Why the 49ers offensive will experience an evolution this season

Originally posted by matt49er:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2014/06/17/offensive-makeover-promised-by-coordinator-roman-thanks-to-new-pieces/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+49ersHotRead+%2849ers+Hot+Read%29

The 49ers will unveil a "different offense" this season, a vague term that offensive coordinator Greg Roman

"Starting with the beginning of the offseason, we as the offensive staff, after three years here, it was kind of a time-to-clean-out-the-garage type of thing," Roman said. "We went through everything we've done and really stripped it back down to its most element, basic parts and start over at square one."

could. it. be. true...?

Originally posted by swayze:

Originally posted by matt49er:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2014/06/17/offensive-makeover-promised-by-coordinator-roman-thanks-to-new-pieces/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+49ersHotRead+%2849ers+Hot+Read%29

The 49ers will unveil a "different offense" this season, a vague term that offensive coordinator Greg Roman

"Starting with the beginning of the offseason, we as the offensive staff, after three years here, it was kind of a time-to-clean-out-the-garage type of thing," Roman said. "We went through everything we've done and really stripped it back down to its most element, basic parts and start over at square one."

could. it. be. true...?

I certainly hope so. Re-evaluation of this offense was needed. I like the idea of starting from square one, evaluating the talent we have, and building an offense from scratch that best suits those talents. No more trying to fit square pegs into round holes.

When I imagine what I want the 49ers offense to look like, I look and see who we have at the skill positions, and pick the personnel groupings that get our best players on the field.

In order, the best personnel groupings for this team IMO are as follows:

1. 11 Personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR)

2. 21 Personnel (2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR)

3. 12 Personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR)

4. 22 Personnel (2 RB, 2 TE, 1 WR)

-------

'11' gets our best players on the field IMO. The WR core is now a strength. I'll be beyond pissed if we bring in Johnson to ride the pine in a limited role. He needs to be out there with a prominent role in addition to Crab, Boldin, and Davis.

'21' is our next best grouping. This is to get Bruce Miller on the field. He's an excellent lead blocker, and capable pass catcher. Just because we have WRs now doesn't mean we should phase the FB out of the offense.

'12' goes back to a singe back formation, this time we get McDonald on the field. He can be on the line, split out wide, or in the backfield. I debated putting this grouping at #2, but ultimately felt Miller was a better player than McDonald at this point.

'22' is the grouping I hope to see much less of this year. It was embarrassing at times last year at the frequency which we used this grouping, mainly due to the lack of options at WR. Given all the WR depth this year, I see no reason to use this other than short-yardage, or to catch the defense off-guard with play-action.

If you dont use more 3 and 4 WR sets with Boldin, Crabtree, Johnson and Lloyd (add in Davis as a pass threat) then you're just blowing it. I'm hoping for a season full of 2013 season opener GB games. 400 yards, 70% completion. Boom stick.

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by swayze:

Originally posted by matt49er:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2014/06/17/offensive-makeover-promised-by-coordinator-roman-thanks-to-new-pieces/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+49ersHotRead+%2849ers+Hot+Read%29

The 49ers will unveil a "different offense" this season, a vague term that offensive coordinator Greg Roman

"Starting with the beginning of the offseason, we as the offensive staff, after three years here, it was kind of a time-to-clean-out-the-garage type of thing," Roman said. "We went through everything we've done and really stripped it back down to its most element, basic parts and start over at square one."

could. it. be. true...?

I certainly hope so. Re-evaluation of this offense was needed. I like the idea of starting from square one, evaluating the talent we have, and building an offense from scratch that best suits those talents. No more trying to fit square pegs into round holes.

When I imagine what I want the 49ers offense to look like, I look and see who we have at the skill positions, and pick the personnel groupings that get our best players on the field.

In order, the best personnel groupings for this team IMO are as follows:

1. 11 Personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR)

2. 21 Personnel (2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR)

3. 12 Personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR)

4. 22 Personnel (2 RB, 2 TE, 1 WR)

-------

'11' gets our best players on the field IMO. The WR core is now a strength. I'll be beyond pissed if we bring in Johnson to ride the pine in a limited role. He needs to be out there with a prominent role in addition to Crab, Boldin, and Davis.

