49ers Week 8 grades: Coaching

Coaching: B+. Vic Fangio called more blitzes than usual and the 49ers defense got a ton of pressure on John Skelton.

Greg Roman called some creative run plays in the first quarter out of Bill Walsh’s old “Blue” and “Brown” formations, lining Gore and Hunter up side-by-side in the backfield. After the first quarter, the run game did very little.

In the passing game, Roman mostly called plays for the wide receivers. He continues to feature them at the expense of Vernon Davis, the best player on the offense, who’s caught just five passes the last three games. This strategy has not hurt the 49ers against offensively inept teams like the Cardinals and Seahawks. We’ll see how that strategy works against well-rounded teams who can score points.

Another thing – the Cardinals blitzed a lot on obvious pass downs and Roman didn’t call screens. He rarely calls a screen, and the 49ers have the personnel to run the play effectively.

Roman has spent the first half of the season establishing his wide receivers as threats. As the second half of the season approaches, it would be in the 49ers best interest if he started to get the other players involved in the passing game, too.

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