Analysis from the Carolina Panthers coaches film

Here's our first goal to go stand. It's a long post but to really get an appreciation for the entire D-line you have to see it in successive plays.



This first and goal. Carolina first tries to spread us out and run at Aldon. You don't see Brooks in the picture because they have twin receivers to the left. they're going to run a simple "97 power" the same play we busted out Frank's big gain on, but from a different formation.



Aldon hits the TE to slow him down a little on his crash block but maintains a good base with his feet. Look also at how wide of a base Dorsey plays with. He's sitting in a "squat" position - great NT technique.



The 2nd TE tries to block Aldon on a kickout but Aldon absolutely tosses him to the ground. This forces the pulling guard to picking up Aldon instead of getting upfield on a LB.



Aldon sets a hard edge by taking on the pulling guard with a lot of power. This free's up Willis to hit Tolbert head on.



Willis give Tolbert a big pop which knocks him into Dorsey who, along with Bowman finish him off. The Smiths and Willis made this play even though Dorsey and Bowman got credited for the tackle. Aldon did one heck of a job on this play.


On the next play Carolina tries a QB draw to the other side. Dorsey takes on the double team freeing Willis while McD recognizes the draw play and "flashes color" but doesn't disengage his man. This forces Newton back inside.



McD holds his spot while Dorsey's unselfish play allows both Justin Smith and Willis to come in and stop the play.



Newton is stopped for a short gain



On this play we have a goal line set with Tony Jerrod-Eddie playing the Nose and Dorsey playing a DT "3" technique. Carolina is going to drive a counter-dive. They crash the tackles in on the 3 techniques and the RB does a "counter" action in the backfield.



Look how low Dorsey fires out, Brooks jumps over the top(really taking himself out of the play...) and TJE fires out low too.


Dorsey stands there forming a wall and TJE keeps driving his feet. He didn't just fire out and stop, he kept his feet driving.

Bowman is fooled by the counter action.



TJE continues to fight and push and Dorsey still stands tall.


The red circle is the RB running into TJE who fought his way into the hole. If TJE isn't there you see how Bowman got out of position and the RB would've been able to dive over the line into the endzone. TJE made that play - that's a heck of a play.

I don't show the stop on Newton on 4th down cause there was nothing you didn't see or wasn't shown from the broadcast. I highlighted these because all the plays were made by guys who never got credit for them.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by Big_Daddy:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's how Roman setup Gore's big run in the 4th quarter:


Frank ends up 1-1 with the backup safety and the rest you know. This was awesome to see Roman set this play up by running complimenting plays out of the same formation, shifts, motions personnel packages and situations. Great call and execution.

Here's my problem with Roman... was this good game planning? Sure. But that's what I expect out of an NFL OC, and more.

Using similar formations to run many different plays was discovered more than 30 years ago. Roman is ok I guess, but it always feels like we don't score as much as we should for, you know, having All-pro linemen, All-pro TE, Tremendous WRs, All-pro RB and a stud QB

Please consider the defense as well. That CAR defense is no joke and played like it all season. Putting up 23 points is more than any team has all season when visiting CAR. This includes Brees and Brady.

^Agreed completely with you Thl. I think as 49er fans we want our offense to look like the 49er offense of "old". Remember, those were the days before the salary cap era. These days you really have to choose which side of the ball you're going to stack your talent. None of the top 3 defenses were top offenses(in yards per game). We have also played a lot of really good defenses this year. In the end, the results speak for themselves in the only stat that matters. We're in the NFCCG for the 3rd straight time. No other team has been there that many times over the last 3 years working with the same amount of money. That means there has been organizational and coaching success throughout the entire organization. Not one of the top offenses from this year were in any of the conference championship games last year. It still remains true, "offense sells tickets, defense wins championships".

Johnny or anyone for that matter.

Could you comment on the effectiveness of the 5-3 line versus the 6 man line. What were the advantages and will they continue to be an advantage against the SeaChickens or did Fangio tip his hand a bit too early.

The 49ers converted many third downs I did not think they'd be able to. They had so much trouble converting 3rd downs against this CAR defense in week 10 that I thought any 3rd and long meant getting Andy Lee ready to go. This is the opening set of downs when the 49ers were immediately faced with a 3rd and 10 situation. Not a good way to start the game.