'21' is our next best grouping. This is to get Bruce Miller on the field. He's an excellent lead blocker, and capable pass catcher. Just because we have WRs now doesn't mean we should phase the FB out of the offense.

'12' goes back to a singe back formation, this time we get McDonald on the field. He can be on the line, split out wide, or in the backfield. I debated putting this grouping at #2, but ultimately felt Miller was a better player than McDonald at this point.

'22' is the grouping I hope to see much less of this year. It was embarrassing at times last year at the frequency which we used this grouping, mainly due to the lack of options at WR. Given all the WR depth this year, I see no reason to use this other than short-yardage, or to catch the defense off-guard with play-action.

Great post man! I completely agree with everything you said.

Heard that song before!

you people actually believe that from the same guy who breathlessly proclaimed last year, our offense is going to "bust wide open",,, then we went back to running vs nine men fronts and running off tackle on third and long . wow roman sure does have a long leash with alot of "hope and change" affixed to it from alot of people

Looks like we're finally going to pass to set up the run

Originally posted by cciowa:
you people actually believe that from the same guy who breathlessly proclaimed last year, our offense is going to "bust wide open",,, then we went back to running vs nine men fronts and running off tackle on third and long . wow roman sure does have a long leash with alot of "hope and change" affixed to it from alot of people

Please. I'm sure you can see that things have changed with the personnel from last season.

Originally posted by crake49:

Originally posted by cciowa:
you people actually believe that from the same guy who breathlessly proclaimed last year, our offense is going to "bust wide open",,, then we went back to running vs nine men fronts and running off tackle on third and long . wow roman sure does have a long leash with alot of "hope and change" affixed to it from alot of people

Please. I'm sure you can see that things have changed with the personnel from last season.

please. I can see that, you can see that. does roman see that? if he does see that, does he know what to do with it? sorry but It does not fill me with confidence when the answer to my question is "well I hope he does" .That is why I chuckle at those who think we will go to these exotic four man wide out sets which means vernon is not needed anymore. roman and JH have their way of doing things and all of the healthy crabtrees and additions of stevie johnson and rookie wide outs will probably not change it that much.

Originally posted by ninerfan4life:
Looks like we're finally going to pass to set up the run

it would just be nice to have someone who knows what to do with our people. it would also be nice to take the "play calling in the huddle to plays that work by ck and gore "pressure off of them so they can just play the game

At this point, why not take Roman on his word that they all got together this off season and re-worked the offense. He even mentions Kaepernick's progress as one of the factors and obviously, he has a deeper receiving corps than they've had in years. I also consider the fact that every defense in the league prepares for the Niners as a run-first team and I remember that Harbaugh spent many days sitting in Bill Walsh's office talking about general strategy. Walsh believed that offense had to be in a perpetual state of change and re-imagining. He was reportedly shocked and dismayed when he visited a practice during Mariucci's tenure and noticed that they were running some of his plays in exactly the same way they had run them 8 or 9 years before. Harbaugh is a very smart guy. I wouldn't be too sure that you're going to continue to see what you've seen up to now.

Originally posted by SofaKing:
I certainly hope so. Re-evaluation of this offense was needed. I like the idea of starting from square one, evaluating the talent we have, and building an offense from scratch that best suits those talents. No more trying to fit square pegs into round holes.

When I imagine what I want the 49ers offense to look like, I look and see who we have at the skill positions, and pick the personnel groupings that get our best players on the field.

In order, the best personnel groupings for this team IMO are as follows:

1. 11 Personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR)

2. 21 Personnel (2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR)

3. 12 Personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR)

4. 22 Personnel (2 RB, 2 TE, 1 WR)

-------

'11' gets our best players on the field IMO. The WR core is now a strength. I'll be beyond pissed if we bring in Johnson to ride the pine in a limited role. He needs to be out there with a prominent role in addition to Crab, Boldin, and Davis.

'21' is our next best grouping. This is to get Bruce Miller on the field. He's an excellent lead blocker, and capable pass catcher. Just because we have WRs now doesn't mean we should phase the FB out of the offense.

'12' goes back to a singe back formation, this time we get McDonald on the field. He can be on the line, split out wide, or in the backfield. I debated putting this grouping at #2, but ultimately felt Miller was a better player than McDonald at this point.

