Why don't 49ers blitz more?????

I think a lot of it is that Saleh's overall philosophy is to rely on generating pressure with the front 4. IIRC in his first stint here we were consistently bottom half of the league in blitzes.

Now, given all the injuries to our D line, situationally it probably does make more sense to try to generate pressure in other ways. Maybe it's a wrinkle they're saving for the playoffs?

Originally posted by Martyjac:
I've noticed when the 49ers do blitz, they seem successful with the added pressure. I know a lot depends on the type of offense he's seeing. Any thought's here?

Vs Houston, we blitzed at 33%, highest all season. Stroud carved us up, went 11/13 for 90 yards.

It's not just the blitz, we suck at masking it. Team picks it up or our guys are too slow to get pressure and QBs do well against us.

Because blitzing is for teams that are desperate for pass rush. It leaves you significantly exposed to being picked apart by most decent QB's. I get it, we qualify as a team desperate for pass rush, but its easier to follow a "bend don't break" philosophy if you're rushing 4 and not getting gashed in the secondary.

Philosophy wise, we've never been a blitzing team. We don't really prioritize targeting blitzing LB, S or CB in the draft. It isn't something we ask a lot of our guys to do. It's not like we can just decide to start blitzing more now and it will fix the pass rush. We don't have the pieces to be able to do that. Warner is a really good blitzing LB and Greenlaw was as well. We don't have anyone else on the roster that excels at it. They have used Stout and Mustapha a little but they aren't really too successful so far.

After taking some time to think about it, I actually think the current defensive scheme isn't terrible and we can make it work. Sure the pressure isn't there and the turnovers are low, but we have done a pretty good job making teams sustain long drives and we've avoided the big play TD's. The run d looked great against Indy and that's a really good sign.

And the correct answer is: lack of Bosa!

We have no chemistry when it comes to blitzing.

At this point they will play conservative and allow FGs instead of risking big plays since they think they can get TDs.

Because our secondary will be torched by any QB with even remotely a quick release.

Originally posted by paulk205:
Because our secondary will be torched by any QB with even remotely a quick release.

People think blitzing is effective, but all it really does is expose your secondary. Its only really effective if its against a young QB who isn't very mobile. If you overwhelm a guy like that he's going to get shaken. But for any half decent QB they recognize it and have a target in mind before they even snap the ball.

Blitzing has gone down as running the ball has gone down. Its still prevalent just don't see it as much anymore especially with inside linebackers. They were known to attack and stuff the run so there was more blitzing but now most linebackers focus on coverage.

Add in the fact tge defense is strung together by 2nd-3rd stringers and rookies you really want to gamble?

Cuz our back end isn't very good imo.

It may be a solid tactic vs less experienced QBs and it's a way to speed up their processing but when done vs top level guys without guys who can really cover back there you get diced up.

Originally posted by Martyjac:
I've noticed when the 49ers do blitz, they seem successful with the added pressure. I know a lot depends on the type of offense he's seeing. Any thought's here?

Are they though ? I cant remember the last time they sent a safety blitz that didnt have Mustapha or Brown be completely stonewalled and QB having 4 seconds to casually survey the field and not be bothered at all.

That's kind of an issue. Blitzes are to bring quick pressure and force the QB to make a decision quicker and/or catch them off guard. Our blitzes dont do that for the most part, for whatever reason. Especially after Fred got hurt, we stopped blitzing LBs often. Lately its mostly just slot corner or safety blitzes and they somehow almost always get picked up effortlessly and rarely if ever catch teams by surprise.

What ends up happening more often than not is that the opposing team picks up the blitzer(s) easily and then the QB is abusing the secondary which is undermanned and we are in even worse situation if we havent blitzed

Originally posted by the_dynasty:

Originally posted by Martyjac:
I've noticed when the 49ers do blitz, they seem successful with the added pressure. I know a lot depends on the type of offense he's seeing. Any thought's here?

Are they though ? I cant remember the last time they sent a safety blitz that didnt have Mustapha or Brown be completely stonewalled and QB having 4 seconds to casually survey the field and not be bothered at all.

That's kind of an issue. Blitzes are to bring quick pressure and force the QB to make a decision quicker and/or catch them off guard. Our blitzes dont do that for the most part, for whatever reason. Especially after Fred got hurt, we stopped blitzing LBs often. Lately its mostly just slot corner or safety blitzes and they somehow almost always get picked up effortlessly and rarely if ever catch teams by surprise.

What ends up happening more often than not is that the opposing team picks up the blitzer(s) easily and then the QB is abusing the secondary which is undermanned and we are in even worse situation if we havent blitzed

correct.

I think there is room for a couple well times ones in the game but this D currently is not built to do it often.

Darnold is bad against the blitz or any pressure. Hopefully we expose that.