St. Louis Rams week 9 coaches film analysis

I don't have a thorough a summary as normal. This week has been a super busy week, work wise, for me; plus, I'm leaving in the morning for a 4 day business trip so I won't be able to add much, if anything this week.

I made it through the first half of the game - basically, Joe Staley's summary - "we played like S---" sounds about right. Saw a lot of blown assignments on the O-line. Overall, the team played like crap.

If the Bears game was the hardest morale loss of the year - this was the most frustrating loss of the year. To me, I'm seeing a team that's playing completely differently than last year. In my opinion - our players need to quit, being an "anonymous source" about disgruntled feelings in the facility and go play like they're paid to play. This crap is VERY frustrating. Most games, watching the film is soothing, you can calmly, cooly, analyze the situation and see where the breakdown was or just how good something was. This has been hard, because there have been so many errors in execution from so many different areas; that I didn't see last year or from the 2012 film.

With that, I'll open the thread for any and all input from the film. I do thank anyone and everyone who who adds to the convo and will be picking up the slack for me.

great. even jonnydel is quitting on this team. THANKS HARBAUGH!

Originally posted by ChazBoner:

great. even jonnydel is quitting on this team. THANKS HARBAUGH!

Haha. Yea that's pretty sad.

LOL chaz

Originally posted by ChazBoner:
great. even jonnydel is quitting on this team. THANKS HARBAUGH!

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by ChazBoner:
great. even jonnydel is quitting on this team. THANKS HARBAUGH!

I guess I can't blame Jonny for not wanting to break down this game.

I ain't scared to watch a train wreck. I got all the sacks cut up, but I'm not home atm. I'll post tonight.

Thanks thl and I hope Johnny can offer observations that might key in on how the offense came up way way short.

I didn't mind watching the DEN game because at least I got to watch Manning operate and I can appreciate good football. Watching this STL game was not fun.

The 49ers offense's struggles began with the Oline - no surprise. Completely blown blocking assignments as well as MMartin being overmatched while pass protecting led the way to why the offense couldn't get things consistently going. Six sacks occurred in the first half alone, with two in the second. To top it off, untimely penalties and mishaps like fumbled snaps put the offense behind the 8 ball time and time again, especially in the second half. It was those penalties and sacks that may have caused the team to go away from the running game. Bad playcalling on a few series gave the team no chance to salvage points when near FG range (running the ball on 2nd & 17 ugh). The Rams Dline came to play as they applied pressure not only via blitzes, but also using a standard 4 man rush. The 8th sack of the game was comical and I just had to laugh. Aside from a few exotic blitzes where they played man coverage behind it, STL played standard cover3 for most of the game. Nothing exotic abut that. Nothing exotic needed when the front 4 can apply good pressure.

Defensively, the 49ers defense was good, but ADavis looked every bit the undrafted 3rd string QB. Which makes the loss even more upsetting. A somewhat bittersweet game for Borland as he was everywhere except for covering his man on the lone STL TD. I'll be sure to highlight his display of good instincts as he sniffed out several runs and showed quickness in following his nose. Honorable mentions to Bethea and Lynch as they continue to play well week after week. Props to the front 7 for shutting down the STL run game as TMason went for 65 yards on 16 carries with 21 of those yards coming on one run.

Missed 50+ yarder by Dawson can be excused. Shanked punt by Lee hurt and led to the only score of the second half for either team, which says a lot about both offenses.

Cut ups to follow.

The thing that had me most curious about the game was "why all the sacks"? Was it simply poor pass protection? Were the routes too long developing which caused Kap to hold the ball too long? Was Kap missing open WRs? 49ers were facing standard cover 3 for the majority of the game so it's not like Roman couldn't have known what was coming. Let's take a look at all 8 sacks and see what the points of failure were for each sack, and how it affected the drive.

