Week 2 GDT: Detroit Lions At San Francisco 49ers

[Ataal]

5 minutes ago, Forge said:

No idea who we would replace him with

Every time I think of someone, I think of who we're playing and I get a really really sad face.  Sherman won't have a single target.  lol

[J-ALL-DAY]

12 minutes ago, Forge said:

No idea who we would replace him with

You do know who would replace him.....You just don't want to say it lol.

Jimmie Ward would be the replacement but this is so stupid on so many levels. A young player isn't allowed to have a bad game? I hope Shanny is just trying to motivate Spoon with this and isn't actually serious with what he said.

[J-ALL-DAY]

This will change on Sunday. The target stat at least. Mahomes doesn't seem to discriminate with his targets and the Chiefs got some explosive WRs. 

[NcFinest9erFan]

 

 So we should have no problems moving the ball next week then.....

[Ataal]

8 minutes ago, NcFinest9erFan said:

 

 So we should have no problems moving the ball next week then.....

The Chiefs are dead last in total yards and passing yards per game.  Granted, small sample size of only two games, but any little bit of optimism for this game is welcomed.

[TecmoSuperJoe]

 

[J-ALL-DAY]

Missed this during the game, but look at the move Blair puts on the RT here. Buckner got awarded the sack, but I bet he gets half of it taken away as Blair also got to Stafford here.

[N4L]

The lions are better than people are giving credit to right now. I thought their coaches put together an excellent attack plan. I use the word attack because they completely outschemed us on the backend on both sides of the ball. Jim bob cooter was really attacking our zone coverage and conceptually breaking us down.

the lions had three huge misfires on offense where they had marvin jones running completely free on the back end where stafford put a litttttle too much air under it. The first one spoon did his best sherman impression and held him on his second move as he broke downfield. They got him pretty badly all game on double moves but on this particular play he didnt let jones get a clean release and it slowed him down by a half step which was the difference between a touchdown and an incomplete pass. 

We run too much cover three imo - it forces our corners to play the deep third of the field and doesnt let them sit on any underneath routes. It kinda leaves them out to dry when they arent afforded S help over the top, and we only ever play with one deep S essentially as we like to keep tartt close to the LOS. The lions were forcing the issue by sending three guys deep on one side of the field.

There was one play where elijah lee was trying to run down marvin jones from behind as he went over the middle. Jones was WIDE OPEN and stafford missed him. That should NEVER HAPPEN. They had three Wrs to the right, and a TE in a three point stance to the left. All three WRs ran go routes essentially except jones ran almost a skinny post over the middle. Colbert and Sherman went with their guys (the two most outside WR) We had ward in on the offense left lined up maybe 5 yards deep over the TE. the TE stayed close to the LOS with his route and ward sat in the shallow part of the field. If we are playing our usual cover 3, then technically he is supposed to see the skinny post and get behind it. Essentially there were two deep defenders who were supposed to cover three WRs.  Lee realized this and tried to keep up but you cant ask many LBs to cover a wr deep down the field and expect good results. 

We were in the nickle meaning we still had two LBs in the game plus we had tartt in the box on offense's left. I am not sure why we had so many guys in the box when they had three guys split wide to right. Seems like it would have been better to have tartt maned up on the TE. In the pregame radio Tim Ryan said that part of kyle's brillance is knowing how to spot man vs zone coverage while calling plays and that he can tell when he lines up Juice/Kittle outside - if its a LB then its usually man coverage, if its a corner then its usually zone. They used the same indicator when they saw ward lined up over the TE and called the overload to beat the zone coverage. That is a good play design and a good play call. The chiefs are watching this film and salivating. 

I know Sherm likes to just play his side, and he probably on his way to the hall of fame so we need to utilize him in the best way possible, but I would love to see a more matchup based secondary. Only playing corners on one side allows the offense to dictate the matchup by choosing which WR lines up on which side of the field.

