Analyzing the San Francisco 49ers' defensive keys to the Super Bowl.
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00:00 All right, let's talk about what the Niners are going to do on defense.
00:02 And let's preface this by explaining what the wide nine defense is,
00:06 because we're going to be talking about the wide nine.
00:08 It's their front, and it's a little bit of, it's a little gimmicky.
00:11 Not that many teams use it.
00:12 The Niners have used it for a while.
00:14 And essentially, it refers to the positioning of the strong side defensive end.
00:20 The defensive end that's on the tight end side of the formation.
00:23 Most of the time, most teams will have someone head up with like a cross
00:27 on the tight end, a little inside the tight end.
00:30 The Niners take their DN to bring way outside the tight end.
00:32 Right.
00:33 So as a four man line goes, there is more space between the defensive linemen in
00:39 this front than in any other four man front.
00:41 There's a lot of space between them.
00:43 It's part of why teams can run on them.
00:46 It's part of why teams can scramble on them is because there is that much space.
00:49 There's a lot of space.
00:50 And when you're, again, when you're going against a formation with no
00:54 fullback and one tight end, it's effective because there isn't that much
00:58 space between the defensive linemen.
00:59 But once you start widening it and widening it with two tight ends and
01:03 three tight ends, very vulnerable.
01:05 It's very vulnerable.
01:07 And really it's at its best when you're winning, when you're up 10, nothing is
01:11 great, but when you're down 10, nothing and the other teams punishing you with
01:16 those heavy formations, usually you need to make an adjustment.
01:18 So that's what happened.
01:19 The NFC championship game.
01:21 Niners never really made an adjustment.
01:23 What do you think is going to, what do you expect from them on defense in this game?
01:26 Unfortunately, I expect him to open and base and then react to it.
01:29 But I think that Wilks will be quicker to react.
01:31 That in the NFC championship, he didn't react until the second half.
01:36 This one, he's going to have to react after the first series.
01:39 But if he opens in base, I think that Pacheco will be able to run easily.
01:44 And it's just, it's not just scheme, it's personnel that you don't have
01:50 the DBS and the safeties to shut down the run the way that the scheme calls for.
01:55 They're missing players that can make that happen.
01:58 So part of that's a fun go.
01:59 Part of that's just, you don't have the guys you need to run this.
02:03 So that worries me.
02:04 But the other thing is just the Kansas city runs 12 and 13 a lot.
02:08 That's probably their most frequent set.
02:10 And so if you're Kansas city, if you're Andy Reed, what do you do?
02:14 You run 12 a lot.
02:15 The other problem is that Andy reads the master screens and the
02:19 Niners aren't good at defending it.
02:20 That's another problem.
02:22 So it's how do you deal with all of that?
02:25 And then the third thing is your linebackers are occupied
02:27 because you got to deal with Kelsey.
02:29 And so how do you stop Kelsey, stop the run and deal with the screen?
02:34 It's just, you can't clone your linebackers.
02:37 So there's gotta be more help.
02:39 The safeties have to play really well.
02:41 Jair Brown's going to have to come up with a big game in this.
02:44 And that's the thing.
02:46 So we're saying the Niners should play a five man front to stop the defense, to
02:48 stop the run, but when you play a five man front now, I feel like you're even
02:52 more susceptible to the screen because you have fewer players in pursuit.
02:55 So it's a tough one, but like, let's talk about the front for a second.
02:59 So if the wide nine is getting run over by these heavy formations, what can,
03:03 what can you do?
03:04 Well, when Fangio was the defensive coordinator, 10 years, we'd use a five
03:08 man front most of the time.
03:09 And we talked about the wide nine.
03:11 You move that D and outside the, the, the tight end.
03:14 Well, in a Fangio's front, the strong side DNN was Ray McDonald.
03:19 Who's freaking 300 pounds.
03:21 He was playing a four eye technique, which means basically head up with the
03:25 tight end, but a little bit inside or no, he would be out on the offensive
03:30 tackle out there.
03:31 So sort of like inside the tight end and outside the offense, it's right out there.
03:35 And then you'd have a mod Brooks setting the edge outside of him.
03:37 So you had two players, you had 300 pound Ray McDonald and 275 pound a mod Brooks
03:43 at the strong side of the point of attack saying you can't run here.
03:46 Niners have chase on and nothing in nothing.
03:52 I hope that they, yeah, I hope that they start ready Gregory and just use chase
03:57 young for a sub package on passing downs.
04:00 Yep.
04:01 But I think you've suggested in the past move Eric Armstead about the edge.
