Our Defensive Coordinator, Vic Fangio

So breaking away from the play chart, I just wanted to highlight more of how the 49er DBs pass off coverage to one another.

2nd Quarter 3rd & 5

49ers show that they know who Brees loves to target and will double team when the time is right, such as the money down. They call cover2 man with, pattern matching.



49ers man up at the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen, notice Reid and Brown (yellow circle). Brown has outside leverage on the WR and is going to pattern match with Reid on that WR (Marques Colston, Brees' other favorite target).


Because Colston's route breaks inwards and Brown is using outside leverage, Colston's route would win on the coverage...if it was straight up man coverage. It's not. As soon as Colston breaks inwards, Colston is now Reid's responsibility.


Colston is now Reid's responsibility and has inside leverage on an inside breaking route. Brown assumes the deep zone assignment. Bow and Whitner double up on Graham in the middle of the field. Brees feels the heat.


The 49ers successfully pass off coverage to one another. Whichever direction the route breaks, the defender with that leverage takes over man coverage.


Notice Reid break on Colston's route as soon as it breaks inwards to the middle of the field. Brown would be helpless against this route since he's using outside leverage.


Perfect teamwork. A real defensive UNIT.

Just wanted to highlight one more play. The significance of this play is that this is the coverage call that Bethea played, I'd say, 80% of the time in IND in 13-14. He will have to open up his repertoire to fit in with this 49er defense.

49ers come with straight up cover2 man.


Everyone is manned up with 2 deep safeties to help out the CBs where needed.


It's important for each safety to keep proper depth to help in case the route breaks away from them. Brees is in his throwing motion. Whitner is breaking hard on the corner route.

Wow, I knew our defense was good, but the linebacker drops and the smarts they have is astonishing. No wonder this defense doesn't have much problems with one dimensional offenses. It's when a good pass offense is balanced with a strong run game - like Baltimore of 2012 and Seattle of 2013 that this defense does have some issues.

If we had viable corners that could go one on one with the receivers, the Linebacker reads and responsibilities would be much easier. Case in point, pattern matching and zone drops. Strong corners that can jam receivers at the line of scrimmage and then man cover after really frees up the linebackers to just tee off on the QB in passing scenarios or simply drop back into a much simpler zone schemes.

Then add a big strong safety that can move and cover is all it takes to change (for example) the coverage equation from a cover two to a cover three. That big strong safety can be a 5th linebacker in a 2-4-5 defensive set to stop strong running teams. I am so looking forward to Nick Moody (a former safety) playing more in the nickel this year.

Originally posted by thl408:
The amount of different coverage calls that Fangio/Donatell uses to combat passing attacks is astounding...

t, absolutely fantastic job of showing how exotic our coverage schemes are and more importantly, how everyone plays well together as a unit.

One thing that sort of stood out to me, is how often 1 or even 2 LB's are free (throughout the play or immediately after the receiver passes beyond their underneath zone coverage)...for instance, in one poass play, we had 5 in coverage on 2 WR's.

If we do change to a better mix of press and off-coverage, assuming both are very effective, do you see this allowing the MLB's to play more down hill and allow them to rush the QB more? And overall, how do you think more press will effect coverage units?

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by thl408:
The amount of different coverage calls that Fangio/Donatell uses to combat passing attacks is astounding...

t, absolutely fantastic job of showing how exotic our coverage schemes are and more importantly, how everyone plays well together as a unit.

One thing that sort of stood out to me, is how often 1 or even 2 LB's are free (throughout the play or immediately after the receiver passes beyond their underneath zone coverage)...for instance, in one poass play, we had 5 in coverage on 2 WR's.

If we do change to a better mix of press and off-coverage, assuming both are very effective, do you see this allowing the MLB's to play more down hill and allow them to rush the QB more? And overall, how do you think more press will effect coverage units?

