The San Francisco 49ers knew they had to stop Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. While the final stats may not show it, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and his squad accomplished that – just not for the entirety of the game.
Hopkins ended up hauling in more receptions (11) and his second-highest receiving yards total (149) of the season. He also got into the end zone twice.
Hopkins had seven catches for 91 yards in the first half of the game. Despite that, Saleh and the defense felt good about how they had performed against the explosive wide receiver while heading into the locker room at halftime.
"In the first half with DeAndre Hopkins, he had seven catches for 91 yards," Saleh explained. "Two of his catches for about 50 yards were when we had him double covered. One of them was a 3rd-and-15 where he made that circus catch on the sideline. The second one came in that two-minute drive, [Houston Texans quarterback] T.J. Yates' first drive, which was that two-minute sequence.
"So, we went into the locker room to evaluate where we stood as a defense, see what kind of adjustments we needed to make and he had about two catches for about 50 yards when he was doubled and five catches for about 45 in our normal three deep. So, we felt really good about where we were at halftime with regards to Hopkins. Made a couple of really good circus catches in double coverage. Still felt good about the plan.
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"Came out in the second half, which was T.J.'s first real drive and it was very clear to us once that drive was over and probably to the entire world that they were force-feeding DeAndre the ball. Which they did a great job of. So, we were able to get to the sideline, make the adjustment we needed and from there, he had one catch, which was the screen, for the rest of the game, that Adrian Colbert was able to force out.
"The way it happened, the sequence of events with the change of the quarterback, going into the locker room, I wish we could've gotten to it earlier, but it was a situation where we needed to get to the sideline to regroup and talk about exactly what they were doing with the guys. Got the necessary coverage adjustment that we needed and then from there we felt really good about the way we played him the rest of the way."
It's difficult to stop someone like Hopkins and not give something up. For the 49ers defense, they decided to make sacrifices when it comes to the run game. Luckily for the 49ers, who won the game 26-16, the offense's performance in Houston helped minimize the damage that could have caused.
"The way we cheated over, we thought we were sacrificing a little bit in the run game," Saleh said. "Obviously, any time a player garners extra attention, you're going to sacrifice run game. Taking a half a hat out of the box. And so, that's kind of what we did. By the time it was recognized, our offense had generated a lead, which was awesome and they didn't have time to make their adjustment."
Saleh appreciates the improvement seen on the offensive side of the football.
"Offense has been unbelievable for the last six weeks or whatever it's been," he said. "It's been awesome."