St. Louis Rams week 6 coaches film analysis

Kinda coming back to the single high safety thing again. Here's a play we almost got against St. Louis when they played single "high" safety.


Note how the safety is 19 yards off the ball. Not too much different than Bethea, who was 21 yards off the ball in his single high coverage. Also, after the snap, the safety drops another 5 yards back almost immediately. This allows the corners to press, as they'll be falling into a trail technique in the single high coverage.


You see how deep the safety is, trying to protect against any deep balls thrown.

You can see how the corners are looking to maintain underneath leverage and are going into a trail technique.


Hyde tries to cut block the blitzing defender - but fails pretty bad. This is what prevents CK from stepping up in his throw and getting his feet set quite right. Still makes a pretty good throw though.


You see here how he's not able to step into his throw and how his front foot is way off from where it should be - because of the pressure.


Still, was that close.....

But, that might help to see why Bethea was so deep on his single safety drop. We were in single "high" safety. You'll see Seattle play this every once in a while. Look for it when both their corners are pressing.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by asvidzinski:
Isn't Bethea too deep in this play?

A cover 1 safety has to play as deep as he thinks is necessary for him to cover both sidelines in case the outside WRs run Go routes. The more athletic the safety is, the more shallow he can play. Bethea is a lot of things, but he isn't known for his athleticism and he knows that. Is he too deep? We wouldn't know unless the QB tests Bethea's range by throwing a Go route up the sideline.

Great point - also comes back to the difference between the single safety and single high safety in man coverage. The single high safety is to allow a trail technique from your man defenders. That way, the only things they'll give up are the deep vertical routes. So, the safety has to take a "high" set so that he can help on any vertical route.

Thanks both of you! Another question about this play, shuldn't be better to put Reid as the cover 1 safety instead of Bethea?

Here's a nice play that got us good yardage. It's an old WCO play. Gruden said it was, "an old favorite of mine, old 'Spider 2 Y banana". Where the primary is the FB. Gruden used to run this to Alstott a lot and Walsh used to run it to Wrathman.


We're gonna run a play action fake and take the TE vertical with the FB to the flat.


You see the corner is on the TE and the LB is on Miller in man coverage with a single high safety.


The defenders in man coverage get tangled up with each other as the routes caused the defenders to pick themselves.


They're still tangled with each other, this is how Miller gets open. It's a great call against man coverage when the defense is trying to run blitz a lot.


Miller is able to catch the ball on the run with room to operate.

He picks up a nice 15 yard gain.

Originally posted by asvidzinski:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by asvidzinski:
Isn't Bethea too deep in this play?

A cover 1 safety has to play as deep as he thinks is necessary for him to cover both sidelines in case the outside WRs run Go routes. The more athletic the safety is, the more shallow he can play. Bethea is a lot of things, but he isn't known for his athleticism and he knows that. Is he too deep? We wouldn't know unless the QB tests Bethea's range by throwing a Go route up the sideline.

Great point - also comes back to the difference between the single safety and single high safety in man coverage. The single high safety is to allow a trail technique from your man defenders. That way, the only things they'll give up are the deep vertical routes. So, the safety has to take a "high" set so that he can help on any vertical route.

Thanks both of you! Another question about this play, shuldn't be better to put Reid as the cover 1 safety instead of Bethea?

Reid has better closing speed, but, I think Bethea has better instincts in the center field spot. We like to run mirror safeties so, sometimes, the role of which safety is playing which is determined by the offensive alignment. That way, the offense can't know for sure who is going to be playing what before the snap. Bethea has a good knack for routes and being in the right spot. Also, Reid is a little more physical underneath and is a little better in man-coverage. So, to answer your question, I think it's more that Reid is better down in the box than Bethea and they are both very capable at the single safety spot.

I thought this was a great call on 3rd and 1:


We're gonna run a fake handoff to Hyde to the right. Alex Boone is gonna pull a "circle" block. He'll step back for half a second and then take off as a lead blocker for CK. Looney is gonna pull out as well and try and seal the edge.


