New Orleans Saints Coaches film analysis

This play isn't that significant so to speak, but I like it because it showed Borland's ability to shed a block, maintain vision on the ball carrier, and stick the tackle.

This is NO's first run play from scrimmage. (they passed three straight times on their first drive)

Looks like an Iso play.


FB lead as Borland meets the FB head on. The FB has his head snapped back upon collision.


Shed the block, make the tackle. +3 yards.

Jonnydel and thl408:

Do you guys think Borland can reliably tackle the bigger RBs we're likely to face in the coming weeks in Marshawn Lynch and Eddy Lacy (possible playoff opponent) and Demarco Murray (possible playoff opponent)? Or does the film demonstrate that his technique and size and shorter arms will cause him major problems against bigger power backs? The reason I ask is I saw him sometimes tackling Mark Ingram by grabbing one leg and holding on for dear life. Ingram is not in the class of either Lynch or Lacy or Murray in terms of overall threat posed to our defense.

Also, did Borland ever cover Graham and how did he do?

Originally posted by Adusoron:
Jonnydel and thl408:

Do you guys think Borland can reliably tackle the bigger RBs we're likely to face in the coming weeks in Marshawn Lynch and Eddy Lacy (possible playoff opponent) and Demarco Murray (possible playoff opponent)? Or does the film demonstrate that his technique and size and shorter arms will cause him major problems against bigger power backs? The reason I ask is I saw him sometimes tackling Mark Ingram by grabbing one leg and holding on for dear life. Ingram is not in the class of either Lynch or Lacy or Murray in terms of overall threat posed to our defense.

Also, did Borland ever cover Graham and how did he do?

It's all about leverage. He did a pretty good job stuffing Carlos Hyde in their college matchup. Certainly Lynch is a beast but just have to wrap up and he'll go down like everyone else...just maybe for a couple of extra yards than normal players.

Willis is 6'1 240 lbs. Ray Lewis was 6'1 240 lbs. Borland is listed at 5'11 248...he certainly has enough weight to throw guys around if he can get his t-rex arms on them ;)

Originally posted by thl408:
This play isn't that significant so to speak, but I like it because it showed Borland's ability to shed a block, maintain vision on the ball carrier, and stick the tackle.

This is NO's first run play from scrimmage. (they passed three straight times on their first drive)

Looks like an Iso play.


FB lead as Borland meets the FB head on. The FB has his head snapped back upon collision.


Shed the block, make the tackle. +3 yards.

That was such a sick play. Rewatched the game last night and he was constantly blowing the lead blocker and running back up. He hits blockers with so much leverage and power it's crazy. Just explosive as hell whether he's destroying a blocker or making a tackle. Real fun to watch.

This is Kap's first completion of the game, on his second attempt of the game. He shows good poise within the pocket.

1Q 3rd & 10

VD's route is designed to influence the ILB for Boldin to work the vacated space towards the inside. This is a rhythm throw with 3 curl routes that won't be open for long after the curl is completed.
NO: Kind of looks like cover3 but I'm not sure.


The LE (versus ADavis) is playing with a very wide 9 technique to get after Kap.


Kap hits the top of his dropback and is shown looking to his right.


Kap hitch steps forward one time. Iupati is maintaining his block well, and even though it's a tight pocket, it's a secure pocket. Kap stands tall and never takes his eyes away from the defensive backfield to look at the rush.


Can't tell if Kap is looking to Crabs or Boldin. The orange LB in zone coverage is blocking the passing lane to Crabs' curl route. This opens up space for Boldin. VD's skinny post has not influenced the ILB the way it should. That ILB probably knows that he has safety help behind him and will not shade towards VD.


Kap steps up and pulls the trigger to Boldin.


Good pocket to throw from.


Same time as pic above. Boldin slows his route and sits in the quiet area in between the two zone defenders.


Climb the pocket. Have trust in the Oline. Fire the pass.


Excellent placement on the throw to throw it a little high. This allows more margin for error in case the ILB gets a good jump on the throw. Boldin goes up and snags the pass. +13 yards. This was a great sign to see early in the game. He could have carried over his short internal clock from the STL game, but he does not.

Originally posted by Adusoron:
...

Also, did Borland ever cover Graham and how did he do?

I thought he covered Graham well. He seemed to anticipate throws to Graham and would have a full head of steam to tackle Graham. Borland appeared to bring down Graham immediately after the catch.

I agree with your comment that Kap needs to realize your not going to win on every play...you should not be getting sacked on 1st down. He needs to learn that throwing the ball away is better than a 2nd and 15.

I think Borland was in coverage during 2 or 3 passes to Graham, and he only got 10 or so yards total. Borland hit him immediately every time.

