There’s no secret about how the 49ers need to play soccer beneath Kyle Shanahan.
Heck, even quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is aware of and defines it as such: “Keep forward of the chains, keep away from third downs, convert third downs. That’s our type.”
However not each recreation goes precisely in keeping with the 49ers’ most well-liked type. And with a banged-up protection needing the 49ers offense to step up, a mistake-filled day value the 49ers in a 28-14 loss to the Falcons on Sunday.
“I assumed we had alternatives all day. We simply didn’t benefit from them,” Garoppolo stated. “Self-inflicted wounds, actually, guys making errors. It wasn’t only one man or one place, it begins with myself. I believe we simply kinda, one after one other, stored making errors. And if you do this, it provides as much as a recreation like this.”
The formulation for Shanahan’s 49ers has been tried and true for some time now, particularly with Garoppolo beneath middle. However what occurs when you possibly can’t run the ball successfully? Or when the rating forces you to cease operating altogether?
On Sunday, San Francisco ran the ball 16 instances for 50 yards, which is simply the twelfth time they’ve had 20 or fewer rushes since Shanahan took over.
Their file in these 12 video games? 1-11.
Shanahan stated that Atlanta’s management of the clock and limiting of possessions compelled the 49ers to desert the run and get one-dimensional on offense.
“I believe they managed the ball very nicely after which we obtained somewhat behind,” Shanahan stated. “I assumed we would have liked to throw to catch up.”
And after they did throw, Garoppolo did moderately nicely, finishing 29-of-41 passes for 296 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He accomplished each throw at or behind the road of scrimmage and was efficient on his passes 15 yards down the sector or nearer, too.
“I assumed Jimmy did some actually good issues, particularly within the first half,” Shanahan stated. “I assumed Jimmy was actually on hearth. I assumed he did a hell of a job. Within the second half, I assumed he did some actually good issues.”
However popping out of halftime down seven factors, two drops on second-half deep balls will linger for the 49ers. On the second play of the third quarter, Garoppolo threw a ravishing deep move to Ray-Ray McCloud on second-and-10, who had a half-step on his defenders however couldn’t provide you with the catch.
After a 49ers punt and a Falcons landing made it a 14-point recreation, Garoppolo had second-and-6 close to midfield and located tight finish Charlie Woerner open on a go route over the center. However Woerner dropped that move and the 49ers have been compelled to punt one play later.
“It could have been a giant distinction if we got here up with two of these deep balls that he threw,” Shanahan stated.
The deep pictures compelled third-and-longs for the 49ers, and San Francisco went 3-for-8 on third downs partially due to the space required.
It left them in catch-up mode, one thing that has not been their sturdy go well with beneath Shanahan. In his six seasons in cost, the 49ers have trailed by seven or extra factors coming into the fourth quarter 25 instances, counting Sunday. They've misplaced all 25 video games.
Garoppolo hasn’t been the quarterback for each recreation on that record, and he did lead a game-tying two-minute drill in final season’s regular-season finale after the Rams scored with 2:29 left. However on Sunday’s closing huge drive for the 49ers, they couldn’t get downfield quick sufficient — and even had Garoppolo’s one accomplished deep ball, a 39-yard strike to Brandon Aiyuk, nullified due to a holding penalty by Jake Brendel.
In whole, the 16-play, 80-yard drive that began at 10:30 within the fourth, took 8:08 off the clock and resulted in zero factors successfully ended the sport.
“It’s on the offense,” Garoppolo stated. “Placing up zero factors within the second half, that’s not us.”
So how do the 49ers repair it? Garoppolo: “We have now to return to the drafting board and get again to our type of soccer.”
That type means the 49ers can’t let a gap get too huge and power Shanahan to desert the operating recreation. Whereas Garoppolo could make the short- and medium-yardage throws constantly, the deep balls have all the time been hit-or-miss. (The 49ers knew this — in any case, they weren’t planning on Garoppolo nonetheless being their quarterback.)
Until the protection can get more healthy and/or stouter, the offense can not get stuffed on the bottom *and* miss out on the deep balls they draw up.
They don’t need to be excellent, however they’ll need to do much better than what they did in Atlanta.