You see how aggressive the Rams were towards the run. All their LB's are occupied by the run fake.

Because the outside defender was so aggressive against the run fake, Looney is able to easily seal the edge leaving the outside wide open.


CK's out in space with a lot of room to run. Boone thinks he's got a good lead - but, he's just not fast enough lol.

CK's gazelle legs catch up with Boone in about 4 steps lol.


We get the first down and set up 1st and goal. Great call by G-Ro to catch St. Louis in over aggressive behavior.


Boone was trying as hard as he could to lead out on that play -but running really isn't his strong suite.....haha

^ Hope we run this a few times come Sunday.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by asvidzinski:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by asvidzinski:
Isn't Bethea too deep in this play?

A cover 1 safety has to play as deep as he thinks is necessary for him to cover both sidelines in case the outside WRs run Go routes. The more athletic the safety is, the more shallow he can play. Bethea is a lot of things, but he isn't known for his athleticism and he knows that. Is he too deep? We wouldn't know unless the QB tests Bethea's range by throwing a Go route up the sideline.

Great point - also comes back to the difference between the single safety and single high safety in man coverage. The single high safety is to allow a trail technique from your man defenders. That way, the only things they'll give up are the deep vertical routes. So, the safety has to take a "high" set so that he can help on any vertical route.

Thanks both of you! Another question about this play, shuldn't be better to put Reid as the cover 1 safety instead of Bethea?

Reid has better closing speed, but, I think Bethea has better instincts in the center field spot. We like to run mirror safeties so, sometimes, the role of which safety is playing which is determined by the offensive alignment. That way, the offense can't know for sure who is going to be playing what before the snap. Bethea has a good knack for routes and being in the right spot. Also, Reid is a little more physical underneath and is a little better in man-coverage. So, to answer your question, I think it's more that Reid is better down in the box than Bethea and they are both very capable at the single safety spot.

Thanks!

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Here's a nice play that got us good yardage. It's an old WCO play. Gruden said it was, "an old favorite of mine, old 'Spider 2 Y banana". Where the primary is the FB. Gruden used to run this to Alstott a lot and Walsh used to run it to Wrathman.


We're gonna run a play action fake and take the TE vertical with the FB to the flat.


You see the corner is on the TE and the LB is on Miller in man coverage with a single high safety.


The defenders in man coverage get tangled up with each other as the routes caused the defenders to pick themselves.


They're still tangled with each other, this is how Miller gets open. It's a great call against man coverage when the defense is trying to run blitz a lot.


Miller is able to catch the ball on the run with room to operate.

He picks up a nice 15 yard gain.

....and whatever you do, DO NOT THROW the Venus on spider 2 y banana.

It is amazing how the FB is always open. It also seems like we haven't ran it as much as in the past.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Another fun film to watch - as we won

Several things stood out to me - [....]

Again great analysis jonnydel. I have to agree with much of what you say. As for offensive leadership. I think Vernon is that leader on the offense. Unfortunately, he's been out of commission these last couple of games and he didn't play the best in the Rams game. But he made a difference in the offense as you said in your numerous analysis breakdowns. He can't play the same way he played in the rams game, against Denver. He has to play better. Like you said, he left a lot of points on the field and knocked some away too.

Defensively, if we can't get some hits and pressure (without blitzing) against Manning, this is going to be a very tough game and it will become an offensive track meet. If there is a defensive alignment I'd like the 49ers to try, is with Lynch and Ian on the same side and stunting. In the last half of the rams game, I saw Ian and Jerrod Eddie getting constant penetration in the Rams pass protection. When Lynch was stunting with McDonald and Jerrod, he was getting a lot of good pressure up the middle. I think the 49ers should start moving Lynch around, the way they move Aldon around, just for the Denver game. It's not like were play against Marshawn or Arion where Lynch has to stop the run most of the time. Montee is averaging 3.1 yards per carry. I'd even go see if Lynch and Lemon-yay stunt together and see if Lemon-yay's speed make a difference if Lynch draws a double team.

again, great stuff, I know it's a ton of work to do this, but keep it up. I'm learning a ton. (and I don't have the all-22 philm )

Originally posted by Niners816:
....and whatever you do, DO NOT THROW the Venus on spider 2 y banana.