When Fangio uses his ILBs in pass coverage, he is doing his CBs a huge favor. Those CBs can now play over the top and not allow any deep routes to beat them, while relying on those intelligent ILBs for underneath coverage by having those ILBs play the passing lanes. This makes the QB hold onto the ball longer, which helps the four man pass rush. That's the strategy on a typical Fangio defensive playcall.

I don't know if Fangio would blitz more with the ILBs if the CBs pressed more. This sounds like a risky type of defense. If the 49ers get CBs that are more equipped to play press at the line of scrimmage, I only see them using it as a change of pace. To give the offense more to think about and more to prepare for during the week. Perhaps using it on a game by game basis where we see it more often when he thinks the opposing WRs have trouble with press coverage. Those 'fancy' coverages that involve one defender (in man coverage) passing coverage to another defender, based on the route the WR is running, should be a mainstay of the defense and will require cushions to be used.

Maybe Fangio is taking measures where if the new CBs (due to loss of Brown/Rogers) are not able to learn the system, then it's easier to just tell them to play press and not worry about anything except for the WR they line up across from. It may be difficult as an individual CB to play press man coverage, but it's a lot easier to teach on a time wide scale as there are no risks in miscommunication between DBs, resulting in blown coverage. Fangio seems to be all about variety and confusing the QB. The only way to do that is to show the QB and opposing OC that, as a defense, you are willing to call any coverage in the book. So I see being able to play press as just another flavor in Fangio's ice cream shop of coverages. He's serving a lot more than just vanilla.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by thl408:
The amount of different coverage calls that Fangio/Donatell uses to combat passing attacks is astounding...

t, absolutely fantastic job of showing how exotic our coverage schemes are and more importantly, how everyone plays well together as a unit.

One thing that sort of stood out to me, is how often 1 or even 2 LB's are free (throughout the play or immediately after the receiver passes beyond their underneath zone coverage)...for instance, in one poass play, we had 5 in coverage on 2 WR's.

If we do change to a better mix of press and off-coverage, assuming both are very effective, do you see this allowing the MLB's to play more down hill and allow them to rush the QB more? And overall, how do you think more press will effect coverage units?

When Fangio uses his ILBs in pass coverage, he is doing his CBs a huge favor. Those CBs can now play over the top and not allow any deep routes to beat them, while relying on those intelligent ILBs for underneath coverage by having those ILBs play the passing lanes. This makes the QB hold onto the ball longer, which helps the four man pass rush. That's the strategy on a typical Fangio defensive playcall.

I don't know if Fangio would blitz more with the ILBs if the CBs pressed more. This sounds like a risky type of defense. If the 49ers get CBs that are more equipped to play press at the line of scrimmage, I only see them using it as a change of pace. To give the offense more to think about and more to prepare for during the week. Perhaps using it on a game by game basis where we see it more often when he thinks the opposing WRs have trouble with press coverage. Those 'fancy' coverages that involve one defender (in man coverage) passing coverage to another defender, based on the route the WR is running, should be a mainstay of the defense and will require cushions to be used.

Maybe Fangio is taking measures where if the new CBs (due to loss of Brown/Rogers) are not able to learn the system, then it's easier to just tell them to play press and not worry about anything except for the WR they line up across from. It may be difficult as an individual CB to play press man coverage, but it's a lot easier to teach on a time wide scale as there are no risks in miscommunication between DBs, resulting in blown coverage. Fangio seems to be all about variety and confusing the QB. The only way to do that is to show the QB and opposing OC that, as a defense, you are willing to call any coverage in the book. So I see being able to play press as just another flavor in Fangio's ice cream shop of coverages. He's serving a lot more than just vanilla.

Very well said. I would imagine the guys Baalke brings in (I'm sure with consultation with both Fangio and Donatell) via FA and the draft, may be some insight into the proposed scheme in 2014. In the end, I do agree that we'll see the standard base defense with a few more packages of press or like we saw in Seattle, press on one side and rolling coverages on the other side of the field.

