Our Defensive Coordinator, Vic Fangio

it always seems worse than it is.

rodgers had 177 yards and 1td with his full healthy compliment of weapons at home.

everyone stepped up. the offensive talent the packers have is crazy

now they need to tighten up even more... i think they'll be even more motivated because they beat us.

i trust vic and his plan and adjustments. i love the "keep him in the cage" aspect they have with mobile qb's and i see them using that on cam as well.

They key this time around is keeping Cam from running on us. Keep him in the pocket.

Originally posted by RedLion49er:
They key this time around is keeping Cam from running on us. Keep him in the pocket.

keep contain better than the packers did lol

Originally posted by hondakillerzx:
keep contain better than the packers did lol

we render most of their offense useless because we run can run similar things
what gives our offense an edge imo is we don't have to run any of the pistol at all to be effective.

Fangio $ucking sucks. End of story. Our personnel is so good that you could have anyone as our DC and we would have a top 5 defense.

Cam Inman ‏@CamInman

Like Anquan Boldin, #49ers secondary coach Ed Donatell also signed 2-year contract, per source. Talks underway for Vic Fangio extension.

Found this cool article on pattern matching. From watching the film of this past season, the 49ers do use this coverage concept quite often. This is why their CBs play with a cushion. So that they can see routes develop, and with good film study of the opponent, accurately predict what route combinations are about to be executed by the offense based off tendencies in down and distance. It's not some super secret concept, it's just advanced and takes good coaching and smart players to execute.

Thought I'd post it so we all have a better understanding of the coverage scheme that Fangio likes to use. You can see that being smart takes precedence over physical talent. This also may explain why the slow poke veteran Rogers kept getting playing time over the younger Cox, who many would have rather seen in the playoffs. As well as explain why Nnamdi, much more known for his man coverage skills, just didn't cut it on this team. The slot CB position is very important to this scheme when running it out of a nickel package.

From the article:
"There are two schools on teaching zone defense. pattern matching, and spot dropping. Spot dropping is exactly what it sounds like: dropping to a landmark on the field while reading the QB's eyes. It is simpler to teach than pattern matching, which requires a lot of study and practice. Pattern matching is basically a set of rules that help zone defenders play a man within their zone, and on some occasions play a coverage that will not look like the original call."

Originally posted by thl408:

Found this cool article on pattern matching. From watching the film of this past season, the 49ers do use this coverage concept quite often. This is why their CBs play with a cushion. So that they can see routes develop, and with good film study of the opponent, accurately predict what route combinations are about to be executed by the offense based off tendencies in down and distance. It's not some super secret concept, it's just advanced and takes good coaching and smart players to execute.

Thought I'd post it so we all have a better understanding of the coverage scheme that Fangio likes to use. You can see that being smart takes precedence over physical talent. This also may explain why the slow poke veteran Rogers kept getting playing time over the younger Cox, who many would have rather seen in the playoffs. As well as explain why Nnamdi, much more known for his man coverage skills, just didn't cut it on this team. The slot CB position is very important to this scheme when running it out of a nickel package.

From the article:
"There are two schools on teaching zone defense. pattern matching, and spot dropping. Spot dropping is exactly what it sounds like: dropping to a landmark on the field while reading the QB's eyes. It is simpler to teach than pattern matching, which requires a lot of study and practice. Pattern matching is basically a set of rules that help zone defenders play a man within their zone, and on some occasions play a coverage that will not look like the original call."

Awesome read! Thanks for posting that.

Originally posted by bigwads:

Fangio $ucking sucks. End of story. Our personnel is so good that you could have anyone as our DC and we would have a top 5 defense.

WTF? This post is so full of fail.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by ElephantHaley:
I want more Willis blitzes. Willis can rush the passer and we all know he cannot cover TEs and RBs out of the back field.

I brought that up in the game day thread. tl408 or someone else, anyone have a theory why we struggle covering RB's out of the backfield? These guys seem WIDE open. Is it the formations we run (i.e. Willis/Bowman with underneath coverage)?

Just my observation, and I welcome anyone else with thoughts on this. I think the reason the RBs are open on passing plays where the QB has good time in the pocket is due to scheme, not lack of coverage ability by the ILBs. The ILBS are used to help with underneath coverage on the WRs, playing the hook or curl zones, while the DBs are often playing with a cushion preventing anything over the top. As the play progresses, the ILBs will start to sag deeper and deeper into their zones allowing the underneath short passes to the RBs. I think Fangio is okay with this because the ILBs are so good at attacking downhill and tackling to prevent a lot of RAC by the RBs. So Fangio gives that stuff up while relying on Willis and Bow to quickly come up to make the tackle. Notice slants are not completed very often by 49er opponents. It's because the ILBs are playing those passing lanes while giving up the short underneath to RBs.

Damn, just saw this th. Thanks and given your observation, that was my original thoughts as well...you gain more in the underneath coverage (chunk plays esp. as the play continues on) but may be susceptible to swing passes and check downs. Hope nobody figures this out but every defense has a weakness and in the 3-4, I believe this is pretty common.

Fangio received a raise and a one year extension.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/49ers/archives/2014/03/49ers-give-vic-fangio-contract-extension-through-2015.html

Well deserved.

good For him and good For the team !

Awesome, I'll take Fangio, Tomsula, Donatell and Leavitt for as long as they want to be here. The offensive guys on the other hand...

Originally posted by Gore_21:
Awesome, I'll take Fangio, Tomsula, Donatell and Leavitt for as long as they want to be here. The offensive guys on the other hand...

I agree with your first sentence and I think you're being too hard on our offensive FO guys... That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement though.

Originally posted by thl408:
Just my observation, and I welcome anyone else with thoughts on this. I think the reason the RBs are open on passing plays where the QB has good time in the pocket is due to scheme, not lack of coverage ability by the ILBs. The ILBS are used to help with underneath coverage on the WRs, playing the hook or curl zones, while the DBs are often playing with a cushion preventing anything over the top. As the play progresses, the ILBs will start to sag deeper and deeper into their zones allowing the underneath short passes to the RBs. I think Fangio is okay with this because the ILBs are so good at attacking downhill and tackling to prevent a lot of RAC by the RBs. So Fangio gives that stuff up while relying on Willis and Bow to quickly come up to make the tackle. Notice slants are not completed very often by 49er opponents. It's because the ILBs are playing those passing lanes while giving up the short underneath to RBs.

lol