KC Chiefs coaches film analysis

jonnydel · 2014-10-07T10:27:48-07:00

It's always a lot more enjoyable breaking down film after a win than a loss. From a general overall view: We had a great team win. There were some really good individual plays made, but, this was a total team effort to win this game. Bear in mind that we were playing a very good football team that just destroyed the Patriots. Our guys played with a lot of passion and fire and controlled the LOS on both sides of the ball. Biggest thing though, players made plays. It's something that we were sorely lacking in our 2 losses. As always, there are things we could've done better and things that went really well and we'll try and highlight both sides of the coin. I do feel though, as I've now watched so many games now on film that I'm starting to get a better understanding of what our play calling and timing are trying to accomplish and getting a better understanding of our players strengths and weaknesses. One thing I've noticed over the past 4 weeks or so, and even going back to last year is, that when the other teams knows and expects us to pass - our O-line really, really struggles. So, to combat this, G-Ro will often call a lot of things early in the game to try and slow down the pass rush in passing situations - to the point where they're willing to accept a 4th down a couple times if it will help their passing game throughout the rest of the game. Case in point: I saw 2 designed QB runs in obvious passing situations as well as a zone handoff. It seemed like we were trying to let the Chiefs defenders know that they can't come after the passer on every play, which did really help our passing game later in the game. But, enough of that - onto specifics for offense and defense and, as always, we'll start with the positives first. Offense: Positives: The run game was dominating throughout. There were times where we won the schematic game, but other times where we simply imposed our will on the defense. There were a few runs where, KC had all the defenders in the right spots - and we still got 4-6 yards on the play by simply pushing the other team around. That was awesome to see. It was, as Mike Singletary would say, "physical with an 'F'!" The left side of the line - including Kilgore, played lights out in the game. Kilgore especially, played probably the best game I've ever seen him play. He did a great job of handling the NT and was key on several plays. Iupati also played at a very high level - to the level that's expected of him as a 1st round pick. From the passing game - it was great to see Lloyd step up and make some big plays. To the credit of both G-Ro and CK, those plays were setup because KC decided to play a lot more man-coverage in this game and you could see, throughout the game, that we were trying to hit the plays over the top against their aggressive man coverage. The biggest reason we don't try for it more often is because a lot of teams are playing zone, so the corners are playing with a different technique in zone. In zone, the corners are going to be able to keep their eyes back to the QB and play an over the top technique, where, they're biggest - and main responsibility, is to not let anyone behind them. So, they'll take deeper drops and not be looking to take away the in routes or post routes. In man coverage, the corners has to try and take everything away and often has his back to the QB as his job is to watch the receiver. This allowed for the opportunity to take shots down the field and it paid off big time. Normally, when we see more man coverage, we'll run a lot of rub/pick plays to get receivers open in space. But, KC had decided that they were going to play man coverage, while trying to play middle zones with the safeties and/or LB's in a "spy". In effect, it really hampered our short/intermediate passing game and we had to hit some big plays down the sideline - which we did. CK is gonna make the list of both negative and positive this week - which isn't too uncommon. But, he made some major "WOW!" throws this week. He also did a good job, many times, of finding his 2nd and 3rd receivers, moving through his progressions, getting his footwork right and making plays. Frank Gore continues to be so impressive. It's hard to believe when you watch film that this guy is 31 years old. He still shows burst and acceleration and a pit-bull mentality when he runs. Hyde is also the best complement we've had to him in his career. Mainly, because they run so similar, that the offense doesn't change at all when he's in the game - which makes it a lot harder for the defense to clue in to anything we're doing. Before, when Hunter or James entered the game, the defense could figure that any runs up the middle were no longer a factor, or that we weren't going to have a RB in pass pro. They can't do that now. In my opinion - Hyde is gonna be a special player. He reminds me a lot of Ricky Williams in his heyday. When this guys moves downhill, he's scary; because he has the speed and quickness to hit the home run, but the power to move the pile several yards. He' a perfect fit for our power run game and I'm excited about this guys future. The negatives: We're continuing the leave a lot of food out on the table. The negative plays have continued to kill some drives. It seems like, once we have one negative play, the players just snowball. We had 1st and 10 at the 20 yard line, then, after a terrible sequence of a penalty, blown blocks, bad reads, and more blown blocks, we ended up with 4th and 25..... Boone played well in the run game, but still struggles in pass protection. Not sure what the problem is, he wasn't this bad last year, but he's flat out whiffed or been manhandled in pass protection a lot this year. To me, he's our worst pass blocker right now. The hard part about it too is, when you have a tackle that's struggling, you have several options at your disposal about how to help that guy; but when you have a guard who's really struggling, there's not much you can do without putting yourself in some really unfavorable matchups. He's gotta get that part of his game cleaned up. CK gets on the negatives list this week because there are a number of "little things" that he's just not getting down right now. It was interesting seeing how much of a difference those little things can make when you watch Alex Smith who has those little things down well and what the difference in result would be. I'll be touching on those first in my breakdowns but, he remains too confident in his pre-snap reads. He'll see things in his pre-snap read, make the right throw against the defense, but, because he's so confident in his read, he'll forget to look guys off. This allows players to clue in to his eyes and jump on routes. The play calls are good, the pre-snap read is good, it's like he acts like he's playing a video game and the defenders will just automatically go where they're supposed to. He forgets that the guys on the other side are trying to read him too. He also has to do a better job of forcing the issue and making defenders declare if they're going to stay in coverage or come after him on his rollouts. Alex Smith, on his rollouts, attacks the defense, he'll force the issue by moving downfield. This forces defenders to choose whether they are going to come after him or stay in coverage. CK will roll out flat and/or moving backwards slightly. This never challenges the defenders to break off their coverage. This is why we're getting so many incomplete passes on CK rollouts. Vance McDonald was also a little disappointing in the run game. He missed a number of key blocks. Not much other to say about the guy.... Defense: Positives: The defense played outstanding. They are really starting to play with a swagger. You can see it on the field. Yes, the Chiefs had a few big plays, but, most of their big plays came from a busted coverage. There were a couple big plays that were made because Jamaal Charles is Jamaal Charles and he wowed me on several plays. When we play our assignments, we are a tough, tough defense to attack. I said it last week and I'll say it again, I think Vic Fangio is one of the best, if not maybe the best, defensive coordinators in the league. We're a top 3 defense right now and top 5 against both the run and pass and we're missing 2 all-pro's right now. Guys have really elevated their play in the last 2 weeks and are playing really good team defense. There's a lot of guys we could highlight from this past week so I'll just talk about the ones that stood out the most. Bethea continues to really impress. I watched all his film from last season and he's flat out playing better than he did last year. I think our system fits him better than the one he was in at Indy. He's a smart, fundamentally sound football player and it's showing. The only knock on him in the game was that he missed a tackle that ended up with a TD. But, it was a tough tackle to make and it was a good play by KC. Willis still makes me marvel at his abilities as a LB. The thing about Willis is, there are so many plays he'll make where he doesn't necessarily end up on the stat sheet. He's a great, great player and will definitely be in the HOF. I would tell anyone who is, or is going to play LB at any time to go watch film of Patrick Willis playing LB because you won't find a better example of a guy who plays the position so soundly and does all the little things right and at a high level. Ian Williams has really elevated his play since week 1. He's showing why he was the starter last year before he got hurt. He's controlling the point of attack, shows great lateral movement while being engaged and an ability to eat up blockers and shed those guys at the right time. He plays at a very good pad level and with great leverage. I would say that he's even playing better than Dorsey was last year. The negatives: The only thing that really beats us is ourselves. We had several key blown coverages in the game that gave KC big plays and set them up in scoring position. Thl will touch on those plays, so I won't go into too much detail about them but, the mental mistakes are what keep us on the field. Physically, we are a scary defense. Mentally, we're still pretty stinking tough, which is one reason why we have a few mental errors. But, those errors are coming from guys who haven't played in a ton of games in our system. So, there's still room for improvement - which is scary to think about how good this defense can be. With the way we're playing right now, when we get Smith and Bowman back, and can minimize those mental errors, we have the best defense in the league without a doubt in my book. That's all for the summary and as usual - breakdowns to follow! Happy Tuesday!

