Analysis from the Arizona Cardinals game coaches film

So, I've finished reviewing the coaches film from the Cardinals game. A lot of things to discuss, so I'll try and keep it succinct.

First, an update on may dad: He's doing much better, improving daily; as a result I have returned home and to work, so, It'll take me a little longer to get all of my analysis and breakdowns uploaded than I was doing.

As far as the game goes:

I think I, like many, was happy we won, celebrated the last second victory, and felt frustrated through quarters 2-4. After reviewing the film, I have to give props to Arizona, they came to play - we did not, and we still won....

Let me preface everything with this: Arizona played like a hot team playing with a hunger for the playoffs. They were obviously going to come out and put everything they had into this game to do all that they could going into the playoffs. Remember, this is a team that had won 7 of its last 8 games and came in with the #1 rushing defense - it showed. I think our guys, didn't have nearly the fire or passion in this game - and we still won....

There was a lot of sloppy play from a lot of different guys throughout the game.

Our Offense played great in the 1st quarter, then played terrible through almost the entire next 3 quarters - which we all know, the question is why?
To answer, we don't have to look much further than the offensive line. AZ's defensive line played like monsters throughout the game. Our offensive line continued to struggle against their ferocious front all game and when we did handle them, they were so active and played with such intensity, some of their guys still made plays. On one play in particular, Calais Campbell was the backside DT and scraped all the way down the line after getting beat to tackle Frank Gore in the hole for a 1 yard gain on what should've been an 8 yard gain - it was a pure hustle play. AZ played like that all game.

Roman tried to spread out their defense to loosen up the middle of the field, but they were so stout in the middle it never happened. Kaepernick got hit early and often. Sometimes we didn't see it on the broadcast, but, CK was hit on a lot of his throws(or had a defender closing fast). I think this got him to hurry a couple progressions and throws in quarter 2 and the beginning of quarter 3. However, CK did continue to show good development in going through his progressions and, when he had time was effective. However, he rarely had decent time in the pocket. Every member of the offensive line got whooped at some point in pass pro.

Sometimes we had guys give up on routes. There was one play in particular where Boldin was the 2nd read on a play, he was supposed to run a slant got 2 steps into the slant and stopped running, CK moved from his 1st read to his 2nd - which should've been Boldin(he looked over the middle for Boldin but Boldin had stopped running) which then CK had to go to his 3rd read for the outlet.

Also, I think many of us were frustrated with the 3rd and shorts that we failed to convert. This, also, was on the O-line. Roman tried different runs throughout the game. He was searching for anything that might work against that defense. He came back to the few plays that had worked, but those ended up getting destroyed the 2nd time they tried them. He tried power plays, dives, traps, zone stretches - they all got blown up by a very active AZ front that came to play.

Each of the 3rd and shorts were different runs that were blown up by different players.

As far as CK's footwork - I know there was mention of that in the previous thread. He had a couple lapses and missteps but it was the exception not the rule. I could pull a couple examples of poor footwork, but, they were not the majority. I think the footwork lapses were more a result of CK getting hit early than a lack of knowing how to do it properly.

From the defensive side of the ball:

I think our goal was to come out of the game healthy(sucks about Rogers though - he's our most consistent corner and does a good job in the slot). We rotated the defensive line more than I have seen us all season. I know it seemed like a lack of pass rush, I think it had more to do with the constant rotation than anything. When we had our big 4(Brooks, McD, Smith, Smith) on the field, for the most part, we got good pressure. However, we only had our true starting front 7 on the field all together for maybe 35% of the plays. We rotated everyone in the front 7 out throughout the game. Most of AZ's big plays came when we had guys rotating out on the rush. Also, I think our guys on D didn't bring their A-game. Bowman had the pick and the forced fumble but he also gave up AZ's biggest run and a big 18 yard pass to a TE the he blew his coverage on. Everyone on defense had a lapse in the game at some point. Sometimes, it was multiple guys at the same time.

The pass rush was also a little discombobulated, the stunts were not sharp and tight.

Overall, it was a really sloppy game.

The positive is: AZ had to convert a couple huge 4th downs to score and stay in the game, we played against a passionate, hot team hungry for a playoff birth(probably one of the top 4 teams in the NFC actually, they had just held Seattle to 10 points at home), had a their playmakers make some amazing plays, and we still won.

I felt like we played well under our potential against a great team and we still managed to find a way to win. I think we'll come out really sharp against GB this week. If we can beat that good of a team, playing that far under our potential, we should do very well in the playoffs.

Like most of my posts I'll be following over the next day or so with some breakdowns. Probably not too many as I'll really be focusing on scouting out GB and working on that more. If there are some really pressing questions I'll try and get to those, but, most of my time will be spent in scouting for the playoffs.

Go Niners! Let's get the 6th this year!

Yellow routes are completions. Orange are incompletions. Not shown are sacks, scrambles, and penalties resulting in no play.

1st Quarter




2nd Quarter


3rd Quarter


4th Quarter

What's up ol' Johnny! Looking forward to the insight

Originally posted by jonnydel:


Roman tried to spread out their defense to loosen up the middle of the field, but they were so stout in the middle it never happened. Kaepernick got hit early and often.
Sometimes we had guys give up on routes. There was one play in particular where Boldin was the 2nd read on a play, he was supposed to run a slant got 2 steps into the slant and stopped running, CK moved from his 1st read to his 2nd - which should've been Boldin(he looked over the middle for Boldin but Boldin had stopped running) which then CK had to go to his 3rd read for the outlet.

Great post, enjoy these breakdowns.