It is amazing how the FB is always open. It also seems like we haven't ran it as much as in the past.

Hah! Why is the backside route called the Venus? Shouldn't it be the Uranus?


I forgot which game this play was ran against the 49ers. They squashed it by pattern matching - no pick was created.

Sheeet, this is by far my favorite look at the 9ers by anyone, anywhere.

Thank you, mah brothers.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by Niners816:

....and whatever you do, DO NOT THROW the Venus on spider 2 y banana.

It is amazing how the FB is always open. It also seems like we haven't ran it as much as in the past.

Hah! Why is the backside route called the Venus? Shouldn't it be the Uranus?


I forgot which game this play was ran against the 49ers. They squashed it by pattern matching - no pick was created.

Its widely known around league circles that during the player-coaches flag football game in the off season jim threw the Venus on spider 2 y banana. Jed and Trent both witnessed it and that the real reason there is no extension and he is gonna get fired even with a title. Because you just don't do it. This is totally what happened because Deion told me.

The 49ers called 4 running plays for the RB in the first half of the game for 7 yards gained. All four of those plays were run with what I consider base personnel because the Rams were in their defensive base personnel. The 49ers were either in 21 (2rb/1te/2wr) or 12 (1rb/2te/2wr) as the Rams went with their base 4-3 on these 4 RB carries in the first half.

On the opening drive of the second half, the 49ers went down the field and scored a TD (Boldin TD). They changed up the running game by giving the ball to Gore out of 11 personnel (1rb/1te/3wr), most of the time from a spread formation. On that drive alone, they gave the ball to Gore 4 times, 3 of which came from 11 personnel.

This removes a lead blocker for Gore, but will give a 6 man box. Here are all the run plays from 11 personnel that was run in the second half, starting with the ones that came on the opening drive of the second half.

Runs from 11 personnel
#1
Rams in their nickel package.


This is a 'split zone' run. The OL starts off blocking like an inside zone run while VD comes across the formation to block the cutback defender. This gives Gore the option of cutting back and knowing that the cutback defender is being blocked.


The LBs all flow to the left (from OL point of view). Gore gets the ball and cuts back to the right.


+7 yards.

Originally posted by thl408:

The 49ers called 4 running plays for the RB in the first half of the game for 7 yards gained. All four of those plays were run with what I consider base personnel because the Rams were in their defensive base personnel. The 49ers were either in 21 (2rb/1te/2wr) or 12 (1rb/2te/2wr) as the Rams went with their base 4-3 on these 4 RB carries in the first half.

On the opening drive of the second half, the 49ers went down the field and scored a TD (Boldin TD). They changed up the running game by giving the ball to Gore out of 11 personnel, most of the time from a spread formation. On that drive alone, they gave the ball to Gore 4 times, 3 of which came from 11 personnel.

This removes a lead blocker for Gore, but will give a 6 man box. Here are all the run plays from 11 personnel that was run in the second half, starting with the ones that came on the opening drive of the second half.

#1
Rams in their nickel package. 6 in the box.


This is a 'split zone' run. The OL starts off blocking like an inside zone run while VD comes across the formation to block the cutback defender. This gives Gore the option of cutting back and knowing that the cutback defender is being blocked.


The LBs all flow to the left (from OL point of view). Gore gets the ball and cuts back to the right.


+7 yards.

I think that split-zone is kinda what chip Kelly and Oregon was known for doing. It's a great way to seal up the un blocked defender.

Runs from 11 personnel
#2
Rams nickel, 6 in the box.


Inside zone.


Where'd Boone go? Gore with one cut to the right.


Gore with one cut to the left.


+7 yards.