Oct 7, 2014 at 10:47 AM

NCommand
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Off to a great start to the thread!

Oct 7, 2014 at 10:53 AM

Allx9er
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Oct 7, 2014 at 10:56 AM

darkknight49
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Show us your pics!

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:00 AM

thl408
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Dynamite writeup jonnydel. Not much too much to add.

KC mainly played coverage much like ARI did. That is, man on the outside with zone/spies over the middle. The difference in offensive gameplan between ARI and KC is that the 49ers didn't go spread versus KC. So we didn't see all those short curl routes over the middle that we saw versus ARI. It appears teams are very careful not to let Kap's scrambling ability beat them. Whenever KC played man coverage all around, KC would bring their LBs, who are covering the RBs, close up to the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball. This gives the impression of a blitz, and it clogs up scrambling lanes for Kap, which is what a defense usually gives up when they play man coverage all around the field. So even though they aren't blitzing, the LBs are close to the line of scrimmage, with their eyes on their man assignment (RB), clogging scrambling lanes to discourage Kap's legs. A drawback of this is the LBs can't play the passing lanes because they are too shallow. The big Boldin catch and run (+27 yards) was an example of this.

I agree that 'food was left on the table'. There were two instances where I thought Kap could have hit some deep TD passes. In one instance he looked backside immediately after the snap. This was the near pick6 in the 1st quarter. The other was on one of the plays in the horrific offensive sequence where they were 1st & 10 on the KC 20 yard line, then went offside (-5 yards), sack (-2), read/option (-2), sack (-5). Dawson to the rescue with another 50+ yarder. I'll try to hit these.

If there was ever a game that illustrated why the 49ers need a deep WR threat, it's this one. The 49er ground game was rolling, they tried to use playaction to hit some deep throws and the separation just wasn't there in most instances. Lloyds's amazing catch was a great individual effort. He did make one catch down the sideline where he had good separation on a double move, but a speed threat on this team, from the WR position, would scare defenses silly.

