1. Cooper Kupp’s motion at the start of the play confirms the coverage. This leaves the Seahawks with 3 receivers on the right side, forcing the safety deep downfield to pay closer attention to the pass.
This formation also leaves the 49ers with few options on the left side. There’s only the safety against AJ Barner on that side of the defense. The play begins, Anthony Bradford and Jalen Sundell get good blocks, but Zach Charbonnet sees the cutback opportunity. He makes the cut, and the 49ers safety Ji’Ayir Brown makes the mistake of not maintaining outside leverage, leaving the running back with a clear path to face the safety deep downfield. Charb simply uses a hesitation move on Malik Mustapha and scores the touchdown.
Kubiak consistently put the 49ers in conflict without resorting to reckless aggression. Efficient early-down runs opened up frequent under-center play-action, especially boot action away from the base run. Even when the ball wasn’t thrown, the movement froze linebackers and safeties.
The Seahawks’ poor run game performance during the season makes the defenses to use lighter packages even against their heavy formations. This significantly impacted the success of the Seahawks’ passing...
