We Need a Live Rooster to Take the Curse Off the 49ers - A Week 5 Review
Well, Nuke's scared because his eyelids are jammed and his old man's here. We need a live... is it a live rooster? We need a live rooster to take the curse off Jose's glove and nobody seems to know what to get Millie or Jimmy for their wedding present. Is that about right? We're dealing with a lot of shit. – Crash Davis.
If anyone knows someone who can perform an exorcism or is into burning sage to chase the ghosts away, please immediately send them to 4949 Centennial Boulevard. Dumping four tons of salt around the San Francisco 49ers’ complex might also help.
Five weeks have passed in the 2024 NFL season, and for the 49ers, the season feels cluttered with meaningless subplots of locker room antics and beat reporters trying to be part of the story.
On both sides of the ball, the 49ers play as if the luster of previous success has oxidized a bit. They have become Aunt Jinny’s fine dining ware that your parents have used for 45 years of holiday eating, but the plates are chipped, and the candlesticks do not reflect the hearth fire as they once did.
We know what this roster can do when firing on all cylinders. And we’ve become spoiled with winning seasons that have nearly touched the pinnacle of an NFL season. Watching the team fight an endless number of small mistakes that kill drives is frustrating.
A holding penalty here, a missed throw there, and then an ill-timed turnover are enough to lose a ballgame by a point.
The playbook is not the issue, and no amount of play adjustments will result in immediate success. Shifting calls from intermediate and deep shots to shorter out routes that “create spacing” is one of the dumber ideas floating around the internet’s dung heap.
Below are two examples of the small mistakes hurting the 49ers’ offense and one great call from the Week 5 loss against Arizona. As always, check out my X thread for more plays.
2nd Quarter – 2nd and Goal at the ARI 5 (7:49)
For the second week in a row, Shanahan called a movement play near the goal line, and for the second week in a row, it did not result in six points. There’s nothing wrong with this play call; the problem is with the execution.
The chief read on this play is tight end George Kittle, who was running a slide route. Quarterback Brock Purdy was far too slow to get his body in a throwing position to get the ball immediately to Kittle.
Rather than turn his head and whip the throw to the flat, Purdy continued to roll, gather his feet, pat the ball, and finally throw Kittle a high pass. The time it took for Purdy to throw the ball allowed the defender to close the gap, resulting in a stop two yards short of the goal line.
3rd Quarter – 2 & 10 at the SF 13 (13:23)
I’ve been pleased to see how well rookie guard Dominick Puni has performed thus far. According to Pro Football Focus, he has yet to allow a sack or a hit, and he even played a clean game against the New England Patriots. However, he has had trouble with his pulls and has consistently committed the same error since the preseason.
Early in the third quarter, Shanahan called in ‘Y Fly to North Left Clamp 17 F Counter,’ a gap run that attacks inside to off tackle on the strong side.
Puni is the lead block on the play, and his job is to demolish the end man on the line of scrimmage (EMOL) while the fullback cuts off that block to pick off a linebacker. Since the preseason, Puni has thrown a shoulder at the EMOL rather than burying him into the turf. I understand that sounds like a no-nothing youth football coach, but Puni hardly put a scratch on the EMOL, who ended up making a tackle for a one-yard loss.
One of the few people reading this might point to the screen and shout, “See! It is a coaching problem!”
I have no doubt the 49ers’ coaches have not let this continuing error go unnoticed. I’m willing to bet 15 American dollars they’ve pointed out in a film review and drilled into Puni’s head that he needs to stop trying to throw a lazy shoulder into a 250-pound defensive end.
But for whatever reason, it hasn’t been clicking with the rookie until later in the game.
Shanahan called 17 Counter, and Puni finally got into the EMOL, which sprung Mason for a 20-yard run.
2nd Quarter – 2nd & 10 at the SF 30 (12:39)
Anytime the 49ers are in a slump, the craggy finger often gets pointed at Shanahan’s play calling. Here’s a fun football fact: Not every play is a zinger. Some will be dud calls if an offense runs 60 to 70 plays a game. It’s not a reflection of the coordinator or the system but a meat-hook reality of a complex sport. The faster we accept that some plays do not work, the faster we can become better fans.
Take Shanahan’s call early in the second quarter. The 49ers were at their 30-yard line and about to start a 5:44-minute drive. After an incomplete pass to Kittle, Shanahan called in a pin-and-pull run.
A pin-and-pull is simple: one or two offensive linemen will execute a ‘pin’ block, which completely seals the defensive player in front of him.
At the same time, one or two offensive linemen will pull down the line toward the pin block to clear a lane for the running back. I’ve seen these crafted where an uncovered lineman, usually a guard, is instructed to pull if he is uncovered and to stay if he is covered. In this play, center Jake Brendel was covered by a nose tackle but left guard Aaron Banks blocked down to allow Brendel to pull.
Puni led the way and went directly to the second level to take out Arizona linebacker Mack Wilson. Mason went nearly untouched for 34 yards. The 49ers’ offense would chip away for the next four minutes and walk away with a field goal.
Some may want to see more of a passing concept or combination, but throwing that in a reset doesn’t fix a stagnant offense. The essence of playcalling is feeling the game’s ebb and flow, which even fans watching live cannot fathom. The pin-and-pull call at that moment was Shanahan feeling what Arizona’s defense was reacting to and then calling something they did not expect.
I hope the 49ers have enough fire to reset themselves on offense and defense against the Seahawks. Part of me thinks the team has had it with how they’ve executed and wants to use that to silence some critics. The other part believes the 49ers have Seattle’s number lately, and they’ll have no problem stomping that overrated franchise into the muddy banks of the Wishkah.
All images and videos courtesy of NFL.com, except the cover image which is courtesy of myself and a ticket to 49ers-Bengals in 2023.
All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless noted.