New Orleans Saints Coaches film analysis

Originally posted by thl408:

If I had to pick, I would say that's on Ward as well. The deeper DB usually has the route that breaks outwards since it's a farther throw and the deeper DB would have more time to react since he is playing with a cushion. The more shallow DB (in this case Ward) usually takes the non-outside breaking route since it's a closer throw from QB to WR. That, and the post play reaction from Cully give it away. I really like this play, not because it's good for the 49ers, but because it really illustrates the complexity of pattern matching and what offenses can do to confuse pattern matching defenders - late pre snap motion, stacking WRs.

Agree. it's definitely a much more complex kind of zone, but still a zone defense that definitely would confuse any WCO kind of offense. Add the Blitz to the zone, and you get the Zone Blitz which is probably the best counter to any pass first kind of offense.

Personally, I think Borland's instincts and agressiveness would be an asset in the nickel. If you take a nickel defense that is 2-3-6 (Two DE's and Aldon and Lynch, and Borland as the guy watching for the run) and 6 DB's, I think you have a formidable nickel that would be very good against the run.

I was hoping Moody would be that combo Saftey/LB that would confuse offenses, but it looks like Ward, Bethea, and Cox/Culliver are the guys interchanging on that defense. But back to Borland, his responsiblities in the nickel is not to defense the pass, but to defense the run. I think, contrary to what other folks think, Borland might be actually be pretty good in the Nickel Defense.

anything in the coaches film indicate what Lloyd might've been telling VD before he went off on him? From the broadcast angle, it looks like Lloyd is telling VD to secure the ball and VD takes offense to it. It was in the 1st quarter at about the 7 minute mark. I watched it like 10 times and that's the only thing I can think of.

Originally posted by thl408:
I guess the question becomes, 'would Brooks play ILB better than Wilhoite?' I am just meh with Wilhoite although I admit I haven't watched him that closely, particularly in pass coverage. He doesn't suck that's for sure. It's a lot harder than just falling back on how Brooks played ILB when he was a Bengal. And even when he was a Bengal, I think he played MLB - he was not a 3-4 ILB. I don't think the 49ers will jerk him around and put him at ILB. He still has immense value as an OLB, despite Lynch's upcoming, and Wilhoite has held down the fort. The one goal line stand (at CAR) where Brooks played ILB has no bearing on anything. That was goal line defense and Fangio did something cool. That doesn't prove anything to me with regards to how well Brooks would transition to 3-4 ILB.

Thank you for this logic. Much appreciated.

Jonydel I saw Dial play off the center more than the other two DL , is this proper technique for the Nose Guard position?

Originally posted by thl408:

I guess the question becomes, 'would Brooks play ILB better than Wilhoite?' I am just meh with Wilhoite although I admit I haven't watched him that closely, particularly in pass coverage. He doesn't suck that's for sure. It's a lot harder than just falling back on how Brooks played ILB when he was a Bengal. And even when he was a Bengal, I think he played MLB - he was not a 3-4 ILB. I don't think the 49ers will jerk him around and put him at ILB. He still has immense value as an OLB, despite Lynch's upcoming, and Wilhoite has held down the fort. The one goal line stand (at CAR) where Brooks played ILB has no bearing on anything. That was goal line defense and Fangio did something cool. That doesn't prove anything to me with regards to how well Brooks would transition to 3-4 ILB.

What you're saying is I don't know. Do you think he wouldn't do well there? I understand he hasn't been preparing for that position in several years. But, if he had the prep, would he kill it, or do you think not.

JD + th THL I was really mad at some of our play calling in the second half. I couldn't tell if we didn't do a good job of giving kap short options on throws, or he just failed to find them in time, or he just isn't interested in looking there. Did any of this bother you, or was this a TV mirage?

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:
JD + th THL I was really mad at some of our play calling in the second half. I couldn't tell if we didn't do a good job of giving kap short options on throws, or he just failed to find them in time, or he just isn't interested in looking there. Did any of this bother you, or was this a TV mirage?

I will try to touch on that tonight as I know it's a hot topic and was curious myself whether Kap was given hot routes, particularly on the times when NO brought 6 man pressure. For the most part, what killed the 2nd half drives were drops, and I'll get into that as well.

This is the Bethea INT. He displays an understanding of what route combinations NO likes to run and does an excellent job cutting in front of the route.

1Q 3rd & 8
49ers come with 7 DBs on this play as NO looks to target Bethea with the strong side route combination. The Go route clears the area (Brock) for Colston's deep Out to work. The Go route also acts as a partial rub to Bethea. I can't tell what the 49ers are doing here. It's some exotic man/zone combo coverage. I'll call it cover 6 because Reid acts like a cover2 safety, but then starts to slide towards the middle of the field to bracket Graham (#80), instead of playing a traditional deep half zone. I've seen Fangio double team Graham many times dating back to last season. I want to call it Quarters on Bethea's side and Cover 2 Man on Reid's side. Cully and Reid will double Graham (over and under). Lynch and RayMac will stunt.