I wanted your insight here to see if you think we'll start playing our MLB's more down hill (less in coverage) and perhaps, use Bethea closer to the LOS as well. There is talk of a single high S but even that to me, seems more like a package vs. a primary defensive approach.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by thl408:
The amount of different coverage calls that Fangio/Donatell uses to combat passing attacks is astounding...

t, absolutely fantastic job of showing how exotic our coverage schemes are and more importantly, how everyone plays well together as a unit.

One thing that sort of stood out to me, is how often 1 or even 2 LB's are free (throughout the play or immediately after the receiver passes beyond their underneath zone coverage)...for instance, in one poass play, we had 5 in coverage on 2 WR's.

If we do change to a better mix of press and off-coverage, assuming both are very effective, do you see this allowing the MLB's to play more down hill and allow them to rush the QB more? And overall, how do you think more press will effect coverage units?

When Fangio uses his ILBs in pass coverage, he is doing his CBs a huge favor. Those CBs can now play over the top and not allow any deep routes to beat them, while relying on those intelligent ILBs for underneath coverage by having those ILBs play the passing lanes. This makes the QB hold onto the ball longer, which helps the four man pass rush. That's the strategy on a typical Fangio defensive playcall.

I don't know if Fangio would blitz more with the ILBs if the CBs pressed more. This sounds like a risky type of defense. If the 49ers get CBs that are more equipped to play press at the line of scrimmage, I only see them using it as a change of pace. To give the offense more to think about and more to prepare for during the week. Perhaps using it on a game by game basis where we see it more often when he thinks the opposing WRs have trouble with press coverage. Those 'fancy' coverages that involve one defender (in man coverage) passing coverage to another defender, based on the route the WR is running, should be a mainstay of the defense and will require cushions to be used.

Maybe Fangio is taking measures where if the new CBs (due to loss of Brown/Rogers) are not able to learn the system, then it's easier to just tell them to play press and not worry about anything except for the WR they line up across from. It may be difficult as an individual CB to play press man coverage, but it's a lot easier to teach on a time wide scale as there are no risks in miscommunication between DBs, resulting in blown coverage. Fangio seems to be all about variety and confusing the QB. The only way to do that is to show the QB and opposing OC that, as a defense, you are willing to call any coverage in the book. So I see being able to play press as just another flavor in Fangio's ice cream shop of coverages. He's serving a lot more than just vanilla.

Very well said. I would imagine the guys Baalke brings in (I'm sure with consultation with both Fangio and Donatell) via FA and the draft, may be some insight into the proposed scheme in 2014. In the end, I do agree that we'll see the standard base defense with a few more packages of press or like we saw in Seattle, press on one side and rolling coverages on the other side of the field.

I wanted your insight here to see if you think we'll start playing our MLB's more down hill (less in coverage) and perhaps, use Bethea closer to the LOS as well. There is talk of a single high S but even that to me, seems more like a package vs. a primary defensive approach.

I'm not clear what you mean byt "more downhill (less in coverage)". If a LB wants to play downhill, then he will need to dropback downfield (gain depth) in order to keep everything in front of him on pass plays. Then when a catch is made in front of him, he attacks downhill. So the LB is still in coverage.

Do you mean more blitzing on passing plays (LB is no longer in coverage, he's blitzing)? I suppose that's always a possibility and I can't answer that. I can say that whether a DC has CBs that can press or not should not influence his decision to blitz. When the 49ers blitz, they often play with a cushion. If the QB dares to throw a quick pass in the face of pressure, with all the CBs looking at him due to the cushion the CB has, then that's on the QB to take that risk.

Here's one where RW doesn't want to take the risk. Another is on the Bowman pick6 in the 'Stick finale where Ryan did take the risk and Brock jumped the route because he watched Ryan plant and throw. Do you think the 49ers should dial up more blitzes at the risk of giving up more big plays? There's obviously the reward of getting a sack or a turnover with the risks you are aware of. I feel that since the 49ers use blitzing as a 'special occasion', it really comes as a surprise to the opposing offense.

