Philadelphia Eagles coaches game analysis | Page 16

jonnydel · 2014-09-30T16:08:30-07:00

Just finished watching the game through a few times and there's a lot of things to take away. First, and most importantly, we were better in the most important statistic - winning. We won, which is always better to look at after the game because, despite missed opportunities and fails in different areas, we still won and have room to improve. There are a number of areas where we excelled in this game and we can never forget that. Was it the prettiest win ever? No, but not all of them are going to look like the best offense and defense against the worse defense and offense. Good teams find ways to win in games like that - and we did. To the credit of the Eagles defense - they threw everything they had at us. They mixed up their coverages and defense more than any other team I've seen in a long time - and it seemed to knock the whole offense out of rhythm at times. I still find CK hard to evaluate though. There are times when you see reads he goes through or throws he makes and go, "WOW!" that was freaking amazing. Then, there are other reads he misses and throws he misses and you say, "wow....." - not in a good way. The thing that's hard to evaluate is that he'll miss throws when he's got a clean pocket, good footwork, good throwing mechanics with an open receiver; but then, make a pinpoint throw on the run into tight coverage. When you watch CK play it's hard for me to say, as some have postulated, that he's not being taught good fundamentals as I often see his footwork and throwing mechanics are good. Sometimes he's just flat inaccurate. He's also shown a complete lack of situational awareness at times notice how I say, "at times" and not "all the time". It's getting really old to see him run out of bounds for a 3 yard loss.... THROW THE BALL AWAY DUDE!!! Negative plays kill drives and what good is it to avoid a 3 yard sack in the backfield to run out of the pocket and go out of bounds for a 3 yard loss???? The delay of game penalties are also drive killers. We were driving with a chance to make it a 2 score game with a very make-able 3rd and 3 when CK commits a delay of game penalty which makes it 3rd and 8, then we get 5 yards on a the next play and have to kick a FG instead..... Those kind of penalties can cost you games - no matter how good you are, no matter how good your coaching is, if you make silly mistakes like that you can lose games - plain and simple. As we won this week, I'll start out with the bad and then focus on the good for this week, starting with the Offense: The bad: O-line play. They gave up way too much pressure in pass protection. There were times where the Eagles only brought 3 guys and were getting pressure. There were times when the Eagles feigned blitzes and only brought 4 and got immediate pressure. Each guy on the line got beat in pass pro at some point - the worst offenders were Boone and Staley with Iupati a close 3rd. However, Staley was, for the most part, excellent in the run game as well and Iupati. Boone continues to dissapoint. Hopefully Anthony Davis won't be out too long because he looked very solid in the game and Martin is definitely not the player Davis is. There were some really bad play calls at different times. The Power off tackle run on 3rd and 1 with our Jumbo package was a terrible call. Also, there were some passing game calls that were completely ineffective. There was also, on one play, where we ended up having Bruce Miller matched up on Trent Cole - they're best pass rusher, in pass pro - that's not a good idea. However, there were also some near genius calls by formation, timing and design. Kind of frustrating - a lot like watching CK as a QB. There were times when you sit back and marvel at some of the play design and how Roman knew to call that exact play to exactly counteract what the opponent was doing and then other times when he didn't. Bear in mind, that every O-coordinator is not going to win every play call, Bill Walsh didn't, and neither will Roman. But, some of them just didn't make sense, whereas some of them were pure genius. Some of the calls that might seem terrible I actually didn't have a hard time with. The run on 3rd and 14 from the 31 yard line late in the game - Staley had just gone down with an injury, Davis had already gone down, Vernon Davis was out. So, you had 2 backup tackles against a defense that loves to come after the QB. You're in FG range, very unlikely to get a 1st down, and the Eagles were getting pressure most of the game as it was, do you really want to risk a sack to move you out of FG range in that situation?? The Good about the Offense: Frank Gore is still Frank Gore. He's lost a little on his top speed, but that's never been the staple of his game. He still has the ability to accelerate up to top speed very quickly. He doesn't look like a 31 year old back, he still looks like a young guy carrying the ball. There were some beautifully designed and timed runs(some were obviously called out of the huddle and others looked like it was a check to a run). We also stuck with the run game - which was great to see. You're not going to win on every run play, but you will wear the other team down and keep your defense off the field - which we saw the affect of. Anthony Davis looked really good when he was in. He was solid in pass pro and dominant in the run game - really unfortunate that he's going to be out. The WR have made some outstanding catches in recent weeks and have also made some big plays with the ball in their hands. We just have to eliminate some phantom "Offensive pass interference" calls and we'll do much better against man-coverage(we struggled against man coverage this week). The bad - Defense: Not much to say...... they pretty much played an unbelievable game...... Couldn't really find any faults.....Way to go guys!!!! The good - Defense: Antoine Bethea deserves Defensive player of the week honors. His performance was flat out dynamic. Yes, he caused the 2 turnovers, but it was so much more than that as well. He played on of the best games I've seen from a defensive player in quite a while. All I can say is, "WOW!" Super exciting to see. He saved the game for us on more than one occasion. He had the 2 turnovers, but also had a TD saving tackle on McCoy at the 2 yard line that gave us the set up for the goal line stand, then got pressure on Foles the very next play. He also made some great open field tackles. Overall, a fantastic, superb, I don't have enough adjectives to describe it, performance. Vic Fangio called one of the best games I've ever seen him call. Troy Aikman and Jimmy Johnson both said it after the game, that they think Fangio might be the best D-Coord in the league and I'm starting to agree with them. This was supposed to be one of the most dangerous offenses in the league and he completely nullified their game. He called all sorts of different things to disrupt the passing game and the O-line's blocking schemes. Also, as a note to all those who wish for us to play with more press coverage - this game is a great illustration as to why we don't do it very often. Because, without a press and both corners always playing with a cushion with both safeties back at the snap, the QB and receivers never know where the safety help is going to be. They couldn't audible at the line, they couldn't run a lot of their sight adjust routes and overall, were disrupted in the passing game AND running game by our looks. Jim Tomsula - the D-line played lights out and we have to have one of the best coached, if not the best coached, D-lines in the league. Our guys all played great games on the line - including great plays made by backups Dobbs and Dial. Dial in particular looked really good in this game - more so from the mental side, which is exciting. Thl will touch on the screens, but you will see that our D-line had a lot to do with the ineffectiveness of Philadelphia's screen game. Michael Wilhoite - He's really starting to look good. He's really starting to settle in to his spot and you can see that playing next to a guy like Willis really has upped his level of play. He's looking better each week and is really flying around. I'd give his 1st week performance a C- but this one a B+ to A- As usual, breakdowns to follow.