I have a bad feeling the chiefs are going to put tyreek hill on their right (sherms side) and send him on go routes all afternoon. I guess it wouldnt be such a bad thing because he IS the best deep defender we have right now it seems. frankly mahomes could just throw it out of the back of the endzone and the freak would somehow find a way to run around the earth and come back with the ball in the endzone lol. I dont think that guys' feet even touch the ground when he runs. holy smokes that guy is a burner

Colbert hasnt flashed for me yet this season. Tartt hasnt been healthy all year and hasnt seemed like himself. Seems like he will be out for a while. We are really thin at S right now and we are about to play the team who goes down the field better than anyone else in the league? 

Witherspoon had a rough afternoon, they basically knew two things: 

1. the cover three scheme we run dictates that our corners have deep responsibility - meaning essentially no S help over the top
2. Witherspoon has a tendency to bite on double moves

Recipe for disaster. I think we need to let spoon use his size and length and sit in some shallow zones where he doesnt have to worry about getting beat over the top. It was clear he got frustrated.

I think thats what sherm was yelling about on the sidelines. the first time they cut to him he said "well F*** you then, go worry about the offense then". You couldnt see who he was talking to. then later they cut to him and lynch talking on the sidelines and you cant see what lynch says but you can see sherm say "yes, I know that, but they all kept coming up to him" I  think he was standing up for his guy. Sometimes people just need to be left alone for a second to gather themselves. We really need this kid to bounce back, quick. We dont have other corners and our pass rush can be lackluster at times. 

We need to give spoon S help over the top. Hes a guy that could have multiple picks in a cover two scheme. He does have good reactions and comes down hill well, his long arms would be perfect for jamming and breaking up passes if he didnt have as much deep responsibility. That isnt the basis of our scheme though, because we like to keep our SS closer to the LOS. There were times where we would drop our S late as the ball was getting snapped, but all that did was leave our guy out of position. Stafford wasnt confused for a second. the schemes we run are rather simple as it doesnt seem to change all that much. We are going to have to do something different next week. 

Spoon actually matches up pretty well with Sammy watkins, as watkins isnt a great route runner but likes to run straight. He can match watkins' height and length so as long as he just turns his hips and doesnt bite on/worry about the underneath stuff, he should be ok. The problem is that they could easily just put whoever they want on that side and force spoon to cover them. 

 

RUBEN FOSTER

 

On offense, they did a good job of locking up our WRs. They showed patricia coaching up his defense when the offense was on the field. He was making hand motions that you could tell he was referencing those plays where everyone goes one way and jimmy rolls out or someone leaks out the backside. Misdirection type plays where someone may make a double move. In the vikings game we had free guys running downfield on those types of plays. It didnt seem like the lions were fooled on those and were doing a good job of covering everyone. Im sure thats part of the reason Jimmy was holding onto the ball. Those are bread and butter type plays in kyles offense. 

Jimmy only threw for 200 but we also rushed for over 200. The OL looked great. They did a MUCH better job communicating, especially in the run game. 

We were blessed with good field position. The fumble recovery on their 25? yard line, the kick return that was called back but still gave us the ball deep on their side and Breida's back to back long runs on that one drive really felt like the difference in the game. outside of that the lions defense did well considering how poor their pass rush is/was.

They are a better team than people give them credit for. 

Next week we will need to control the ball and score touchdowns. Mahomes has a nose for the endzone and reid is incredible in that part of the field with all of these weapons, so we will need to be better in that department to keep up. Anything is possible and that would be a huge win for us (if we are able to score 80 points lol)

[757-NINER]

I've gone on record as saying I'm not a fan of Carroll's scheme. You have to have LOB type of talent on the back-end, truly great edge-rushers and great LBs to make it formidable....that's asking alot of any GM to replicate that. Atlanta's D has never been great since Quinn has been there. They rode Shanny's offense to the SB two years ago. The scheme is very simple and it's not hard to gameplan for. Jax has finally gotten it right but look at how much money and draft capital was devoted to that side of the ball over the course of 3 years.