From a film thread. RW looks but decides not to throw to the top of the screen as Brock is watching the whole way, ready to pounce.


Regarding bringing Bethea down into the box. To me, it seems Fangio will bring his safety into the box on an as needed basis. With Bow being out for the start of the season, it may be needed. Hopefully this isn't the case.

Originally posted by thl408:

When Fangio uses his ILBs in pass coverage, he is doing his CBs a huge favor. Those CBs can now play over the top and not allow any deep routes to beat them, while relying on those intelligent ILBs for underneath coverage by having those ILBs play the passing lanes. This makes the QB hold onto the ball longer, which helps the four man pass rush. That's the strategy on a typical Fangio defensive playcall.

I don't know if Fangio would blitz more with the ILBs if the CBs pressed more. This sounds like a risky type of defense. If the 49ers get CBs that are more equipped to play press at the line of scrimmage, I only see them using it as a change of pace. To give the offense more to think about and more to prepare for during the week. Perhaps using it on a game by game basis where we see it more often when he thinks the opposing WRs have trouble with press coverage. Those 'fancy' coverages that involve one defender (in man coverage) passing coverage to another defender, based on the route the WR is running, should be a mainstay of the defense and will require cushions to be used.

Maybe Fangio is taking measures where if the new CBs (due to loss of Brown/Rogers) are not able to learn the system, then it's easier to just tell them to play press and not worry about anything except for the WR they line up across from. It may be difficult as an individual CB to play press man coverage, but it's a lot easier to teach on a time wide scale as there are no risks in miscommunication between DBs, resulting in blown coverage. Fangio seems to be all about variety and confusing the QB. The only way to do that is to show the QB and opposing OC that, as a defense, you are willing to call any coverage in the book. So I see being able to play press as just another flavor in Fangio's ice cream shop of coverages. He's serving a lot more than just vanilla.

Press man is basically a coverage scheme when compared to a pressure scheme (such as a zone blitz). Press man benefits teams with a very good pass rushes because to beat press man, you have to go vertical and that takes time. I think that's why this offense which relies on the play pass and vertical type routes always has problems with Seadderal Type defenses. I also happen to think we have a good pass rush, and I think we aren't taking advantage of it in our various nickel coverage schemes.

Now Zone blitz teams need good linebackers and safeties because the blitz can come from a variety of places along the linebacker and safety positions. It's the pressure generated that makes this type of defense work, not coverage. If you are looking for turnovers, then usually DC's like Fangio play a pressure scheme, if you - as George did - play more yardage prevention, then press man is the defense for you.

I agree with you thl408 and I also don't see Vic Fangio radically changing his zone blitz philosophy and I think he'll continue to send blitzers from all four linebacker and safety positions, and continue to drop DE's and DT's back into coverage (anybody forget TJE"s interception of Matt Shaub?) from our base defense.

Where I want him to be more of a coverage coach and beef up the defense is specifically nickel and dime D. From Baalke, I'd like more cap space devoted to the nickel D specially the defensive backs and hopefully draft physically talented press man DB's specifically for our nickel and dime *coverage* defenses. Our third down pass defense should be impenetrable from a coverage standpoint, and if that means sacrificing talent on the linebacker position to beef up the DB position. I"m all for it. After all, I truly think Fangio can work miracles on linebackers. He can take lesser physically talented athletes at the linebacker position and turn them into gold. I also think cornerback is one of his weaknesses and Baalke has to help him there by simply getting more talent on that position with high draft picks. By doing so, I think it helps our cap tremendously. Talented cornerbacks are one of the most expensive positions on a defense.

Originally posted by thl408:
I'm not clear what you mean byt "more downhill (less in coverage)". If a LB wants to play downhill, then he will need to dropback downfield (gain depth) in order to keep everything in front of him on pass plays. Then when a catch is made in front of him, he attacks downhill. So the LB is still in coverage.