Oct 3, 2014 at 12:47 AM

#226

thl408
Moderator
Posts: 33,299

Goal Line Stand
2nd & Goal

PHI: Outside Zone left using 11 personnel (1rb/1te/3wr)
49ers stay in their base 3-4

All three DL are all head up on the LT, C, and RT.

All 3 DL initially get double teamed as McCoy gets the handoff.

McCoy head fakes inside. Willis is caught leaning the wrong way. Justin tries to spin inside and gets pushed back in the process. Ian Williams is pancaked.

McCoy sees the lane and runs towards daylight.

Bethea tracks McCoy.

Gain of 5 yards.

To the 1 yard line.

Oct 3, 2014 at 12:53 AM

#227

sanjo49er
Veteran
Posts: 5,075

Originally posted by thl408:
Goal Line Stand
2nd & Goal

PHI: Outside Zone left using 11 personnel (1rb/1te/3wr)
49ers stay in their base 3-4

All three DL are all head up on the LT, C, and RT.

All 3 DL initially get double teamed as McCoy gets the handoff.

McCoy head fakes inside. Willis is caught leaning the wrong way. Justin tries to spin inside and gets pushed back in the process. Ian Williams is pancaked.

McCoy sees the lane and runs towards daylight.

Bethea tracks McCoy.

Gain of 5 yards.

To the 1 yard line.