49ers: Hi-Lo over the middle. Verticals on the outside
CAR: Cover 2 zone

Below: Notice the deep FS (Mitchell) and how he is shading towards the left side of the field (from Kap's perspective) even though he is trying to give a single high safety look. Look at where the ball is placed (Goodwin) with respect to the hash marks and where that FS is.


Below: I want to think that when Kap saw the FS shade to the left, he identified a cover 2 look, because right after the ball is snapped, the other safety back peddles to a cover2. With the CBs looking at Kap, Kap should know by now that it is zone. The 49er circled in blue is Boldin about to get his route defeated by the LB standing in his way. Boldin will cut his route short. The reason I stated there was a hi-lo over the middle is because I think Boldin would have continued across the formation to give the hi read, with VD as the lo (shallow cross).


Below: Kap is set on throwing to QP because in a cover2, a weak spot is behind the CB and in front of the safety. QP finds the hole in the zone. jonnydel alluded to QP working the soft spot in the zone. This is it. QP actually has his hand up saying to signaI that he will be open. I circled QP in red because it's hard to see with the glare.


The play:


Kap does three hitch steps waiting for QP to get open. Normally this gives time for the safety to react. Mitchell is slow and/or Kap's arm is bionic and beats the safety.

Originally posted by susweel:

jonnydel for OC

Originally posted by real9erfan:

I love this thread. I feel like my football IQ has improved exponentially because of jonnydel.

Ditto!

Giedi

Any thoughts on why the Smith Brothers are not getting to the QB? Are they both getting double teamed all the way through?

- 98

Originally posted by jonnydel:
If anyone can give me some hints at how to make gif's to include in my posts. I'm working on a macbook, it's my wife's as my wife has taken over my computer for work so I'm not real savvy with a mac, just PM me if you can give me some advice.

I'm on a PC. Let me know if you aren't able to get it going on your Mac. I can't help you specifically with Mac, but I think the programs I am using are not OS dependent.

Originally posted by kidash98:
Any thoughts on why the Smith Brothers are not getting to the QB? Are they both getting double teamed all the way through?

- 98

Yes and no, when J. Smith is double teamed they are usually chipping Aldon with either a back or a TE. While they haven't been racking up the sacks they are still affecting plays. a couple of Newton's misthrows were because Aldon or J. Smith were pushing their man into his face. Newton's last pick he threw was because J. Smith was running free at him and he had to get rid of the ball

Originally posted by kidash98:
Any thoughts on why the Smith Brothers are not getting to the QB? Are they both getting double teamed all the way through?

- 98

My guess is J Smith always gets doubled and Aldon and Ahmad were rushing and also containing Cam so he doesn't run out

Originally posted by thl408:
Please consider the defense as well. That CAR defense is no joke and played like it all season. Putting up 23 points is more than any team has all season when visiting CAR. This includes Brees and Brady.

The only thing I would like is for us to finish the early drives.
We come out and move the ball nicely every single game. and then stall out and kick field goals.
If we executed better in the beginning and score those td's we put teams away early and gives us more confidence. that's why i believe we need to get a td within the first few series against seattle
it's almost like a great jump shooter being off and then getting a free throw and seeing the ball go in and then catch fire.

i believe if we execute and get an early td...seeing a td on the board for us will totally change the complexion of the game. it no longer is impossible and i think it opens us all the way up.

i also believe we will do just that.
and take care of the ball.

Good job guys great analysis by everyone. I haven't figured out the screenshot thing (lol) but something I notice from previous games vs Seattle is that they like to bring 3 receivers on the field and force us to play nickel (6 in the box defensively often). They then routinely run Lynch against our nickel and he gashes us. Look at most if not all of his touchdowns (minus the receiving one) against us this year and its versus 6 in the box. We need to come up with something else against that personnel group. jonnydel have you caught onto this in your analysis? There was also the play in week 2 where Brooks blew up Wilson but Lynch gained 20. It was out of that same 3 receiver look where they have basically 7 guys (including Lynch) versus our 6 in the box.