Kap Sacked #1
49ers: To Kap's right is a simple High (Vance)-Lo (Hyde) to attack the weak side flat defender. To Kap's left is the Smash concept ran with a Corner (VD) + Dig (Lloyd).
Rams: cover3


Kap takes the snap and looks to the Smash concept. Boone is immediately beaten by being grabbed and yanked aside.


ADavis also gets beat around the edge, but because Boone's man applies pressure up the middle, Kap will not be able to step up in the pocket.


With two underneath defenders close to Miller, had the route been able to fully develop downfield, Lloyd is open on the deep In (Dig route) as his defender was bailing to his deep 1/3.




This is a long developing route combination as the 49ers go for a chunk play. Since this is early in the game and resulted in the first sack, it's hard for me to fault the playcall. They knew cover3 was coming so they wanted to work the deep 1/3 defender (CB) to Kap's left. This sack resulted in -7 yards to bring up 2nd and 17. Set of downs results in a punt.

On the first sack play, I kinda wish Hyde would have been on more of a delay route that encompassed cleaning defenders in the pocket. IMO, Mcdonalds route did enough on the backside of the play to occupy those defenders. The play in this situation was all on the concept side. Its a damn shame the blocking failed because this would have been a 25+ yard play.

Kap first quarter endzone pass to Crabtree that was 10 feet off. Kap, at the end of the second quarter fumbles in the Rams territory. Rams score an easy TD off Borlands bad coverage. Various less severe third quarter mistakes. Kap, fourth quarter drive to Gore, bad pass into tight double coverage. Kap, on the very next play bad pass to Crabtree. We went 3 and out. Kap, last drive at the goal line bad pass to Crabtree. Kap, at the goal line fumble. These are the game changing plays that stick out in my mind. And the sacks of course. But the plays that just killed it came from the QB position as well. Balls thrown high, low, wide.... Almost 2 ints. One of them a close pick 6. No adjustments to the rush. Boldin sitting on the sideline on the last drive. No rush with Gore who holds the all time record for rushing yards against the Rams, who's run D isn't that great this year. Stevie Johnson and Lloyd sitting on the sideline in the first half. Not playing Johnson or running Gore is inexcusable. Not running Gore at least once at the goal line is inexcusable. . . . . . Redzone issues. Kap shuts down with a short field. Even a bad punt and FG. Borland good against the run, not so much in pass coverage. Roman is not an NFL caliber play caller. And even players complaining about offensive schemes. The biggest mistakes still, IMO, fall on Kap. There's almost no need for film analysis. 21 points in the game are tied to Kaps mistakes. At clutch moments or in the redzone. If he makes that first pass to Crabtree in the first quarter we win. If he doesn't fumble at the end of the second quarter Rams don't score. If he makes good throws to Gore and Crabtree mid 4th we extend the drive and probably get a FG. If he makes an easy throw to Crabtree at the goal line final drive we win. If he doesn't fumble at the goal line we win. No need for film. The online, Roman and Kap reverted to PopWarner. Season over. No need to study the film.

Kap Sacked #2

Boldin's route is designed to take the curl/flat defender to the flats. Crabs will work the area vacated.


STL comes with a fire zone blitz (rush 5, 3 underneath zone defenders, 3 deep zone defenders) and overload the left side of the Oline.


Kap takes the snap and looks to his right. Since it's 3rd and 10, I think he's looking to Crabs' In route. 5 man rush versus 6 man protection. #55 will blitz the C gap between Staley and Gore and come unblocked. MMartin on a knee (not sure if he tripped on Iupati).


Same moment in time as pic above. Crabs is about to break in as Boldin draws the attention of the curl/flat defender (blue).


This is the moment Kap just took his eyes away from looking downfield to look at the oncoming rush. Is there an anticipation throw to be made here to Crabs?




Notice how STL shows cover2 but rotates to a cover3 shell.


To be hypercritical, I think Crabs can be targeted using anticipation, but Kap is going to get smacked if he throws it. Punt.

Just a quick reminder of cover 3 since I think I may be referring to it a lot.