Big thx . Bethea saved Willis on that one

Oct 3, 2014 at 1:00 AM

#228

T-9ers
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Posts: 1,820

Thought Ian Williams had a good game rushing the passer.

Oct 3, 2014 at 1:12 AM

#229

thl408
Moderator
Posts: 33,299

Goal Line Stand
3rd and Goal

PHI will sneak the TE (yellow) across the formation with the aid of a pick (rub) over the middle.
49ers will blitz Bethea off their left end.

Yellow is seen trying to release off the line as Brooks gives him a hard time. Skuta let's both WRs go past him as he has flat responsibility to his side. McCoy slides over in blitz pickup and has Bethea 1 on 1.

Yellow gets free and works his way across the formation. Skuta is heads up and sees the route coming at him. Bethea puts on a head fake and gets past McCoy's weak attempt.

Bethea is seen rushing Foles' throw to yellow.

Incomplete pass on an overthrow.

Oct 3, 2014 at 1:42 AM

#230

thl408
Moderator
Posts: 33,299

Goal Line Stand

4th and Goal
PHI uses playaction left, then floods the right side with a QB rollout. The TE in the backfield just motioned from the right side of the formation into the backfield. Bethea followed him.
49ers man up on the their right side (Cully, Ward), but use a form of pattern match elsewhere.

Playaction to fake a run to the left, then have all WRs flow to the right. The TE that went in presnap motion, that was followed by Bethea) is shown in red.

Ward is seen staying very close to the slot WR. The TE (red from above) is now covered by Cox, who is already in position with an advantageous leverage. Had it been Bethea trying to work his way through the formation, this is an easy TD.

Cox stays home and doesn't allow the playaction to cause him to lose his position as the outer most defender. An unblocked Lynch hurries the throw out the back of the end zone.

Oct 3, 2014 at 8:14 AM

#231

JoeBart324
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Posts: 965

Those 4 cutups of the goal line stand show what sound defense can do, something it seems the Niners have struggled with before this game. It does look like there were throws Foles could have made, but they would have been extremely difficult throws. It seems the TE was open on the 3rd down stand. However, Foles does not stand tall and really shies away from Bethea's hit. I wonder if that is a product of his shoulder bothering him. Earlier in the game on a Lynch hit he can be seen grimacing on the ground. Proof that QB hits add up in a game?

Oct 3, 2014 at 9:36 AM

#232

jonnydel
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Posts: 9,435

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by thl408:
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.

Same play Alex scored on vs. the Saints. Gutsy play call, but a great one.

To my recollection, everytime we've called this sweep it always goes to the left. I would kinda like to see us maybe run it to the right and offif that have some sort of throwback to the backside. Might be an opportunity to catch the defense off guard and kinda get a pseudo-screen type pass.

I had flagged this one when watching film as a great call. What we did was came out, saw their defense and called a timeout. Out of the timeout, we ran this play. Great call by Roman to see the heavy middle pressure they were going to come with and outflank it.

One reason we always run this play to the left is because we pull Staley to get out on the play. Staley is our fastest lineman by far and you have to have a lineman with wheels to pull this off. If we had Anthony Davis of Martin trying to get out on this play it would suck.....

Oct 3, 2014 at 9:43 AM

#233

NCommand
Hall of Fame
Posts: 123,365

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by thl408:
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.

Same play Alex scored on vs. the Saints. Gutsy play call, but a great one.

To my recollection, everytime we've called this sweep it always goes to the left. I would kinda like to see us maybe run it to the right and offif that have some sort of throwback to the backside. Might be an opportunity to catch the defense off guard and kinda get a pseudo-screen type pass.

I had flagged this one when watching film as a great call. What we did was came out, saw their defense and called a timeout. Out of the timeout, we ran this play. Great call by Roman to see the heavy middle pressure they were going to come with and outflank it.

One reason we always run this play to the left is because we pull Staley to get out on the play. Staley is our fastest lineman by far and you have to have a lineman with wheels to pull this off. If we had Anthony Davis of Martin trying to get out on this play it would suck.....