Originally posted by hubbyt:
Good job guys great analysis by everyone. I haven't figured out the screenshot thing (lol) but something I notice from previous games vs Seattle is that they like to bring 3 receivers on the field and force us to play nickel (6 in the box defensively often). They then routinely run Lynch against our nickel and he gashes us. Look at most if not all of his touchdowns (minus the receiving one) against us this year and its versus 6 in the box. We need to come up with something else against that personnel group. jonnydel have you caught onto this in your analysis? There was also the play in week 2 where Brooks blew up Wilson but Lynch gained 20. It was out of that same 3 receiver look where they have basically 7 guys (including Lynch) versus our 6 in the box.

A lot of teams do that against us because when we're in our base defense we're so tough to run against. We usually counter this we a zone, sometimes cover 3 to have a safety moving downhill when the ball is snapped.

Originally posted by AZ9er:
Johnny or anyone for that matter.

Could you comment on the effectiveness of the 5-3 line versus the 6 man line. What were the advantages and will they continue to be an advantage against the SeaChickens or did Fangio tip his hand a bit too early.

Not sure what you mean about Fangio tipping his hand early. Was there an article I haven't read yet? The 6 man line, at least the way Seattle runs it, makes it harder to run between the G and T because they're able to essentially combine a 4-3 front with DT's and DE's and a 3-4 with the OLB's. 4-3 teams are harder to run between the G's where 3-4 are harder to run on the edges. Seattle tries to combine the best of both. However, it means that if you can break the initial LOS and get a lineman on a LB it can go for a big gain. The 3-4 look we give allows for more options from a defensive standpoint, whereas teh 6-2 front Seattle runs pretty much gives only a few options for a defense.

Originally posted by thl408:
The 49ers converted many third downs I did not think they'd be able to. They had so much trouble converting 3rd downs against this CAR defense in week 10 that I thought any 3rd and long meant getting Andy Lee ready to go. This is the opening set of downs when the 49ers were immediately faced with a 3rd and 10 situation. Not a good way to start the game.

49ers: Hi-Lo over the middle. Verticals on the outside
CAR: Cover 2 zone

Below: Notice the deep FS (Mitchell) and how he is shading towards the left side of the field (from Kap's perspective) even though he is trying to give a single high safety look. Look at where the ball is placed (Goodwin) with respect to the hash marks and where that FS is.


Below: I want to think that when Kap saw the FS shade to the left, he identified a cover 2 look, because right after the ball is snapped, the other safety back peddles to a cover2. With the CBs looking at Kap, Kap should know by now that it is zone. The 49er circled in blue is Boldin about to get his route defeated by the LB standing in his way. Boldin will cut his route short. The reason I stated there was a hi-lo over the middle is because I think Boldin would have continued across the formation to give the hi read, with VD as the lo (shallow cross).


Below: Kap is set on throwing to QP because in a cover2, a weak spot is behind the CB and in front of the safety. QP finds the hole in the zone. jonnydel alluded to QP working the soft spot in the zone. This is it. QP actually has his hand up saying to signaI that he will be open. I circled QP in red because it's hard to see with the glare.


The play:


Kap does three hitch steps waiting for QP to get open. Normally this gives time for the safety to react. Mitchell is slow and/or Kap's arm is bionic and beats the safety.

Not much to criticized here. Very good result. Kaep as of right now is a bit unconventional in his drop back and throw recognition and sequence. Nice subtle slide away from the DE rush for a clear throwing lane. I think if Kaep can get the ball off a bit sooner, Patton would probably get a chance to run after the catch and maybe slip the safety's tackle.

Originally posted by kidash98:
Any thoughts on why the Smith Brothers are not getting to the QB? Are they both getting double teamed all the way through?

- 98

they are.
justin is consistently collapsing the pocket
and aldon is getting double every single passing down. releasing everyone else.

johhny and th can illustrate it but he's getting the attention releasing everyone to get to the qb.
also because of passing down situations and attention to aldon whenever we bring an extra rusher the pressure is immediate.. ever notice that whenever bowman rushes he gets there? it's because aldon is commanding so much attention the rest of the guys are free to play.
cannot be stated enough just how much aldon is doing for this defense.