Originally posted by Sask49erFan:
Their D is going to massacre us. Calling it now.
Garrett will have 4 sacks and Maliek Collins is going to wreck our interior.
Purdy will have 3 INT's after trying to play hero ball
We lose in Cleveland. Again.
Cleveland 17
Niners 13
The concern I have for the Niners isn't Purdy or the OL per se, but the Shanahan/Schwartz battle.
I asked ChatGPT to educate me on why Kyle can't beat Schwartz. It said that Schwartz attacks up hill very aggressively and doesn't respect the horizontal zone game. The Niners might need the Eagles OL to pull off a typical outside zone type game with success against Schwartz, and even then maybe not.
It requires a more gap based power scheme to counter. Kyle doing a Belichick imitation would run power a lot in this game and BRob over CMC (but CMC still involved of course).
"Features of Schwartz's system: Wide-9 ends screaming upfield
1-gap DTs who explode vertically, not read
Linebackers scraping fast downhill
Minimal gap-and-a-half; all 1-gap urgency
No patience, all disruption
This
kills zone run timing because:
The OL can't reach their landmarks
Double teams never settle long enough to overtake
The aiming point of outside zone gets pushed 1–2 yards deeper
RB reads become muddy and late
Shanahan's whole offense is built on "dictating leverage."
Schwartz refuses to be dictated to."
💥 2. Schwartz Takes Away Play-Action Because He Doesn't Need to Honor the Run Normal defenses react to the zone run action → linebackers step up → throwing lanes open.
Schwartz says:
"I don't care about your fake. My front wins without honoring it."
Why it works:
His DL attacks the QB
before the play-action fake completes
LBs only step if run is 100% declared
DEs don't squeeze, they fly upfield — forcing the QB to shorten or redirect
The "over routes" and "glance routes" Kyle lives on don't have time to develop
It's one of the only schemes where:
Play-action actually becomes worse for the offense.
⚡ 3. Schwartz Stresses Elite Tackling & DB Trigger Kyle's YAC monsters (Kittle, CMC) punish poor tackling.
Schwartz defenses are:
Aggressive downhill
Simple rules → fast triggering
DBs taught to
kill the catch point or "Tackle Through"
Kyle's best explosives come from:
Leak routes
Drift routes
Crossers breaking back across grain
Pin-and-post combos
Schwartz's guys rally instantly on anything horizontal or intermediate.
Shanahan is used to defenses panicking.
Schwartz defenses never panic.
🧱 4. Schwartz Plays
Simple Coverage That Solves Kyle's Complexity This is counterintuitive but devastating.
Shanahan's superpower:
Make the defense wrong with motion, shifts, and flow-manipulation.
Schwartz's answer:
Don't shift. Don't rotate. Don't change structure.
Cover 3 or Cover 1, mostly static shells.
Trust 4-man rush to do the work.
When the defense doesn't rotate:
Kyle loses his easy pre-snap advantage
His "illusion of complexity" has no effect
The QB has no tells to exploit
Progression timing is off
Schwartz forces:
"Just beat us straight up."
Kyle is a "make you wrong" coach, not a "beat you straight up" coach.
🧨 5. Schwartz's Worst Matchups Happen to Match Kyle's Best Concepts Schwartz loses to:
QB run game
RPO-heavy teams
Box-count manipulators
Spread formations
Shanahan is:
Under center
Play-action heavy
No QB run
Condensed formations ("reduced splits")
He walks right into Schwartz's kill zone.
🔍 6. The 2023 Browns Game Was the Pure Blueprint That game put the final stamp on the matchup problem.
Schwartz's Browns:
Destroyed SF's motion timing
Beat every outside zone with vertical penetration
Erased the drift and glance concepts
Reduced Purdy's average depth of target to almost nothing
Forced SF into 3rd-and-long repeatedly
Won with four rushers all game
You know Kyle LOVES being in 2nd-and-5.
Schwartz kept him in 2nd-and-11.
🕵?♂? 7. "Schwartz Solves Shanahan, But Shanahan Solves McVay" Triangle This is the fun meta layer.
Shanahan destroys McVay because his fronts kill McVay's inside-zone & wide-zone structure.
Schwartz destroys Shanahan because vertical fronts break outside-zone + play action.
McVay actually handles Schwartz better due to shotgun, quick game, and RPOs.
It's a rock / paper / scissors loop at the highest level.
🧭 What Shanahan Needs to Beat Schwartz If you want, I can break this down in detail, but the short list is:
✔ More shotgun ✔ More gap schemes (duo, power) ✔ Sprint-out and fast RPOs ✔ Move the launch point more aggressively ✔ Screens EARLY, not late ✔ Quick game from condensed sets ✔ Edge-read options (even without QB run threat) If you want, I'll show you:
"Kyle Shanahan's exact blueprint to beat a Schwartz defense once and for all."