Do you mean more blitzing on passing plays (LB is no longer in coverage, he's blitzing)? I suppose that's always a possibility and I can't answer that. I can say that whether a DC has CBs that can press or not should not influence his decision to blitz. When the 49ers blitz, they often play with a cushion. If the QB dares to throw a quick pass in the face of pressure, with all the CBs looking at him due to the cushion the CB has, then that's on the QB to take that risk.

Here's one where RW doesn't want to take the risk. Another is on the Bowman pick6 in the 'Stick finale where Ryan did take the risk and Brock jumped the route because he watched Ryan plant and throw. Do you think the 49ers should dial up more blitzes at the risk of giving up more big plays? There's obviously the reward of getting a sack or a turnover with the risks you are aware of. I feel that since the 49ers use blitzing as a 'special occasion', it really comes as a surprise to the opposing offense.

From a film thread. RW looks but decides not to throw to the top of the screen as Brock is watching the whole way, ready to pounce.


Regarding bringing Bethea down into the box. To me, it seems Fangio will bring his safety into the box on an as needed basis. With Bow being out for the start of the season, it may be needed. Hopefully this isn't the case.

Yeah, that's what I mean...less time devoted to coverage and more time playing closer to the LOS and/or blitzing. The blitz you showed is nice...man-on-man and 4 guys coming through. RW had one shot to get it out to the sideline but it probably would have been picked off (that was great technique by the CB BTW). Whether it's off-coverage or press off a blitz, I'd like to see better technique as we see above and overall, like to see less Bowman and Willis in coverage.

I'm not sure if we "need" to blitz more per se but I would like to see more variety/creativity in the blitz calls that are made. I'd like to see some press at the LOS when we bring them (make the QB hesitate or earn every yard = less time to cover as well). I'd like to utilize more MLB blitzes for sure. I'd certainly like to see some S & CB blitzes mixed in there. But overall, I'd especially like to see better use of Aldon/Brooks. How about both on the same side on an overload or free up Brooks or Aldon to roam behind the LOS pre-snap standing up looking to shoot whatever gap opens up (remember these with Merriman?). Also, SD used to have Merriman back off the LOS, stand up and at the snap, get a running start of which he would just bull rush right over the OT or slip by him with speed. We tend to play a pretty vanilla scheme for a 3-4 esp. in how we use the OLB position. Straight up, we tend to play Brooks as the SAM and Aldon at the WILL over Justin and put our MLB's in coverage a lot more than most 3-4 teams/scheme (I could be wrong on that last point). Partially, that may be b/c we CAN put Willis and Bowman in coverage. But I'm also wondering if they spent so much time in coverage b/c we weren't as strong in the secondary and they needed that help.

Beyond those wrinkles, I am excited to see who we draft and pick up as UDFA's and more and I look forward to an even more exotic coverage scheme with some press being adding into the mix as well. I'm always just as excited to see the coaches grow as I am the players themselves.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Yeah, that's what I mean...less time devoted to coverage and more time playing closer to the LOS and/or blitzing. The blitz you showed is nice...man-on-man and 4 guys coming through. RW had one shot to get it out to the sideline but it probably would have been picked off (that was great technique by the CB BTW). Whether it's off-coverage or press off a blitz, I'd like to see better technique as we see above and overall, like to see less Bowman and Willis in coverage.