04:05 Yeah.
04:05 I think they need to put Eric Armstead at the spot that Ray McDonald was in and
04:11 then have either Randy Gregory as that fifth guy on the line or Dre Greenlaw.
04:16 They, sometimes they move Dre Greenlaw down there, but whatever, whoever, whoever,
04:20 I think you need to use a lot of five man lines.
04:21 You do, you do.
04:22 And you also need to use a lot of blitzing that you look at where Baltimore
04:27 succeeded with their blitzing.
04:28 Kyle Hamilton got a second finished.
04:30 The niners need to find a way to take advantage of that.
04:33 Cause my homes can be vulnerable in picking up, um, blitz recognition
04:39 sometimes, and they aren't that great in pass pro from their backs.
04:44 So that's a way to attack them.
04:46 Good call.
04:48 Aaron Russell stopped down playing green Bay in Detroit.
04:51 Like we should have beat them by 30.
04:52 They were in the playoff position that they were in for a reason.
04:54 We beat both of them.
04:55 That's true.
04:57 Um, but they were still beatable and proved that they were too
05:02 young and made some mistakes.
05:03 But yeah, the niners need to elevate their game a lot.
05:08 Cause this is Kansas city.
05:11 I mean, Spagnuolo is, is now coaching in his fifth Superbowl.
05:16 I mean, these guys have a lot of experience in this game.
05:18 That's true.
05:21 And if you don't believe Tom, just listen to the niners.
05:23 They'll tell you that they didn't play particularly well in the two
05:25 preseason games and two postseason games.
05:27 They're giving up 5.6 yards per carry in the playoffs,
05:30 158 rushing yards a game.
05:32 I don't think he would a Superbowl like that.
05:34 They have to play better.
05:35 And they have to react soon.
05:38 Yeah.
05:38 You can't spot them at half and then adjust.
05:42 You have to adjust immediately.
05:44 And it's like, are we supposed to forget that the niners were
05:47 10 point favorites against green Bay and seven and a half point
05:49 favorites against Detroit and they didn't dominate, they escaped.
05:53 They, they found ways to beat teams.
05:55 They were supposed to dominate.
05:56 Okay, great.
05:57 Well, now you got a much better team that's been dominating.
06:00 And a team that's been there before and isn't going to make the same kind
06:04 of mistakes, Kansas city, Detroit.
06:06 Thank you, Jordan.
06:08 Love.
06:08 I mean, my home's not going to do that.
06:10 No.
06:11 Tinker.
06:14 I mean, who are the chiefs, the chefs grab a Snickers,
06:17 it's a good commercial.
06:18 Uh, brother Bob says, Tommy, I say rush five, double Kelsey and Ward.
06:24 Shadow rice.
06:26 Okay.
06:28 I know about that.
06:28 How about that?
06:29 I don't know about doubling Kelsey.
06:31 I kind of want to see what Lenore is going to do on rice.
06:33 Lenore is the one who's good in the slot and rice is very much a slot receiver.
06:36 And Laura's having the noise having a really good year.
06:38 Well, part of the way that you could go with the five man front is to have.
06:44 Yeah.
06:44 Yeah.
06:44 I'm going to Lenore on the outside corner and have him on rice.
06:47 Rice isn't going to overpower him and the North can still make
06:52 place in the run game.
06:53 Yeah.
06:54 I would take Ambry off the field and move Lenore outside.
06:57 I would agree.
06:58 Brother Bob run downs, move 91 outside and play McGill interior.
07:02 McGill Kinlaw given someone, whoever has some success against the run.
07:06 Brother Bob chase young should kill you.
07:09 What?
07:11 React to what works.
07:13 Okay.
07:13 Yeah.
07:13 That's usually a good thing to do.
07:15 Casey says, brother Bob says chase.
07:18 You actually changed his name to chill young.
07:20 Ouch.
07:22 Yeah.
07:23 Yeah.
07:24 Chase isn't making a good case for keeping him.
07:28 That's for sure.
07:29 Gammon Brown colleagues, a backup plan in case Debo gets injured.
07:33 True.
07:34 He often does.
07:35 Yeah.
07:35 Yeah.
07:36 Well, we'll see.
07:37 But you know, this is the final game.
07:40 You got to go all out.
07:42 Debo has to be a full part of the game plan.
07:44 Aaron Russell says Kittle in the short passing game will be key.
07:48 Yep.
07:48 That's right.
07:49 Get passing game in general.
07:50 All of them.
07:53 And McCaffrey.
07:55 [inaudible].