'22' is the grouping I hope to see much less of this year. It was embarrassing at times last year at the frequency which we used this grouping, mainly due to the lack of options at WR. Given all the WR depth this year, I see no reason to use this other than short-yardage, or to catch the defense off-guard with play-action.

Nice breakdown. Another grouping I'd like to see this season is 20 (2RB/0TE/3WR). This never happened last season as VD was a mainstay on the field. It's very odd to take VD off the field, but this grouping can give Gore the FB lead blocker he works well with, while fielding the big3 WRs (Crabs/Boldin/SJ). It seems like it could be a well balanced grouping, even with VD off the field. Gore loves to work off a FB lead and putting 3 WRs on the field may force the defense to go nickel with a 7 man front.

As for Roman's comment, I have no idea what that means. Starting from square 1? I didn't have a huge issue with the playbook, just some of the situational playcalling. The 49ers have the personnel to do anything they want. 3WR + VD to run a spread passing attack. Two very good run blocking TEs, plus a great blocking FB, to power run.

Originally posted by thl408:

Nice breakdown. Another grouping I'd like to see this season is 20 (2RB/0TE/3WR). This never happened last season as VD was a mainstay on the field. It's very odd to take VD off the field, but this grouping can give Gore the FB lead blocker he works well with, while fielding the big3 WRs (Crabs/Boldin/SJ). It seems like it could be a well balanced grouping, even with VD off the field. Gore loves to work off a FB lead and putting 3 WRs on the field may force the defense to go nickel with a 7 man front.

As for Roman's comment, I have no idea what that means. Starting from square 1? I didn't have a huge issue with the playbook, just some of the situational playcalling. The 49ers have the personnel to do anything they want. 3WR + VD to run a spread passing attack. Two very good run blocking TEs, plus a great blocking FB, to power run.

I think it's pretty clear square 1 means we are installing a combination of the wing T and the wishbone

Seriously though, I hope the comment means a self-scouting evaluation of some of the tells that have crept into the offense over the last 3 season. I too like the playbook, I just want some tendency breakers.

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by thl408:
Nice breakdown. Another grouping I'd like to see this season is 20 (2RB/0TE/3WR). This never happened last season as VD was a mainstay on the field. It's very odd to take VD off the field, but this grouping can give Gore the FB lead blocker he works well with, while fielding the big3 WRs (Crabs/Boldin/SJ). It seems like it could be a well balanced grouping, even with VD off the field. Gore loves to work off a FB lead and putting 3 WRs on the field may force the defense to go nickel with a 7 man front.

As for Roman's comment, I have no idea what that means. Starting from square 1? I didn't have a huge issue with the playbook, just some of the situational playcalling. The 49ers have the personnel to do anything they want. 3WR + VD to run a spread passing attack. Two very good run blocking TEs, plus a great blocking FB, to power run.

I think it's pretty clear square 1 means we are installing a combination of the wing T and the wishbone

Seriously though, I hope the comment means a self-scouting evaluation of some of the tells that have crept into the offense over the last 3 season. I too like the playbook, I just want some tendency breakers.

Yeah, in year 3 or 4 of an offense you are usually building upon the layers installed from the previous years. These comments IMHO seem more in line with scrapping what we did last year from the "hodge podge" offense and installing only the plays from the playbook that may work best for the current personnel with an added focus on 3 WR sets. I'm not a fan at all of the playbook or the lack of a clear foundation but the talent is so supreme I believe they can execute just about anything you draw up for them...and even ad lib very successfully when things fail.

personally I enjoy power football , we probably wont go too far away from what has worked these past three seasons, we'll probably see a few 3 WR sets, that's about it ...every year we talk about how we will start using more 3, or even 4 WR packages, and how we'll probably start throwing to our RB's out of the backfield , and perhaps even screen passes added to the playbook ...it just doesn't happen , so I'm not expecting much of a change offensively .....I just hope we don't bury our weapons on the bench and occasionally throw them in the game ...we need to find a balance with getting our weapons on the field , and still manage to make good use of our power attack using the FB & TE , Harbaugh is a "bloody knuckles football guy" ...our offense wont change that much