That seems a little alarming about the part of Boldin stop running. Is Boldin playing lazy on a few plays and is this caused by Kaepernick not usually going through his progressions so he just thinks he wont be getting the ball? Having errors like these can really limit our offense. we need our players to have faith in one another on pretty much every play.

Really informative post. I did not know we rotated that many subs during the game. And yes, offensive line played poorly. Let's hope we play up to our potential the rest of the season.

Thanks for the post and wishing continued improvement for your dad. Happy New Years!

How do you think the pass defense will be, especially if Rogers doesn't play?

Originally posted by bmvanthiel:
Great post, enjoy these breakdowns.


That seems a little alarming about the part of Boldin stop running. Is Boldin playing lazy on a few plays and is this caused by Kaepernick not usually going through his progressions so he just thinks he wont be getting the ball? Having errors like these can really limit our offense. we need our players to have faith in one another on pretty much every play.

I'm under the impression that doing that is a way to signify Kaep not to make that throw because it's not there. I know that Boldin has done these on slants that are covered based on what happens with the defense right off the snap.

Nice summary jonnydel. Glad to hear about your pops.

I re-watched the game as well and I did not notice the rotation of the front 4(7), glad you picked up on that. I thought Brock had a tough game as they were picking on him quite often. He gave up a big 44 yard catch to Floyd in the 3rd quarter and I think it really messed him up for the rest of the game as he was cautious not to get beat deep again. i agree Rogers played fine and is a big loss versus GB (Randall Cobb). Many times when he was in the slot, it was against Fitz and that is a nightmare matchup for many CBs. Fitz used his big frame to basically initiate contact then push off. On the big 49 yard gain, Fitz put on a double move (post-corner) and Palmer dropped in a dime just as Aldon made contact. Just have to tip your hat to that as it happened 2-3 times. Once a few big gains were had by ARI, they started working the underneath as the 49ers were scared to give up the big play, while protecting their lead.

Lining up a TE on Aldon's side seems to be the norm now to widen his rush and help the LT. I think this is why Fangio will sometimes line Aldon up over RT, although I did not notice it much in this game (may have missed it). The 49ers did come with blitzes, mainly on 3rd downs. I thought Palmer made some very nice throws, on rhythm and sometimes getting rocked just as he released the ball. He stood tall and delivered after a horrible INT to Bowman in the 1st quarter. Most of ARI's chunk plays passing wise came on plays over the middle as Brock (a few times) and the ILBs were victimized.

Regarding the offensive passing game, ARI went predominantly man coverage and the 49ers opened the game taking full advantage. Quick hitch throws when there was a cushion, back shoulder throws when it was press coverage. The whole first drive was like this. Then ARI began to mix their pre-snap look (press versus cushion) on the subsequent drives. I can count on one hand how many times ARI went zone coverage underneath. ARI going majority man coverage is what allowed the Staley catch. Since no one expects for Staley to go out for a route, no one was assigned to him. Had it been zone coverage, I highly doubt Staley would find the soft spot in the zone. I thought ARI did a good job sorting out their man coverage assignments when the 49ers used bunch formations and rub routes. ARI rarely followed the 49er they lined up across from when the 49ers criss crossed. ARI would instead switch assignments to nullify the mesh (rub) concept.

Many, including myself, were very frustrated by the 3rd and short failed conversions, but lining up in jumbo did help sell the play action on the TD pass to VD. Teams know the 49ers are willing to run into a brick wall and ARI bit on the play fake leaving VD wide open. I think I would rather have had the 49ers in a 3rd and 3 situation than a 3rd and 1 in this game. Perhaps then they would have passed the ball instead of testing the strong DL of ARI. 49ers just played to their strength (OL run blocking straight ahead) and they were not up to the task going back to what you mentioned about the ARI DL coming to play.

My brain just grew.

this makes my nipples erect.

Great insight dudes!

jonnydel, can u analyze what happened on that play where Snyder gave up a long sack. Why was he in the game?

The General had a nice coming out party showing hands, tenacity to fight for the ball, and on this play, selfless hustle.

Below:
49ers will use the mesh/rub concept to Kap's left.
ARI comes with a 'casino blitz', as they bring the house and play cover 0. It's man on man straight up across the board as ARI rushes 7. In theory, the mesh concept (man coverage buster) being run by Crabs/QP will work to get someone open.



Below: QP will be wide open because Crabs has successfully executed the pick, but Kap has no time to make a second read. He must go with his pre-snap decision. Shown below is Kap already in the throwing motion.


The play: Kap leads Boldin perfectly with the throw. One missed tackle and it's off to the races. Moore tripped up his man to help spring Boldin. Watch QP as he doesn't throw his arms up (had to jab at Crabs), but instead runs across the field to block a LB, taking a great angle to the block. ARI does not use this blitz again in this game.

Originally posted by thl408:
The General had a nice coming out party showing hands, tenacity to fight for the ball, and on this play, selfless hustle.

Below:
49ers will use the mesh/rub concept to Kap's left.
ARI comes with a 'casino blitz', as they bring the house and play cover 0. It's man on man straight up across the board as ARI rushes 7. In theory, the mesh concept (man coverage buster) being run by Crabs/QP will work to get someone open.



Below: QP will be wide open because Crabs has successfully executed the pick, but Kap has no time to make a second read. He must go with his pre-snap decision. Shown below is Kap already in the throwing motion.


The play: Kap leads Boldin perfectly with the throw. One missed tackle and it's off to the races. Moore tripped up his man to help spring Boldin. Watch QP as he doesn't throw his arms up (had to jab at Crabs), but instead runs across the field to block a LB, taking a great angle to the block. ARI does not use this blitz again in this game.

I'd hate to be a cb trying to tackle Quan. Nice post