Ward lets Colston by, knowing Bethea is behind him to pick up the coverage. Lynch loops around RayMac.


Bethea starts his break on the route.


RayMac gets good push on the pocket, straight into Brees' face.


Ball is thrown.


Brees seems to put an extra high arc on the ball. Perhaps because of the pressure in his face.




The anticipation by Bethea is amazing. He saw this route combo coming.

^^^despite the interception, that's a nasty little play dialed up sean Payton. I'm a sucker for whip routes however, we defended it perfect.

Originally posted by Niners816:
^^^despite the interception, that's a nasty little play dialed up sean Payton. I'm a sucker for whip routes however, we defended it perfect.

i think it's awesome we can trot 7 db's out there.

not just dudes who shouldn't be playing but at least 3 certified nfl starting cornerbacks and 2 promising corners to go with 2 top tier safeties.

and just think, they're making these plays and the qb's usually has time to make a proper decision.
what kind of passes are they going to be forced into now that aldon and lynch will be coming... you know aldon doesn't need anything but 2.5 seconds to get in once he's back to his normal self.

also the coverage sacks have been amazing they've been asked to actually cover without a lot of consistent pressure. now opposing qb's will be forced into bad decision regularly hopefully and you see what all of our db's can do if you make a bad decision. that was my feeling coming into the season. we don't have guys who just let the play happen in front of them and then make the tackle. we have guys that break up the play and intercept when they can and the amazing thing is they do it without gambling. it's actually done because of extensive film study which makes it the best kind of aggressiveness

Originally posted by Jcool:
"2. We were playing against, statistically, the best QB in the game right now."

He is? I wouldn't even put Brees in the top 5 statistically this year. He is 3rd in yards per game, 10th in passer rating, tied for 7th in touchdowns, tied for 2nd in INTs and 4th in yards

but, he's also #1 in completion % at 70% and is #1 in yards....

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by thl408:
I agree it's about leverage and being shorter helps there. The short arms don't help, but he has shown he gets the job done in college and now in the NFL despite the 'shortcoming'. Ingram ran like mini beastmode. I was impressed with his quickness and power. I don't think Borland will have any more trouble than any other LB tackling Lynch. Borland has good quickness and explosion into the tackle so that helps. I did notice Borland getting over aggressive on one run play as he shot the gap and came up snake eyes, but he seems to usually have success so it's hard to tell him to stop being aggressive.

Did not notice him running 1 on 1 with Graham. I don't think Fangio ever put him in that situation. When Graham was running up field, it was always against a DB. When Graham sat down over the middle, that's when Borland covered Graham. He showed good instincts reading Bree's eyes and defending routes over the short middle area of the field. I can touch on a few of those later this week. Not sure why Sean Peyton did not try (or maybe he did) isolating Graham on Borland. Fangio won't let that happen though.

Do you think we should move Ahmad Brooks to ILB?

Not at all - IMO. He's much too heavy now to be playing an ILB in our scheme. His lateral movement is not where it needs to be to do the things that we require our ILB's to do.

Originally posted by GORO:

Jonydel I saw Dial play off the center more than the other two DL , is this proper technique for the Nose Guard position?

Playing off this, has anyone else notice both Ward and Cox coming up in press in the slot and then letting the WR go by on purpose and then trailing the WR underneath tight with their backs to the QB? Is this a technique we employ? Tactic? Jonnydel or thl408?

Originally posted by thl408:
This is the Bethea INT. He displays an understanding of what route combinations NO likes to run and does an excellent job cutting in front of the route.

1Q 3rd & 8
49ers come with 7 DBs on this play as NO looks to target Bethea with the strong side route combination. The Go route clears the area (Brock) for Colston's deep Out to work. The Go route also acts as a partial rub to Bethea. I can't tell what the 49ers are doing here. It's some exotic man/zone combo coverage. I'll call it cover 6 because Reid acts like a cover2 safety, but then starts to slide towards the middle of the field to bracket Graham (#80), instead of playing a traditional deep half zone. I've seen Fangio double team Graham many times dating back to last season. I want to call it Quarters on Bethea's side and Cover 2 Man on Reid's side. Cully and Reid will double Graham (over and under). Lynch and RayMac will stunt.

I'm glad you couldn't tell either haha. I watched that play like 8 times and couldn't figure out what defense we were running. That's when having the 49ers defensive playbook would be very helpful lol.