Home Steelers 2015 Season Steelers 49ers Scouting – Observations for what they’re worth

Steelers 49ers Scouting – Observations for what they’re worth

by Ben Anderson

I had some time last night and I re-watched the Steelers (3rd time) and 49ers (2nd) games last night. I’ve made some observations. This will be a  bit scattershot but, for what their worth:

After watching the game for a 3rd time last night, the thing that hurt the Steelers the most were missed tackles. Poor coverage and miscommunication aside, I’m pretty sure that I counted at least 1 missed tackle for everyone but Tuitt. It was pitiful. They should have lost by 20.

Blake was miscast the other night and that is on Keith Butler and Carnell Lake. They could have trotted Allen or Boykin out there knowing that the Pats like to spread out their TEs which would have forced the CB on that side to the inside to cover the slot, in this case Edelman. That man would have to have excellent cover skills to keep up with Edelman, who is a good slot receiver. Strategic error on the coaching staff’s part and Tomlin oversees the staff. The thing that is odd is that Blake has always been a good tackler. Last Thursday he stunk up the joint. Even the miss on Gronk was a weak attempt.

The 49ers O is seemingly based almost entirely on Carlos Hyde and short passes. Colin Kaepernick should be a running back or receiver because he’s not an NFL QB. Better than last year, but that’s not saying much. I had to check the count afterward, because it seemed like it was only 4 or 5 passes that went 10 yards downfield and sure enough, according to the charting at PFF, Kaepernick only “completed” 6 of his 17 passes 6 yards or further downfield. In other words, 11 of his 17 (65%) completions traveled 5 or fewer yards in the air downfield.

Guess what that means??? If you guessed that we can expect more of “tackle the catch” (AND DON’T MISS THIS TIME!), then you guessed right. I would have Shazier and Timmons keying on either Kaepernick or Hyde and let the other 9 guys defend the rest of the O. Without those two players, the 49ers have nothing.

Also, given the number of times that the 49ers use double or triple tights, we are going to see mainly base D this week. That will mean they will split out Vernon Davis in an attempt to exploit Blake again. Given that Cortez is questionable, Blake will start again. Our only hope is that Boykin comes in as the nickel.

Torrey Smith’s one trick; drawing offensive pass interference penalties, will be of no use this week. They don’t have a QB who can throw an accurate long ball and they only left him in the pocket looking for the long pass 6 or 7 times. Lots of play action and designed roll outs to targets in the flat. Dink and dunk and then hand it to Hyde.

*Then again, there are only a handful of guys who can roll out and still throw a decent long ball, luckily we have one of them. (Unfortunately, so do the Ratbirds.)

Kaepernick mainly rolls out to his right. The Steelers would be wise to use Heyward shaded out to his left and have the LOLB push upfield before he attempts to bend back inside. They should try to keep Kaep in the pocket where he is far less effective. But they will have to leave an end there with a decent pursuit angle should Kaepernick try to take off. Keeping this guy in the pocket will do as much to mess up his game as pressuring other QBs does to theirs.

The 49ers run mainly to the left. That’s good and bad news for us. Good because Jarvis, Harrison and Tuitt will be over there and they are all typically pretty good at defending the run. Bad because they frequently do so when running zone blocking to the right and then Hyde breaks off of Joe Staley’s backside. The Steelers D isn’t that good against ZBS and Jarvis and Harrison both missed some tackles last week that were very uncharacteristic.

The Steelers are going to have to put the 49ers in 3rd and long situations to give themselves the best chance of winning this week. That means stopping the run on 1st and 2nd down and that’s a tall order vs. this opponent.

Otherwise, the Steelers’ O would be wise to capitalize on scoring opportunities this week and put Kaepernick in a position where he has to throw. That will give the floundering defense a big boost. Playing from ahead will allow the young unit to key on Kaepernick rather than Hyde. Allowing SF to keep it close will result in the 49ers running the ball continually in an attempt to control the tempo of the game. Ball control offense just like the Steelers used to employ.

The Steelers really should pull out all the stops to get up by 11+ points early. If they do that, the D will have a much better shot at defeating the 49ers O play to play. That 30 point goal of Ben’s and Haley’s really needs to come to fruition.

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2 comments

JAMESH September 22, 2015 - 4:50 am

“They’re” worth, Ben. “They’re” worth. (I’m such a dick)

Ben Anderson September 22, 2015 - 1:39 pm

Good catch. Thanks for looking out. Sometimes, ok frequently, my proof reading skills are not my super power.

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