Cards week 3 coaches film analysis

Originally posted by SaksV:
For any of you guys that have reviewed the film, I'm curious to know your opinion of Ian Williams? Is he back to form, better than Dorsey or what?

#49ers Stats @49ers_Stats
Ian Williams (@IWilliams95) is @PFF's 8th rank NT in the NFL with a +5.1 grade (tied with Gerald McCoy). #49ers

Originally posted by jonnydel:

I also have to post something about the officiating because it really was that bad in the game. The NFL rule on "illegal contact" is this, "Beyond the five-yard zone, if the player who receives thes nap remains in the pocket with the ball, a defender may use his hands or arms only to defend or protect himself against impending contact􀀃caused by a receiver. If the receiver attempts to evade the defender,the defender cannot initiate contact that redirects, restricts, or impedes the receiver in any way."

Bear in mind - both of these were on critical 3rd down plays for each team:


This is our only sack of Stanton


Reid does not "redirects, restricts, or impedes the receiver in any way." Illegal contact - 5 yard penalty automatic first down. Ari goes on to score


Same contact as Reid made - no penalty called: result 4th and 1 - we go for it and convert - still though - not consistent.

Here's what the NFL rulebook states on Offensive pass interference: "Offensive pass interference rules apply from the time the ball is snapped until the ball is touched. See Article 2 for prohibited acts while the ball is in the air and Article 4 for prohibited acts prior to the pass."
Article 2 section G: "Initiating contact with an opponent by shoving or pushing off, thus creating a separation in an attempt to catch a pass."


You see P Willis holding his ground - which he's allowed to do with the TE running straight at him


The TE initiates contact - even if Willis initiated contact - he's allowed to under the rules because "a defender may use his hands or arms only to defend or protect himself against impending contact􀀃caused by a receiver."

The TE pushes off on Willis to gain separation and catch the ball. The result, pass interference on the offeense??? Nope! illegal contact on Willis declined and a 15 yard gain by Arizona - they went on to score.......

That kind of crap sucks big time!

I get what you're saying but using the hash marks for a reference point, Willis has clearly moved to his left from just prior to contact. That 2 foot movement was enough for the Referees to think he intentionally impeded the receiver. JMO.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
had to post this too - Harbaugh said Willis, "saw what he was hitting" on the roughing the passer penalty. From here, this is the last moment before you couldn't see Willis' helmet anymore and yup - he's seeing what he's hitting. Not sure how the umpire could even see if Willis led with his helmet or not with all the guys around Stanton.....

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Originally posted by NinerGM:
So johnny and thl

How do you fix the identified problem? Who fixes it? How is it solved? Why will it be different next week? What should the team do secure a win if it's the simply an issue of player execution - who gets the players to execute? Who's responsible for this? I'm not asking to be factious, but I'm seriously looking for both of your opinions here. At the end of the day who in your opinion is responsible for the team if as you've identified it's a mass of players not doing their jobs properly.

At what point of this thread (or forum) did either of us say that "it's the simply an issue of player execution"? It is not. What we are saying is that it is not simply an issue of coaching failure. Please see the difference in that. I will now show you a craptastic play design from our offensive coaches in this game. brb.

^^^i think both where garbage calls, but I figured the Skuta hit would draw a flag based on the way his head flopped around. I'm never gonna the understand the willis one. Conversely if the willis is a flag, how the hell is the diving spear on kap not a flag to set up the 3rd and 19.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
So johnny and thl

How do you fix the identified problem? Who fixes it? How is it solved? Why will it be different next week? What should the team do secure a win if it's the simply an issue of player execution - who gets the players to execute? Who's responsible for this? I'm not asking to be factious, but I'm seriously looking for both of your opinions here. At the end of the day who in your opinion is responsible for the team if as you've identified it's a mass of players not doing their jobs properly.

I think that you feel we haven't put the coaches on the spot enough. So here is a play I think was poorly called and designed.

This is on the 49ers' first set of downs on the third possession of the game. They had already scored 2 TDs on their first two drives by spreading the field. The 49ers have also not yet established a run game with a RB. It's been Kap running the ball up to this point. Let's put Staley at TE and go with 6 Olinemen.

2Q 2nd & 6
Six Olinemen.


49ers will help sell playaction by pulling Iupati. Ellington or bust.


This play must be trying to fool the FS (blue). He doesn't even take one single step forward. ARI has no fear of the power run game at this point from under center. Kap has been the only successful runner. Crabs wasn't even given a route to run. He just pushes the CB and he's done for the play.


