As I explained in my previous post, the Bears defense uses a Tampa 2 scheme which is tough to pass against. The 49ers heavy personnel formations may give the Niners an opportunity to avoid passing into that Tampa 2 shell.
From the heavy formations, the quarterback can throw play action passes to a receiver working against a corner man-to-man or in a 3-deep zone, which definitely is better than throwing into a Tampa 2 shell.
Tampa 2 will result in many short passes, shallow crosses and checkdowns to the running backs. If Alex Smith plays, I doubt Greg Roman is going to have him taking deep shots against the Bears Tampa 2 defense.
The passing philosophy Roman probably will exhibit vs. the Bears is “to make them bleed” and play pitch and catch with a variety of short, high percentage passes after the run game hopefully puts the offense in very manageable down and distance situations.
Against a Tampa 2 defense, the Niners definitely don’t want to get behind the chains on 3rd downs because the offense will turn into a punt fest.
In this game, RAC (run after the catch) will be critical vs. the Bears cornerbacks and Will and Sam linebackers, who are the underneath defenders. That means Roman will most likely continue to feature Michael Crabtree in the pass game.
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Punt-fest is better than turnover-fest, and whichever QB starts will be lucky to avoid turnovers because the bears defense has made a living off of turnovers this year.
puntfesting was a major contributor to winning field position quite a bit last year and the teams would push each other around a bit without scoring and during that process there being 2 or 3 punt exchanges the field dynamics more than not favored the niners..leading to scores for the good guys
Right on here jg.
The Niners last year scored by moving the ball a bit, then punting it really far. Then our D getting a 3 and out. Then Ginn returns it 10-15 yards, we get a first down or two, then punt it. Again our D holds the opponent to nothing. Then Ginn, again gets a return of 10-15 yards.
Until our offense just makes the other teams D, break. Which will happen if you don’t turn the ball over, and we didn’t. Then we’d score. Kick it off, tackle the guy if he’s stupid enough to come out before the 20, our D kicks their butt, and the cyelc repeats.
Expect to see a lot of 22 personnel from the 49ers. They have excelled the last 2 weeks out of this grouping.
Gotta give Grant some kudos here. He brought that up as their most productive package during a conversation on here prior to the draft, and he nailed it.
Is that any two backs meaning the fb and hb or do you specifically mean when they have Gore and Hunter together?
It could be with any 2 backs, but primarily iy is with Miller and Gore/Hunter.
They killed Arizona from this set, and did very well against the Rams from it as well.
@ Jack:
I thought you would appreciate this. It’s a fan post from Niners Nation looking at two plays from the 49ers rams game. The writer uses the all-22 film to illustrate his points.
http://www.ninersnation.com/2012/11/16/3651916/colin-kaepernick-all-22-coaches-film-49ers-vs-rams
He has an interesting take on the the long completion to Manningham. What do you think?
Claude,
There is no doubt Davis is open, but Kaepernick took the deep look, which was also open, and netted more yards than I think he gets with the pass to Davis.
That first play is interesting. The Rams were in 2 deep, which is why Finnegan stepped up when Miller came into the flat. There is definitely a window to Davis, but what is missed looking at the downfield coverage is that Boone was beat pretty quickly on that play, almost about the same time that the ball would have to come out, which is why I think he went the other way.
I like a lot of what I saw from Kaepernick, but here is my concern. His performance looked an awful lot like what Troy Smith did to the Rams a couple years ago. My gut tells me that Kaepernick can do what he did on Sunday repeatedly, but I need to see him a bit more before I am convinced.
@ Jack…
Nothing like Troy Smith. Very careful with the football during the drives that counted, yet always looking to pass while on the run. i.e. the run out of bounds to the right where he pump-faked about 4 times. Troy Smith looked like the real deal from the pocket in that one game, but was nowhere near the athlete that Kaepernick is, was nowhere near the runner that Kaepernick is, and had nowhere near the conceptual accuity that Kaepernick seems to have about what the offense is supposed to be and how he can best play within its parameters.
Yeah, I got all that from one half of watching him. (And also from following him at Nevada). The guy is an absolute monster when it comes to performing in the clutch, never panics, and always seems to rise to the occasion. He is smart, coachable, and driven to win in the NFL. That last point is obvious given the fact that he bypassed a career in MLB.
Johnny,
It is just a concern based on limited time watching him play here, and wondering if he can go it again. As I said, my gut tells me he can, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Troy was 5’11 and Kaep is 6’4. There is your biggest difference. Troy scrambled out of the pocket to see the field better it seemed like.
@ Jack:
Thanks for responding. I don’t know whether Davis could have gained more yards (getting him the ball while he is running free tends to have good results), but I can’t fault Kaep for a 20+ yard pass play. Ultimately, neither did the author.
That said, I am somewhat surprised that Grant didn’t rip Kaep for not throwing to a wide open Davis.
Tampa 2 isn’t that hard to throw against, the QB just has to be patient and know where to go with the ball. This could be a big game for Vernon attacking the seam against the bears linebackers. He and Alex have had a lot of success on those type of passes over the years. The run game and play-action will help the 9ers passing game by holding the linebackers. Also look for Manningham down the sideline in the hole between the corner and safety, in addition to the underneath routes which Grant mentioned.
We shouldn’t make too much of tampa 2 however, the bears this year are mixing their coverages more than in the past.
yep TE game coming up….and the manningham thing works when QB eyes takes the safety to walker or davis on the oppisite side of the field and then throws back…..means OL has to perform and that is still suspect this year even though the line is getting a lot of kudos for run offense….
This is the guy receivers and ball carriers have to watch out for.
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/49357/video-charles-tillman-packs-a-punch
Short, high percentage passes like shallow crosses and checkdowns to running backs……….sounds a lot like the West Coast offense to me…..!!!!
The tight end up the seam is open all day long against the tampa 2…