Kyle Shanahan desperately needs to evolve.
His offense is stale. He has been running essentially the same stuff for the past 10 years and Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has figured him out. Soon, other coaches will, too.
Shanahan’s entire schtick is to use a fullback and pretend his system is a run-first offense. He hopes the opponent responds by using a base defense and an eight-man front with single-high-safety coverage so he can play-action-pass that team to death. Shanahan’s entire playbook is built around beating single-high coverages.
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
But, the Seahawks don’t play Shanahan’s game. They don’t load the box and they don’t use base defenses. They stay in their nickel defense all game, they keep two safeties deep to take away the 49ers’ play-action passes, and they shut down the 49ers’ run game with their defensive line because the interior of the 49ers’ offensive line isn’t strong enough to handle Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy and Jarran Reed.
So when the 49ers face Seattle, they can’t run the ball, they can’t get open downfield and they can’t give Brock Purdy enough time to get past the first read in his progression.
In addition, before almost every play, Shanahan sends a player in motion. He does this for lots of reasons, and one is to figure out which coverage the defense is playing. If a defender follows the player in motion, it’s generally man-to-man coverage. If a defender doesn’t follow the player in motion, it’s usually zone.
But the Seahawks don’t follow those rules. They confuse teams by following players in motion and then playing zone, or not following them and then playing man. They disguise their coverages so well, all that pre-snap motion accomplishes nothing. It just wastes time.
Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Considering the age of their players and all the shifts and motions the 49ers do before every play, they might have the slowest offense in the league. They needs to get much faster. They would be smart to use a hurry-up offense as a changeup so the Seahawks can’t disguise their coverages as well.
And they would be wise to draft a young gadget player — either a wide receiver, a tight end or a running back, who’s fast and can gain yards after the catch. The Seahawks two-high coverages won’t let the 49ers throw the ball down the field, so throw underneath and beat them with YAC.
That’s what the 49ers used to do when Jimmy Garoppolo was the quarterback, and it’s what they have to do next season.
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