Philadelphia Eagles coaches game analysis

Originally posted by Joecool:

My theory:
Contractual reasons. Have a feeling they are polishing Patton and Ellington under these veteran WR's but keeping their production down. Then they will extend them both to favorable contracts for the 49ers, play them the season following the contract extension and get max production out of them.

If they should play anyone, it should be Ellington. I think a few touches on offense will also help him get into a better rhythm returning the ball on special teams.

Maybe they're doing this to Tank also.

Originally posted by thl408:

Throw the Ball #6

Kap looks over the middle, then kind of to the left. Gets pressured and rolls right.


49ers: Shallow Cross to get a High-Lo over the middle. Kap was most likely looking at this concept to throw to.
PHI: Cover1 Man with pattern match


PHI rushes 3 and drops 8 into coverage. Kap is looking to the Shallow Cross. The LBs get good depth to cover Carrier on the Cross while the CB on him is over the top. The blue DLman drops back and takes away the initial throwing lane to the shallow (VD). As soon as VD went across the middle, the CB that was lined up over VD gives the "Under!" call which alerts the yellow defender that a route is coming his way. At the bottom of the screen, Crabs is about to shove his CB.


The yellow defender reacts to the Under! call and matches VD. This is why Kap pumped his throwing motion. Kap thought VD would get open once he cleared the DT that was blocking the passing lane. The yellow defender mans up on VD. Carrier is covered. The Cross (Carrier) is supposed to keep running across the field if it's man coverage and sit down in a quiet area if it's zone. Here, Carrier is seen sitting down versus man coverage, and allows himself to be easily covered. The separation on Crabs is from Crabs pushing his CB to the ground.


PHI plays this very well to take away the Shallow Cross. Can't fault Kap for not seeing Crabs as Crabs was most likely low on the progression and Kap got pressured as soon as he red lighted the Shallow Cross. Incomplete pass.

From the beginning, it looked like Hyde was open for a couple of yards on the check down. Agree with you on Crabs. He was open but the pressure prevented Colin from seeing him very well and agree with you on the progression. Iggles did a good job in disguising coverage here. Personally I think defenses are purposefully dropping deep and taking away Colins deep routes because they know he doesn't like to throw the checkdown routes. If that's the case, Colin should *take what the defense gives him* and throw to the checkdown route. Most defenses try to force our QB to play left handed, i.e. make the QB play far away from his comfort zone, which is the deep pass with Colin. If Colin can just understand that after he's ripped a 20 yarder on the defense, the defense is going to drop deep and he should look for the checkdowns...

Throw the Ball! #7

Kap drops back and looks to his right. Then rolls right. Thrown away out of bounds.


49ers: All curls (zone buster) to the left and over the middle. Boldin on a Go route. Most likely a back shoulder throw because when was the last time Boldin was targeted for a Go route?
PHI: Some hybrid coverage. They man up on Boldin and zone everywhere else on the field.


The three Curls break on their route. The underneath zone defenders are stretched horizontally with Miller being the optimal target, but we know Kap never looked left, he was looking to Boldin.


Kap rolls right and creates the pressure for himself.

Originally posted by T-9ers:

Originally posted by Joecool:

My theory:
Contractual reasons. Have a feeling they are polishing Patton and Ellington under these veteran WR's but keeping their production down. Then they will extend them both to favorable contracts for the 49ers, play them the season following the contract extension and get max production out of them.

If they should play anyone, it should be Ellington. I think a few touches on offense will also help him get into a better rhythm returning the ball on special teams.

Maybe they're doing this to Tank also.

I don't think it's as Machiavellian as that. I don't know if sitting behind these veterans is another way for the coaching staff to season them for next year and get the most out of their contract. But I don't think it's the primary reason they are sitting or not playing much. I think that we just have a very good group of veteran WR's in Crabs, Quan, Stevie and Lloyd that any rookie/2nd year player is going to be hard pressed to break into the starting lineup. All these 4 guys are wily veterans that know every WR trick in the book. They aren't the fastest guys, but as others have said, all these guys are 1,000 yards per year talent. We're better off with them in than the rookies and 2nd years at this point. I'd like certain plays to be designed for Ellington and Patton though, but 200+ yards per game throwing, on a run first team - I'm OK for now with the passing game. It can get better though, no doubt about it.

Thl408, if you can throw in context too, ie down and distance, that would be really helpful. (but more work for you, I know) Danke for all your hard work!

That's it for the Throw the Ball! series. It was frustrating watching it live how Kap seemed to have time, but didn't throw the ball. After seeing this, like most things, there were multiple points of failure. From bad play calling, bad route running, good defense, bad pocket presence. Each had a hand in these instances where Kap had time in the pocket but couldn't find an open WR.

