Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Wednesday, November 20th, 2024
Barrows: 49ers mailbag: Is Kyle Shanahan losing the locker room? Is the window closing? (paywall)
“All of the leaders on the team – Trent Williams, George Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk, etc. – are Kyle Shanahan devotees. Actually, that sentence might not be strong enough, so how about this: Those guys worship at the altar of Kyle.
Which is to say, it’s hard to believe he’s lost faith in the locker room.
The problems that you note – and I’ll add ‘lack of a killer instinct’ to that pile – might also be symptoms of fatigue, too. I wonder if this team, which drifted off at times last year and certainly wasn’t all that focused in the offseason, has been ground down and beaten up by all of its recent stretch of deep playoff runs.”
49ers game review: Why didn’t Nick Sorensen adjust after Nick Bosa exited? (paywall)
“Sorensen’s faith in his diminished front was rewarded when defensive end Leonard Floyd dropped Smith for a 3-yard sack on first down from the 49ers’ 34 with about one minute left. Smith followed with a 16-yard scramble and Sorensen finally called a blitz with Seattle at the 49ers’ 21 with 39 seconds left, although the pressure was telegraphed.
Linebackers Fred Warner and De’Vondre Campbell walked up to the line of scrimmage, with Campbell dropping back in coverage and Warner rushing at the snap. Smith recognized the blitz and got the ball out quickly, firing an 8-yard completion to Smith-Njigba that was followed by his game-winning 13-yard scoring run.
Sorensen, like his predecessors, DeMeco Ryans and Robert Saleh, rarely blitzes. The 49ers have blitzed on 16.4% of their snaps, the second lowest percentage in the NFL, because Sorensen wants to create pressure with his front four, allowing the 49ers to keep seven defenders in coverage.
But Ryans and Saleh had better personnel than these 49ers, who entered Sunday ranked 19th in the NFL in sacks.”
49ers overreactions: Is Shanahan on the hot seat after latest loss?
“The 49ers own the No. 2-ranked offense in the NFL. Yes, they are ranked that high this season. They are averaging 398.9 total yards per game, behind only the Baltimore Ravens and one spot ahead of the Detroit Lions. Obviously, the 49ers hired Shanahan in 2017 because of his results as an offensive coordinator.
Every week, it is suggested that Shanahan needs to hire an offensive coordinator. But that does not make any sense because — like it or not — he has been considered one of the top offensive minds in the NFL.
Heck, Mike Silver even wrote a book about his offensive prowess and those influenced by him and his father, Mike Shanahan.
Unless Shanahan completely loses the locker room down the stretch, and it becomes irreparable, it is not reasonable to think CEO Jed York will even be tempted to make a change.
The 49ers had a Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 2019 season, then fell off to 6-10 the following year. The right moves were made in order to reach the final four of the NFL in each of the past three seasons.
Regardless of how this season turns out, there still are too many good players for this to be a tear-down project.
But, yes, adjustments must be made to ameliorate the many problems that have plagued the team this season. Charting a path to solve issues that arise is why Shanahan was hired in the first place.”
Baldy: 49ers looked slow against Seahawks, defense appears bland; Is the wrong RB playing?
“But they can’t get any explosive plays in the run game or the pass game,” Baldinger continued. “They still look slow. And then, when it really showed up was with [Seahawks QB] Geno’s [Smith] touchdown run at the end. Like, where is everybody? Where’s the speed?
“I know they were in zone coverage, and ideally, zone coverage, Geno’s breaking a pocket, ‘All right, let’s get on the horse and go.’ And you just didn’t see the speed to get to him. If you get him down to the ground, they might run out of time. You don’t know at that point.”
This raises questions about the apparent lack of effort from the 49ers defense, which failed to stop Smith’s game-winning scramble into the end zone. Under first-year coordinator Nick Sorensen, the defense has looked like a shell of its former self this season.
“I’m not here to throw Nick Sorensen under the bus, but they don’t—as opposed to Steve Spagnuolo and some of these other teams in this league that are good blitzing teams—they just don’t know how to get a free hitter to the quarterback. They just don’t dial it up. They don’t overload. They don’t disguise. And so, they’re pretty bland in what they do.”
49ers practice and media schedule: Preparing for the Week 12 matchup vs. Packers
“Wednesday, November 20
12:40 p.m. – Kyle Shanahan press conference
1:50 p.m. – Practice
Thursday, November 21
1:00 p.m. – Practice
After practice (approx. 2:45 p.m.) – Nick Sorensen press conference
Following Sorensen – Chris Foerster press conference
Following Foerster – Brock Purdy press conference
Friday, November 22
12:30 p.m. – Practice
After practice (approx. 1:40 p.m.) – Kyle Shanahan press conference.”