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by Adusoron:
Jonnydel and thl408:

Do you guys think Borland can reliably tackle the bigger RBs we're likely to face in the coming weeks in Marshawn Lynch and Eddy Lacy (possible playoff opponent) and Demarco Murray (possible playoff opponent)? Or does the film demonstrate that his technique and size and shorter arms will cause him major problems against bigger power backs? The reason I ask is I saw him sometimes tackling Mark Ingram by grabbing one leg and holding on for dear life. Ingram is not in the class of either Lynch or Lacy or Murray in terms of overall threat posed to our defense.

Also, did Borland ever cover Graham and how did he do?

It's all about leverage. He did a pretty good job stuffing Carlos Hyde in their college matchup. Certainly Lynch is a beast but just have to wrap up and he'll go down like everyone else...just maybe for a couple of extra yards than normal players.

Willis is 6'1 240 lbs. Ray Lewis was 6'1 240 lbs. Borland is listed at 5'11 248...he certainly has enough weight to throw guys around if he can get his t-rex arms on them ;)

I agree it's about leverage and being shorter helps there. The short arms don't help, but he has shown he gets the job done in college and now in the NFL despite the 'shortcoming'. Ingram ran like mini beastmode. I was impressed with his quickness and power. I don't think Borland will have any more trouble than any other LB tackling Lynch. Borland has good quickness and explosion into the tackle so that helps. I did notice Borland getting over aggressive on one run play as he shot the gap and came up snake eyes, but he seems to usually have success so it's hard to tell him to stop being aggressive.

Did not notice him running 1 on 1 with Graham. I don't think Fangio ever put him in that situation. When Graham was running up field, it was always against a DB. When Graham sat down over the middle, that's when Borland covered Graham. He showed good instincts reading Bree's eyes and defending routes over the short middle area of the field. I can touch on a few of those later this week. Not sure why Sean Peyton did not try (or maybe he did) isolating Graham on Borland. Fangio won't let that happen though.

Originally posted by thl408:
Nice breakdown. It's nearly impossible to know who blew the coverage as we would need to know what was called just as the WR went into motion. The best we can do is read the player's reactions after the play. Usually, whichever player throws their hands up, it's not their fault. Although that's not always the case.

The 49ers were pattern matching and their communication was not up to snuff on this play. As that WR is sent into motion, it rearranges the assignments of the defenders and how they number the WRs. (Which WR is #1, which is #2). From the screenshots you showed, Cully had outside leverage so he most likely had whichever WR is going to release to the outside. Again, very hard to tell.

i saw that live. ward blew that one you just from our tendencies to not get caught up with those sort of routes and culliver's intial movements it was pattern matching all the way.

This is a nifty little play via the personnel and formation.

49ers are in 22 personnel (2RBs/2TEs/1WR) to keep NO in their base 4-3, but they go spread formation. They put Boldin into the slot. Once NO lines up a LB across from Boldin, that's an indicator that it's zone coverage.
NO: cover2 zone


VD's short curl over the middle sucks in the MLB and gets the MLB to come forward to get close to VD. The LB (hook/curl defender) close to Boldin obeys his assignment and allows Boldin to run by him, passing the coverage over to the deep safety on that side of the field. Boldin's route is designed to attack the area behind the LBs and in front of the safety.


As Boldin's route develops and he is able to get behind the LB level, the MLB who is now close to VD, has left an open area behind him (yellow). Boldin slows down and curves his route because he doesn't want to get to the safety level (blue).


Boldin just made the catch in front of the safety.


Nice rhythm throw from Kap. Get the shotgun snap (analogous to 2 steps), 3 step drop, hitch and throw. Gain of +23.

Originally posted by thl408:
I agree it's about leverage and being shorter helps there. The short arms don't help, but he has shown he gets the job done in college and now in the NFL despite the 'shortcoming'. Ingram ran like mini beastmode. I was impressed with his quickness and power. I don't think Borland will have any more trouble than any other LB tackling Lynch. Borland has good quickness and explosion into the tackle so that helps. I did notice Borland getting over aggressive on one run play as he shot the gap and came up snake eyes, but he seems to usually have success so it's hard to tell him to stop being aggressive.

Did not notice him running 1 on 1 with Graham. I don't think Fangio ever put him in that situation. When Graham was running up field, it was always against a DB. When Graham sat down over the middle, that's when Borland covered Graham. He showed good instincts reading Bree's eyes and defending routes over the short middle area of the field. I can touch on a few of those later this week. Not sure why Sean Peyton did not try (or maybe he did) isolating Graham on Borland. Fangio won't let that happen though.