Saleh has added some wrinkles to the scheme, with some pattern-matching zone and other things but it's still primarily Cover 2-3. You have to have a exceptional well displinced secondary to really have a chance with this scheme. It doesn't fool anyone and that's my main problem. There's no guessing from the offense. Nothing that makes a guy pause and hold the ball just a split-second too late. And add to that, my belief that Saleh is lacking as a play-caller and there is alot left to be desired. For my money, I want a defense that is multi-faceted. One that is able to throw different looks at teams and can morph from zone to man rather seamlessly. Those are the defenses that even with lack of talent in certain areas, can still get the job done if schemed correctly. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

The passing yards are usually determined by the passing attempts. We only had 26 pass attempts so the 209 yards or however many Garoppolo threw for were fine. That wasn't the issue. The issue was taking the six sacks.

Shanahan said Detroit ran a lot of man coverage and our WRs just couldn't get open. Pettis who is really good against the press needs to get stronger. He beats press coverage with finesse not with his physicality. But I mentioned during the Vikings game that our WRs would easily get knocked off their routes and that was one of the reasons our offense didn't perform how it usually does. 

Goodwin is the one threat that defenses have to respect deep and the DBs usually like to play off coverage. When I made a list of the top 5 most important offensive players, I believe I had him ranked 3rd behind Jimmy G and Staley. Really hope he returns this week.

[TecmoSuperJoe]

23 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

The passing yards are usually determined by the passing attempts. We only had 26 pass attempts so the 209 yards or however many Garoppolo threw for were fine. That wasn't the issue. The issue was taking the six sacks.

Shanahan said Detroit ran a lot of man coverage and our WRs just couldn't get open. Pettis who is really good against the press needs to get stronger. He beats press coverage with finesse not with his physicality. But I mentioned during the Vikings game that our WRs would easily get knocked off their routes and that was one of the reasons our offense didn't perform how it usually does. 

Goodwin is the one threat that defenses have to respect deep and the DBs usually like to play off coverage. When I made a list of the top 5 most important offensive players, I believe I had him ranked 3rd behind Jimmy G and Staley. Really hope he returns this week.

Time to call Dez. Or maybe give Richie James more snaps. See what he can do. 

[Forge]

19 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

Time to call Dez. Or maybe give Richie James more snaps. See what he can do. 

When the problem is creating separation in man coverage, kind of feel like Dez is the last person I want to call. He's aged poorly, doesn't have the speed and separation ability that he used to have, particularly after the lisfranc injury.

[y2lamanaki]

9 minutes ago, Forge said:

When the problem is creating separation in man coverage, kind of feel like Dez is the last person I want to call. He's aged poorly, doesn't have the speed and separation ability that he used to have, particularly after the lisfranc injury.

Yeah, I'm placing a call to Dez only if I'm attempting to combat the redzone problems. Even then, I am just not that interested. 

[757-NINER]

Honestly, I don't expect the whole 'lack of separation' to be a huge problem going forward. The thing is, with the type of WRs Shanny covets which is speed and quickness over physicality, those tend to be the ones who stuggle against press-man. So there will be some moments where guys don't win and Jimmy will have to learn what to do with the ball in those situations. But I don't think it's a overall concern. Especially when Goodwin returns, as he makes defenses play us differently. 

What I will say though is that if Goodwin's speed or the threat there of is so vital for the offense, then he shouldn't be the only WR on the roster who possess that trait. Now I understand sub 4.3 WRs don't grow on trees but I have yet to see Lynch bring in or draft any WR who could be called upon if Goodwin were to go down for a significant amount of time, which is a mistake IMO. Guys like Pettis and James have good speed, not great.

[J-ALL-DAY]

Pettis is going to be a big play WR for years to come. He will be fine, but he needs to get stronger. He doesn't make any contested catches and when he isn't able to get a free release, then he will struggle a bit. His strength in college was beating press coverage due to how shifty he is at the LOS, but different ball game going up against guys like Rhodes and Slay. 

A bigger concern is how Taylor is getting manhandled. Opposing corners are playing him super physical and he hasn't been able to get free. Teams also know Jimmy G loves to go to him and 3rd downs so they are really keying in on him. 

If Goodwin was just a speedster then he wouldn't be that important. But the man is able to run pretty much every route now and you just never know if he is going deep on a certain play or running a comeback etc. Once he returns the offense will get back to what we saw for the most part in the last five games last year and in preseason.