We’ve all been guilty of worrying about the San Francisco 49ers’ glaring hole at left guard and how the offensive line in general would fare against the Los Angeles Rams’ super team.
Fool us. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan had his friend Sean McVay’s number, and the Rams and their coaches may not be ready to use the 49ers’ moves in the running game. The 49ers ran for 174 yards They won 27-7Using a forward motion to get better angles and beat the edges.
The 49ers have been active on 65 percent of their offensive plays, the highest rate per game since Shanahan took over as coach in 2017, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. They gained 251 of their 379 total yards on those plays.
“Our coaches and our game plans, and our tight ends, fullbacks, running backs, wide receivers on Chips kept their edges out of it,” tight end George Kittle said. “Yeah, football is a tough sport, and it doesn’t matter who’s on the line — you’ve still got to go out there and execute every snap. And I think our O-line and all the guys that were part of the (run) blocking, they did a great job.”
The 49ers beat the Rams and showed ‘the best offense’
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Kittle, and especially fullback Kyle Juszczyk, used quick movement on the wing to slow down the Rams’ pass rush and force them to close on offense. The 49ers often used a double move (shift then move) to free up running backs Christian McCaffrey and Kelon Black.
McCaffrey struggled in the first half and finished with 10 carries for 68 yards, while rookie Black showed thirst and speed on 14 carries for 65 yards. Last season, no 49ers running back other than McCaffrey had more than nine carries in a game.
Debo Samuels added a 12-yard run. The 49ers’ 5.8 yards per carry and 0.19 EPA per carry were season-bests a year ago.
Black “did an amazing thing,” McFarry said. “Oh, man, he’s a great back. I’ve said this before, but he’s a force, and he’s a guy who really helps our team.
Now do McCaffrey and Black get a borderline illegal raise from Juszczyk? That’s up for debate.
The fullback was on the move on more than half the snaps (17 of 33), and he It was not always moving horizontally. He drops back and then bends downfield to tackle flat-footed defenders, helping him with his running start.
Future Hall of Fame defensive end and current CBS analyst JJ Watt wrote on social media “The league will be interested to see if it cracks,” he said of these “banana-shaped moves.”
“Let’s not draw attention to this,” Juszczyk replied with a “shh” emoji.
The rulebook states that an offensive player may not immediately move to the line of scrimmage, but lateral movement is permitted. The activities of the 49ers are carefully coordinated with these rules in mind.
Either way, the season-opening win certainly drew attention to the 49ers offense, and Black should continue to play a big role as the Niners return home from Australia to host Miami and Arizona in the league opener. Shanahan has promised that McCaffrey’s workload will decrease each season. But he seems to mean it this year, and the rookie out of Indiana now looks like a third-round pick, albeit a lot. Criticizing the choice as accessibility After it happened.
Turns out Shanahan had some tricks up his sleeve, too.
