Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Saturday, October 5th, 2024
“One of the weaknesses of Shanahan’s system is it can be predictable where the ball goes against the blitz. In some offenses, the quarterback is in charge of sniffing out pressures and changing the protection. In this system, the quarterbacks have “hot routes” built in on which a receiver will cut their route short against the blitz. This is a good way of keeping things simple for quarterbacks and allows them to play fast, but there are limitations. A smart defensive coordinator can game plan where he thinks an offense’s hot routes are…..As the season progresses, I’m curious to see if Purdy takes more ownership over protections at the line of scrimmage to sort out pressures and block them rather than resort to throwing hot routes. The 49ers offense struggled against the Chiefs’ and Ravens’ pressure packages last season, so this sort of change could pay dividends against that type of defense.
Another reason Purdy is throwing so much deeper than he has is teams are playing more quarter coverage against them. According to TruMedia, the 49ers lead the league in the rate of quarter coverage faced. Quarter coverage is when there are four defensive backs deep, but there are different forms of it. Against the Patriots, the safeties were playing aggressively and closer to the line of scrimmage.”
“The 49ers might not be weak at safety by the end of this season, but they have nothing but questions there right now. George Odum was benched, and with Talanoa Hufanga injured, rookie Malik Mustapha got his first chance last week. Aside from an ugly, early missed tackle, he looked good. But he was mostly in the box.
With the 49ers running a lot of Cover-3, there’s a ton on Ji’Ayir Brown’s shoulders. So far, he has not impressed. His ability to be a true center-fielding safety is in question at this point, and the task against a true spread offense in the Cardinals is a major one.
When the Cardinals gutted the Rams in Week 2, it came from Kyler Murray taking shots to Marvin Harrison against one-on-one looks connected to poor safety play. Safeties either cheated to the wrong side or got manipulated, and when Murray sees man coverage opportunities on deep shots, he will take them.
The question, first, is whether the 49ers will start Hufanga over Mustapha, and whether he — a player who has been questionable at best in coverage throughout his career — is up for that challenge himself. Regardless of who is in the box, Brown will have a ton on his shoulders in coverage. This is a team that will test him with their vertical scheme.”
49ers-Cardinals Injuries: Where Warner, Kittle, others stand
“Shanahan said he expected Kalia Davis to be promoted to the active roster before Sunday. The group of Talanoa Hufanga (ankle), Dee Winters (ankle), Jordan Elliott and Kevin Givens (triceps) are all without injury designations.”
“[Okuayinonu] was born during Liberia’s civil war and lived there until he was 12. He readily admits he’s still learning about football, which he didn’t start playing until he was a high school senior. He joked that he probably annoys Bosa by constantly asking him questions about his craft.
Said Bosa in reply: “I love when guys ask me questions. I don’t have it figured out myself, but I have a few things figured out. He sits right next to me in meetings and he’s always asking me stuff.”
All of which is to say that Okuayinonu, 26, has plenty of upside. His football inexperience and lack of length — he’s 6-1 — help explain why he went undrafted in 2022. But he’s got long arms (33 1/2 inches) and a powerful lower half, a combination that can work on the edge in the NFL. The similarly sized Shaq Barrett, for example, had 59 sacks in nine NFL seasons. The Philadelphia Eagles’ Brandon Graham, another 6-1 defensive end, has 74 career sacks.”
Five 49ers to watch in Sunday’s NFC West matchup vs. Cardinals
“Lenoir played cornerback on base downs, then he moved inside to cover the slot receiver in nickel situations.
On Sunday, he will see plenty of Marvin Harrison Jr., the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Harrison leads the Cardinals with 15 receptions for 243 yards and four touchdowns.
Lenoir did not give up much in coverage over the first four games. He has allowed just 13 receptions on 21 targets for 108 yards and no touchdowns.”
“The 49ers are leaning into this rookie class, and this is a great time to get Green up to speed — especially with that big game in Seattle against the Seahawks’ deep WR group looming just ahead.”
49ers to wear ‘94 throwbacks vs. Cardinals to combat Santa Clara heat
“With forecasts predicting near-triple-digit temperatures near kickoff, San Francisco is pulling out all the stops to help keep its players cool as possible under the hot afternoon sun.”
49ers switch unis as Sunday game set to be hottest ever at Levi’s Stadium
“Shanahan and the training staff have been pushing the importance of hydration all week. Temperatures hovered in the mid to high 90s for 49ers practices Wednesday and Thursday and reached the upper 80s Friday, which has helped a bit with acclimation.
Shanahan said many players already take IVs as part of their weekly routine but he expects that to increase on Sunday. Left tackle Trent Williams has taken IVs twice this season in games where heat wasn’t as prevalent but he doesn’t seem too concerned about it since he spends most of his offseasons in the Houston area.
“No comparison at all,” Williams said. “It’s nothing. … It all depends on where your hydration level is.”
Of course, there may not be an opponent better suited to playing in the heat than the Cardinals. Arizona regularly practices in triple digit temperatures and did again this week.”
Kyle Shanahan shares final updates ahead of 49ers-Cardinals Week 5 matchup
“San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters after Friday’s practice as the team prepares for its Week 5 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. Here’s everything he shared.”
The chase-down tackle that put 49ers’ Patrick Willis on the map: ‘He never relented’ (paywall)
“Was I a threat to score every time I touched the ball? No, I wasn’t,” Morey said. “But could I run? Absolutely. That’s why I did so well as a gunner on punts. My straight-line speed was sort of an asset for me. So when I turned the corner after catching the ball, I was running with momentum.”
Morey said he remembers seeing a 49er out of the corner of his eye as he started up the sideline. But that player was behind him and coming from the main formation.
To Morey, the only real threat was safety Michael Lewis, who’d started on the other side of the field.
Morey had spent two seasons with Lewis in Philadelphia and knew his former teammate could move.
“So I just went into high knees and high elbows and tried to lengthen my stride and gain as much ground as I could,” he said. “And hopefully beat him to the end zone.”.
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Willis had nothing but mutual respect for Morey and recalled how much meeting time 49ers special teams coaches dedicated to preparing for him. The linebacker laughed when The Athletic read Morey’s best quote to him over the phone, the line about “there’s a glitch in the Matrix.”
“He made me sound pretty cool!” Willis said. “I appreciate Sean for that. Sometimes (opponents) have a way of seeing a decent play and diminishing it. But hearing what he said, it brings me joy.”
Willis prefers superhero analogies, so he countered Morey’s compliment with: “I had to be The Flash at that moment to go get Zoom. So shout-out to Sean and the career he had, and much love to him.”
Morey said he thought about the play again last month when he listened to Willis’ Hall of Fame speech from August, one in which Willis talked about watching VHS tapes of Walter Payton when he was a sixth grader and learning about the legendary work ethics of players like Jerry Rice, Roger Craig and Mike Singletary.
Morey nodded along as he listened. Willis had the same work ethic, the same desire. Morey experienced it firsthand.
“He has all these amazing tools,” Morey said. “But that’s all they are. The strength, the speed and quickness, the toughness — those are tools. The thing that separated him was his Herculean effort. He never relented. That’s the thing that made Willis a Hall of Famer.”