Once Ellington is double covered, it's thrown away for an incomplete pass.

^^^that is a terrible play in both design and time called. Crabs just standing there, honestly almost any other pass play would have been better. It just shows how scare s**tless they were with out vd in the lineup. Two man pass plays only work if you're pounding the ball to the tune of 5-6 yards a carry.

Maybe kap should have checked it down to gore for a one yard gain? They need to bury this play and if running it crosses their mind, just run spider y banana.

Agreed. I have no clue why that play was called. If the run game had been clicking, sure, maybe sell out on the play action. Yes, bury that play and top it off with cement.

Here's another wtf play. ARI has just taken the lead. First play of the drive.

3Q 1st & 10
Six Olinemen again. Pull JMartin and Looney. Pitch sweep right to Ellington.


Ellington just secured the pitch form Kap. It's already not looking good with ARI getting penetration.


Why pitch the ball and remove all doubt for the LBs that it's a run play? Go with a stretch handoff and maybe Kap can trick some LBs into thinking it's playaction or have them respect Kap's running ability. Maybe they pause a bit and that can help Ellington and the blockers gain the edge. If they want Ellington to the edges, throw him a swing pass.

I was thinking about the above pass play. If you keep the routes that were ran and the unbalanced line, about the only thing that could salvage that play would be (assuming a healthy VD) a corner route by the TE. That way you would have a smash concept between crabs and A TE and a clearing route by Ellington. At least that way choices have to be made on the defensive side.

As soon as I saw the formation on the Ellington sweep, I knew it was a toss sweep. You know if I can call it out, paid opposing coordinator are gonna be able to recognize it. We sorely need a pass play if of a toss fake to break some tendancies. Hell even a boot from kap could work.

Originally posted by Niners816:

As soon as I saw the formation on the Ellington sweep, I knew it was a toss sweep. You know if I can call it out, paid opposing coordinator are gonna be able to recognize it. We sorely need a pass play if of a toss fake to break some tendancies. Hell even a boot from kap could work.

Thinking more about this play, my best guess on the Ellington sweep is that the 49ers thought there was going to be a blitz up the middle. So they wanted to get the ball to the edges using their fastest player. If that's the case then good play design (?) but bad timing on the play call.

Originally posted by thl408:
I think that you feel we haven't put the coaches on the spot enough. So here is a play I think was poorly called and designed.

This is on the 49ers' first set of downs on the third possession of the game. They had already scored 2 TDs on their first two drives by spreading the field. The 49ers have also not yet established a run game with a RB. It's been Kap running the ball up to this point. Let's put Staley at TE and go with 6 Olinemen.

2Q 2nd & 6
Six Olinemen.


49ers will help sell playaction by pulling Iupati. Ellington or bust.


This play must be trying to fool the FS (blue). He doesn't even take one single step forward. ARI has no fear of the power run game at this point from under center. Kap has been the only successful runner. Crabs wasn't even given a route to run. He just pushes the CB and he's done for the play.


Once Ellington is double covered, it's thrown away for an incomplete pass.

With Vern hurt there are only two players on our roster with any speed -- kap + ellington. Not too many other places to go with 6 linemen. Plus, I think teams are on to this kind of shenanigans with us. Lets fake a heavy run play and throw a bomb. It's a little ...predictable .... isn't it? That kind of thinking? We use a lot of specialized packages where we are subbing 2 - 3 - 4 players. Can you analyze how often and how many we sub, and what plays we call after the sub? If we are either running to the strength of the formation or using it as a feint, then that is a kind of tell isn't it? that teams could be reading? I'm not mr analysis but I get a sense of predictability watching our offense I can't explain for all the shifting and oddity. I can't articulate it.

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

Originally posted by thl408:
I think that you feel we haven't put the coaches on the spot enough. So here is a play I think was poorly called and designed.

This is on the 49ers' first set of downs on the third possession of the game. They had already scored 2 TDs on their first two drives by spreading the field. The 49ers have also not yet established a run game with a RB. It's been Kap running the ball up to this point. Let's put Staley at TE and go with 6 Olinemen.

2Q 2nd & 6
Six Olinemen.


49ers will help sell playaction by pulling Iupati. Ellington or bust.