I'm not sure if we "need" to blitz more per se but I would like to see more variety/creativity in the blitz calls that are made. I'd like to see some press at the LOS when we bring them (make the QB hesitate or earn every yard = less time to cover as well). I'd like to utilize more MLB blitzes for sure. I'd certainly like to see some S & CB blitzes mixed in there. But overall, I'd especially like to see better use of Aldon/Brooks. How about both on the same side on an overload or free up Brooks or Aldon to roam behind the LOS pre-snap standing up looking to shoot whatever gap opens up (remember these with Merriman?). Also, SD used to have Merriman back off the LOS, stand up and at the snap, get a running start of which he would just bull rush right over the OT or slip by him with speed. We tend to play a pretty vanilla scheme for a 3-4 esp. in how we use the OLB position. Straight up, we tend to play Brooks as the SAM and Aldon at the WILL over Justin and put our MLB's in coverage a lot more than most 3-4 teams/scheme (I could be wrong on that last point). Partially, that may be b/c we CAN put Willis and Bowman in coverage. But I'm also wondering if they spent so much time in coverage b/c we weren't as strong in the secondary and they needed that help.

Beyond those wrinkles, I am excited to see who we draft and pick up as UDFA's and more and I look forward to an even more exotic coverage scheme with some press being adding into the mix as well. I'm always just as excited to see the coaches grow as I am the players themselves.

I think Fangio as a Lebeau deciple can do wonderful blitz packages with even just one all pro cornerback that can take out the oppositions top WR mano a mano. Now if he had *two* he'd have a defense that only Lebeau could dream of. I think if there is a next level to this defense, it's getting at least *one* if not *two* all pro corners. Dom Capers did a Super Bowl winning job when he had Charles Woodson as a CB in his zone blitz defense. Fangio hasn't won a super bowl yet, and I really am a believer in the phrase *defense wins championships* and I think one main reason is he's never had an all pro corner on his defense ever since he's been here with the 49ers.

California dreamin? Right now we have zero all pro corners.

Last year, Fangio coached 1 hall of famer + 6 all pros. Not including Aldon Smith.

I'm not inclined to blame defensive personnel for any lack of achievement by the team.

We've got the people to be very successful on D. And we are.

Issues arise elsewhere.

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

California dreamin? Right now we have zero all pro corners.

Last year, Fangio coached 1 hall of famer + 6 all pros. Not including Aldon Smith.

I'm not inclined to blame defensive personnel for any lack of achievement by the team.

We've got the people to be very successful on D. And we are.

Issues arise elsewhere.

Defense wins championships, now I'm also *not* saying the offense is unimportant. The offense *is* important. I'm just assessing Fangio and comparing him to George Seifert. I know it's a different era, just like you can't compare the Steel Curtain and Doomsday Defense to the 49er dynasty defenses - sure, I get that. But there are commonalities on super bowl **winning** defenses that we simply lack. I'm just pointing that out.

This is a great article that puts our blitzing and pressure into focus:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/04/07/team-blitzing/

Niners were basically top 6 in generating pressure whether they blitzed or not, and unsurprisingly we had the 3'rd lowest blitz rate in the league.

Originally posted by Disp:
This is a great article that puts our blitzing and pressure into focus:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/04/07/team-blitzing/

Niners were basically top 6 in generating pressure whether they blitzed or not, and unsurprisingly we had the 3'rd lowest blitz rate in the league.

Very interesting article thanks for sharing. Both Seattle and us are among the league low in blitzing. We are among the most productive when we do. We should do it a little more, IMO. We make game changing plays when we blitz.

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

Originally posted by Disp:
This is a great article that puts our blitzing and pressure into focus:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/04/07/team-blitzing/

Niners were basically top 6 in generating pressure whether they blitzed or not, and unsurprisingly we had the 3'rd lowest blitz rate in the league.

Very interesting article thanks for sharing. Both Seattle and us are among the league low in blitzing. We are among the most productive when we do. We should do it a little more, IMO. We make game changing plays when we blitz.

You guys may have missed my post in the Cook thread but last night Bethea was interviewed by NFL Network. Basically he confirmed that 9ers want him to play SS (duh!) BUT that they'd like him to play close to the LOS and make plays on the ball; I'm assuming that means in run defending AND in blitzing (his forte). So perhaps Cook's original comments about playing press with a single-high S will ring more true than we realized. Or at least we should consider that this type of defense may end up being more than just a package defensive scheme with off-coverage still the predominant base.