This is one of my all-time favorite plays...I remember when we exploited Charles Haley with Steve Youngs ability...obviously, Alex against the Saints and some more with CK. There seems to be some slight differences in how its run but the concept remains the same. Previously, with Alex, Staley was the lead blocker (and what an epic block that was!)...in this case, he just turns and seals/walls off and Hyde is the lead blocker (in the Gore mold). I would imagine we could run this play to the right as well with Davis walling off and Hyde/Gore out in front as well. But genuinely speaking, you are right...Staley would be the better T in lead downfield in space (something he's very good at).

Oct 3, 2014 at 9:48 AM

#234

lamontb
Veteran
Posts: 33,136

I think Alex ran that play vs Seattle to win the game or seal the victory.

[ Edited by lamontb on Oct 3, 2014 at 9:48 AM ]

Oct 3, 2014 at 9:54 AM

#235

brodiebluebanaszak
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Posts: 15,369

Why only once though? I was screamong for a bootleg at the goalline.

Oct 3, 2014 at 10:43 AM

#236

BKpower
Veteran
Posts: 115

Originally posted by thl408:
Goal Line Stand

4th and Goal
PHI uses playaction left, then floods the right side with a QB rollout. The TE in the backfield just motioned from the right side of the formation into the backfield. Bethea followed him.
49ers man up on the their right side (Cully, Ward), but use a form of pattern match elsewhere.

Playaction to fake a run to the left, then have all WRs flow to the right. The TE that went in presnap motion, that was followed by Bethea) is shown in red.

Ward is seen staying very close to the slot WR. The TE (red from above) is now covered by Cox, who is already in position with an advantageous leverage. Had it been Bethea trying to work his way through the formation, this is an easy TD.

Cox stays home and doesn't allow the playaction to cause him to lose his position as the outer most defender. An unblocked Lynch hurries the throw out the back of the end zone.

One thing about this 4th down play though, to me it appears that Lynch was crashing down possibly to get to McCoy from the backside, but then he locates the ball still with Foles, so he had to push off a lineman to give himself some momentum going back the other way to be able to pressure Foles and also prevent Foles from taking it in himself. To me, it looked like a very good recovery play on the part of Lynch in combination with a good assignment on Cox's part.

Oct 3, 2014 at 10:55 AM

#237

thl408
Moderator
Posts: 33,299

Originally posted by BKpower:
One thing about this 4th down play though, to me it appears that Lynch was crashing down possibly to get to McCoy from the backside, but then he locates the ball still with Foles, so he had to push off a lineman to give himself some momentum going back the other way to be able to pressure Foles and also prevent Foles from taking it in himself. To me, it looked like a very good recovery play on the part of Lynch in combination with a good assignment on Cox's part.

Lynch had no blocker assigned to him. If he reads 'run', his assignment is backside pursuit/containment. Once Foles pulled the ball away from McCoy's midsection, Lynch did exactly what you said. The route ran by the TE in the backfield also served as interference so that Lynch doesn't have a clear path to Foles on the rollout had Lynch not bitten at all on the play action fake.

Oct 3, 2014 at 12:20 PM

#238

jdt84_2
Veteran
Posts: 25,925

i only got to page 4 so far but i have to get off th ecomputer.

can you break down aaron lynch? on the last drive by the eagles it looked like he abandoned his rushto break up what looked like a half assed screen to sproles to the right.

and there were a few others that do not stand out as much in my mind of him makeing a great play.

Oct 3, 2014 at 12:41 PM

#239

Sanfran_chrisco
Veteran
Posts: 33,902

Originally posted by sanjo49er:
Big thx . Bethea saved Willis on that one

Beathea is the Navarro Bowman of this defense right now

Oct 3, 2014 at 12:58 PM

#240

crake49
Veteran
Posts: 13,201

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by sanjo49er:
Big thx . Bethea saved Willis on that one

Beathea is the Navarro Bowman of this defense right now

Right. That goal line stand should be called the Bethea stand. He pretty much saved the game especially with that Charles tackle. The split second Charles got the ball, I thought that's it.