To summarize:
#1: 4 Verticals versus man coverage. 49ers have just one WR that can be a legit threat on this concept and PHI made it a point to bracket VD. Staley gives up quick pressure. -4 yard scramble
#2: Again....4 Verticals versus man coverage. 49ers have just one WR that can be a legit threat on this concept and PHI made it a point to bracket VD. +9 yard scramble on 3rd and 17.
#3: Could have been a designed run. If it wasn't, then it's poor route running that caused two routes to be in the same area of the field. +23 yard scramble on 3rd & 6.
#4: Two Go routes versus Cover 2 look. No way Crabs or Boldin wins this. INC pass on 1st & 10.
#5: Ran a cover3 beater against Quarters. Had Gore on a checkdown, but didn't step up in the pocket. INC pass on 2nd &3.
#6: Shallow Cross versus Cover1 Pattern Match. Very good defensive coverage by PHI. INC pass on 3rd & 3.
#7: Kap looks for the big play on the vertical route. Had a possible open WR on the concept side. INC pass on 2nd & 7.

Originally posted by Giedi:
Thl408, if you can throw in context too, ie down and distance, that would be really helpful. (but more work for you, I know) Danke for all your hard work!

The down and distance is right there (in yellow) behind the QB on the screenshot with the routes. If it's not behind the QB, it's in the play description.

A gutsy playcall here gets the 49ers a big 3rd down conversion. This is on the drive that results in the last FG to push the lead from 2 to 5.

3rd & 13
PHI looks to blitz up the middle.


They put a LB and a safety right over the A gaps. The best place to attack is the edge of the formation. 49ers call a QB Sweep.


Kap gets the ball and immediately runs to his left. Boldin targets his crack back block as Iupati pulls and Hyde leads.


Iupati is unable to get to the edge because the LB gets penetration and pushes Iupati, disrupting his path to the edge. Boldin just completed his block.


Gain of 16.

We need to nail Kaep's feet inside the pocket. He was bailing out of pockets way to early and not navigating inside them very well.

Great thread as always!

How was Derek Carrier run blocking in recent games?

Originally posted by thl408:
That's it for the Throw the Ball! series. It was frustrating watching it live how Kap seemed to have time, but didn't throw the ball. After seeing this, like most things, there were multiple points of failure. From bad play calling, bad route running, good defense, bad pocket presence. Each had a hand in these instances where Kap had time in the pocket but couldn't find an open WR.

To summarize:
#1: 4 Verticals versus man coverage. 49ers have just one WR that can be a legit threat on this concept and PHI made it a point to bracket VD. Staley gives up quick pressure. -4 yard scramble
#2: Again....4 Verticals versus man coverage. 49ers have just one WR that can be a legit threat on this concept and PHI made it a point to bracket VD. +9 yard scramble on 3rd and 17.
#3: Could have been a designed run. If it wasn't, then it's poor route running that caused two routes to be in the same area of the field. +23 yard scramble on 3rd & 6.
#4: Two Go routes versus Cover 2 look. No way Crabs or Boldin wins this. INC pass on 1st & 10.
#5: Ran a cover3 beater against Quarters. Had Gore on a checkdown, but didn't step up in the pocket. INC pass on 2nd &3.
#6: Shallow Cross versus Cover1 Pattern Match. Very good defensive coverage by PHI. INC pass on 3rd & 3.
#7: Kap looks for the big play on the vertical route. Had a possible open WR on the concept side. INC pass on 2nd & 7.

This might be my favorite series by you. Well, WELL done!

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
We need to nail Kaep's feet inside the pocket. He was bailing out of pockets way to early and not navigating inside them very well.

Agreed, but at the same time, can we blame Kap for not having confidence in his interior Oline to get the job done? I call Kap out on these instances, but I try to understand why he's so quick to bail out of the pocket. Now his all pro LT is giving up quick pressues too.Yeah I know, 'kapexcuses'. He should be going on faith that his Oline will protect him so that in the instances that they do, he is stepping up into the pocket, but that interior Oline, the guards in particular, are so up and down. Sometimes they do a great job, sometimes it's adequate, and sometimes they are 300 pound turnstiles.

Originally posted by NCommand:
This might be my favorite series by you. Well, WELL done!

Thanks, NC! Watching some of those plays on TV, I was so curious why the throw wasn't made from inside the pocket. Again, like most things, different points of failure on different plays.

Originally posted by NCommand:

This might be my favorite series by you. Well, WELL done!

Yup, thanks! When you watch on Sundays, you just don't get to see it like this.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

We need to nail Kaep's feet inside the pocket. He was bailing out of pockets way to early and not navigating inside them very well.

I agree with what thl408 said and just add that taking away a major weapon for Colin (his legs) can be done in preseason but in regular season games when you win any way you can is a bit counter productive. I agree with the current QB run/pass mixture. Until Colin can be as consistent as Aaron Rogers and Breesus, we will be predominantly a run team.

Having said that, if we can see his shortcomings thanks to Jonnydell and Thl408, I'm sure Colin and Harbaugh can see a million times more things wrong that need to be worked on. A 70%+ winning percentage for coach Harbaugh tells me this is so.