This play must be trying to fool the FS (blue). He doesn't even take one single step forward. ARI has no fear of the power run game at this point from under center. Kap has been the only successful runner. Crabs wasn't even given a route to run. He just pushes the CB and he's done for the play.


Once Ellington is double covered, it's thrown away for an incomplete pass.

With Vern hurt there are only two players on our roster with any speed -- kap + ellington. Not too many other places to go with 6 linemen. Plus, I think teams are on to this kind of shenanigans with us. Lets fake a heavy run play and throw a bomb. It's a little ...predictable .... isn't it? That kind of thinking? We use a lot of specialized packages where we are subbing 2 - 3 - 4 players. Can you analyze how often and how many we sub, and what plays we call after the sub? If we are either running to the strength of the formation or using it as a feint, then that is a kind of tell isn't it? that teams could be reading? I'm not mr analysis but I get a sense of predictability watching our offense I can't explain for all the shifting and oddity. I can't articulate it.

What we'll do is we'll often come out of a balanced formation and then shift to an overloaded strength. This makes it much more difficult for the defensive players to adjust with their hands on the ground with only a second or two between the shift and the snap. What this does is usually move the bubble that you're trying to attack because the bubble is no longer over the 3 technique, it will give you two options in which gaps to run at. We'll do that on the majority - I'd say(just ballparking it) 60-65% of the time. Other than that, we'll come with hard inside sweeps to the weak side when we run away from the strength. We'll pull two lineman and lead back to the weak side. It might seem "predictable" that a team runs so often at it's strong side - but you're going to find that with any run game. Almost every team is going to run the majority of their runs to the strong side - just a simple numbers advantage. We'll also run a few plays out of a balanced formation as well.

From the balanced formation what we'll do is usually come with 2 TE's and then run a twin receiver set to the other side - so it effectively balances the formation because there's always the threat of the crack blocks from the receivers. -Think of Carlos Hyde's 13 yard run against Dallas to set us up 1st and goal. We were in a balanced set with twins to the run side.

Originally posted by SaksV:
For any of you guys that have reviewed the film, I'm curious to know your opinion of Ian Williams? Is he back to form, better than Dorsey or what?

I've been really impressed with Williams the past 2 games. You can tell he's getting more suited back into his position and I can see why he was the starter at the beginning of the year last year. Also, I can see why the team was ok with letting Sopoaga go. He plays with great leverage and does a good job of "flowing" to the play with his man. He's a guy that can take an O-lineman and drag him towards the play or "pinch" the blocks. There were several plays on Sunday where, between he and McDonald, they made the play themselves against 3 lineman - pretty impressive stuff.

As far as better than Dorsey? Not sure, pretty close. I think Dorsey has quicker feet and is a little smoother through the hips. But Williams has raw strength to hold his ground well. We would be fine with either guy playing the nose. I could see Dorsey as a guy who could play either the NT or the 4 or 5 in our defense whereas Williams is solely a NT - like Vince Wilfork.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
So johnny and thl

How do you fix the identified problem? Who fixes it? How is it solved? Why will it be different next week? What should the team do secure a win if it's the simply an issue of player execution - who gets the players to execute? Who's responsible for this? I'm not asking to be factious, but I'm seriously looking for both of your opinions here. At the end of the day who in your opinion is responsible for the team if as you've identified it's a mass of players not doing their jobs properly.

As Thl noted, we're not saying there aren't things the coaches can do better. I know, for me, I have a little trepidation about showing some bad play calls simply because I know how the zone is and I fear that an overwhelming amount of people will ignore all other analysis and just use the bad play calls to further justify their campaign against the coaches alone.

That being said: Our coaches have to do a better job of feeling the ebb and flow of the game and getting in rhythm with our players and what's going on on the field. When you're spread passing attack is working and you score a TD off of it, don't come out with a goal line set with no receivers and try and run the ball for a TD.....

Conversely, the players have to execute the plays they are give that are good calls in against the right defense. They have to play with an edge - that "zone" that a lot of guys get in to where their play elevates. They need the player leadership to push them to that place and have the drive to stay there. That stuff is often the difference between wins and losses. Two years ago we won a lot of games we shouldn't necessarily have won because we were a team that played with an edge and executing well at the right times. Right now, we're not playing with that edge. We're very talented players who are losing games we should win - don't quite have that edge.

I'm hoping that these two losses might shock a few of our guys into a place where they realize they have to stay mentally sharp the entire game - not just believe they're going to keep winning because they're inherently better, but because they are doing all the little things right.