In the second half, the 49er defense did an excellent job getting off the field on 3rd downs even though KC had very manageable distances. I'll try to hit these 3rd down stops.

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:00 AM

thl408
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Oct 7, 2014 at 11:07 AM

Adusoron
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Jonnydel, great writeup. I have a couple of questions I'd love for you to explore based upon the Chiefs game as well as the prior 4 weeks - when you have a moment or two.

1. Overall, how is Reid playing at FS? We don't see him mentioned a lot, but that could be a good thing because it means QBs aren't throwing the ball his way.

2. Do you see growth in Kaepernick's overall game based upon the film? Where has he grown from 2012 and 2013? Do you agree with observers (such as Greg Cosell of NFL films) who seem to believe that Kaepernick is now what he's always going to be... a player who plays outside of structure and won't be a fully developed pocket passer which results in dynamic plays, and some frustrating lapse plays?

3. What do you think we do with Brock, Cox and Culliver when Brock gets healthy?

4. How is Fangio compensating for a weakened pass rush?

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:09 AM

DeUh
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Oct 7, 2014 at 11:12 AM

Niners816
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My favorite highlight was SJ's td. I loved how he got off the LOS and toasted cooper. His route running on the backside of 3x1 sets should/have been a much needed addition.

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:14 AM

thl408
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One of the first things I'm sure many of us were yelling at the TV was, "someone cover the middle of the field!" as KC took the opening kickoff and marched down the field converting 3rd down after 3rd down with throws over the middle of the field.

#1: "Someone Cover the Middle of the Field!" (SCTMoTF!)
KC's first 3rd down conversion.

1Q 3rd & 2
KC: Variation of the 'Sucker' concept which is an inside Curl + an outside Dig (In route)
The yellow route is the TE Fasano running the Dig. The inner most WR is running the Curl.
49ers: Cover1

Fasano's route will stem (lean) to the outside. This is done to get Bethea to backpeddle and further influence his outside leverage on Fasano.

Once Fasano knows he has Bethea shading his outside shoulder, Fasano breaks inside. Wilhoite is held by the inside Curl route which creates the passing lane to Fasano.

Gain of +13.

[ Edited by thl408 on Oct 7, 2014 at 11:18 AM ]

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:26 AM

#10

NCommand
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Originally posted by thl408:
One of the first things I'm sure many of us were yelling at the TV was, "someone cover the middle of the field!" as KC took the opening kickoff and marched down the field converting 3rd down after 3rd down with throws over the middle of the field.

#1: "Someone Cover the Middle of the Field!" (SCTMoTF!)
KC's first 3rd down conversion.

1Q 3rd & 2
KC: Variation of the 'Sucker' concept which is an inside Curl + an outside Dig (In route)
The yellow route is the TE Fasano running the Dig. The inner most WR is running the Curl.
49ers: Cover1

Fasano's route will stem (lean) to the outside. This is done to get Bethea to backpeddle and further influence his outside leverage on Fasano.

Once Fasano knows he has Bethea shading his outside shoulder, Fasano breaks inside. Wilhoite is held by the inside Curl route which creates the passing lane to Fasano.

Gain of +13.

This is just a very good design and well executed with only a 3-step drop. You can even see Alex pump-fake to the shorter outside receiver to then come back inside to Fasano. That froze the DB and Willis in the middle of the field.

BTW, you title cracked me up! I think we ALL were screaming that!

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:27 AM

#11

thl408
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#2: SCTMotF!

49ers made it a point to take away Jamaal Charles in the passing game. Here, the added attention to Chalres opens up lanes to throw.

1Q 3rd & 3
KC: Shallow Cross concept + Curl/Flat concept. JCharles is in the backfield.
49ers: Rush 3, drop 8 into coverage. Cover 3 (I think)

Brooks and Reid are attentive of Charles flare out to the flat. Willis is looking at the Drag route. This opens up the lane to the Curl.

Cully (orange) slips while trying to break on the ball. Nice, wide throwing lane for the Curl. Looks like Cully had deep responsibility here so I can't fault him for playing with such a cushion.

Hemingway gain of +10

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:46 AM

#12

NYniner85
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Great write up as usual!

Your spot on with Boone he has looked lost in pass protection and he did as well last year. He ranked as a top 20 guard in run blocking last year, but graded out in the negative in pass blocking (-5.2) and was ranked 54th according to PFF.

Oct 7, 2014 at 11:49 AM

#13

ChaunceyGardner
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Oct 7, 2014 at 11:54 AM

#14

thl408
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#3: SCTMotF!

KC will flare out both RBs and just place a Curl over the middle of the field. Wilhoite is seen pointing to the inside (yellow line covering his arm). He is telling Ward, that Ward needs to get whoever goes inside, while Wilhoite will match anyone that goes towards the flat.

Easier to see Wilhoite pointing.

As both RBs flare out, Ward and Wilhoite follow the RB to the flat.

Hemingway sets up a picnic.

Gain of +17

Wilhoite is seen telling Ward post play what was supposed to happen when he points like that.