Do you think we should move Ahmad Brooks to ILB?

Originally posted by thl408:

This is a nifty little play via the personnel and formation.

49ers are in 22 personnel (2RBs/2TEs/1WR) to keep NO in their base 4-3, but they go spread formation. They put Boldin into the slot. Once NO lines up a LB across from Boldin, that's an indicator that it's zone coverage.
NO: cover2 zone


VD's short curl over the middle sucks in the MLB and gets the MLB to come forward to get close to VD. The LB (hook/curl defender) close to Boldin obeys his assignment and allows Boldin to run by him, passing the coverage over to the deep safety on that side of the field. Boldin's route is designed to attack the area behind the LBs and in front of the safety.


As Boldin's route develops and he is able to get behind the LB level, the MLB who is now close to VD, has left an open area behind him (yellow). Boldin slows down and curves his route because he doesn't want to get to the safety level (blue).


Boldin just made the catch in front of the safety.


Nice rhythm throw from Kap. Get the shotgun snap (analogous to 2 steps), 3 step drop, hitch and throw. Gain of +23.

I believe the official term for this throw is "uncorked" Just have to love the head high missle. Terrific throw and great catch by boldin. Not bad for someone that can't throw from the pocket

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's a huge breakdown from the secondary - this is what even allowed the game to go to OT - never should've happened.


It's 4th and 3 with about 3 minutes left in the game - if we get this 4th down stop, we have a great chance to just run the ball out. The Saint motion the top receiver into a stacked set. Culliver can be seen trying to communicate to Ward to alert him to the motion.


They're stacked and are supposed to play, "pattern match" defense to avoid any picks or rubs. I've highlighted how Ward is responsible for the inside release and Culliver for the outside release.


At the snap though, Ward sticks with his original receiver and follow him on an outside release, Culliver - doing his job, starts with the outside release as well, this leaves the inside release unguarded.


Culliver tries to redirect himself and cover the guy, but it's too late.



The receiver splits the defenders and picks up 20 yards or so after the catch.


Culliver made some sort of signal to Ward here about their defense.


Culliver is looking at Ward in a, "what were you thinking" way with his hands up. Same with Bethea....

This was a huge bust in coverage at a crucial point in the game.

Here's the play:

Originally posted by jonesadrian:
i saw that live. ward blew that one you just from our tendencies to not get caught up with those sort of routes and culliver's intial movements it was pattern matching all the way.

If I had to pick, I would say that's on Ward as well. The deeper DB usually has the route that breaks outwards since it's a farther throw and the deeper DB would have more time to react since he is playing with a cushion. The more shallow DB (in this case Ward) usually takes the non-outside breaking route since it's a closer throw from QB to WR. That, and the post play reaction from Cully give it away. I really like this play, not because it's good for the 49ers, but because it really illustrates the complexity of pattern matching and what offenses can do to confuse pattern matching defenders - late pre snap motion, stacking WRs.

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by thl408:
I agree it's about leverage and being shorter helps there. The short arms don't help, but he has shown he gets the job done in college and now in the NFL despite the 'shortcoming'. Ingram ran like mini beastmode. I was impressed with his quickness and power. I don't think Borland will have any more trouble than any other LB tackling Lynch. Borland has good quickness and explosion into the tackle so that helps. I did notice Borland getting over aggressive on one run play as he shot the gap and came up snake eyes, but he seems to usually have success so it's hard to tell him to stop being aggressive.

Did not notice him running 1 on 1 with Graham. I don't think Fangio ever put him in that situation. When Graham was running up field, it was always against a DB. When Graham sat down over the middle, that's when Borland covered Graham. He showed good instincts reading Bree's eyes and defending routes over the short middle area of the field. I can touch on a few of those later this week. Not sure why Sean Peyton did not try (or maybe he did) isolating Graham on Borland. Fangio won't let that happen though.

Do you think we should move Ahmad Brooks to ILB?

I guess the question becomes, 'would Brooks play ILB better than Wilhoite?' I am just meh with Wilhoite although I admit I haven't watched him that closely, particularly in pass coverage. He doesn't suck that's for sure. It's a lot harder than just falling back on how Brooks played ILB when he was a Bengal. And even when he was a Bengal, I think he played MLB - he was not a 3-4 ILB. I don't think the 49ers will jerk him around and put him at ILB. He still has immense value as an OLB, despite Lynch's upcoming, and Wilhoite has held down the fort. The one goal line stand (at CAR) where Brooks played ILB has no bearing on anything. That was goal line defense and Fangio did something cool. That doesn't prove anything to me with regards to how well Brooks would transition to 3-4 ILB.