Post#275 » by CrimsonCrew » Tue Oct 8, 2024 8:54 pm
Watching Jonnydel on the red zone offense. Looks like part of the problem - potentially a big part of it - is Mason not following his blocks at times. A couple of runs by Mason where he's not doing the little things in terms of his footwork and vision. Obviously Mason has been really good, but if he follows his blocks, he'll be even better. Also explains why, for all the big runs, you'll see plenty of Mason getting one, two, three yards or less.
Quick review of the plays he looked at:
1st and goal, run to Mason. Mason gets nervous when their end plays crashes, but we have a blocker to account for it (Puni pulling). Instead of running to the hole, Mason runs to where the blocking isn't.
2nd and goal, pass to Kittle. Kittle is supposed to do a hard fake to the inside, but doesn't really sell it. Coverage is tight, but a pretty nice ball that Kittle has a chance at and drops (hard to catch, but Kittle is expected to catch those).
3rd and goal, supposed to be a pick play to Juice, but Aiyuk doesn't get the pick. Might have had a shot to Jennings, but hard to pull that pass off on the move.
1st and goal, run to Guerendo. Guerendo again misses the hole, bounces outside and gets tackled immediately.
2nd and goal, pass to Kittle. A quicker, better pass probably scores a TD, but also a play that would have scored if we ran it to the wide side of the field instead of the short side. Unclear if that was Shanahan or Brock who messed it up.
3rd and goal, first read to Deebo who got knocked off his route. Purdy could have come off it and gotten to Aiyuk as his second read for the TD, but he doesn't scrambles around and we don't get it.
1st and goal, throwaway to Mason. Deebo runs a terrible route, slow off the line, no real effort at a fake, and gets no separation against a LB. Kittle does come open, but Purdy gets jumpy and throws it away in Mason's direction.
2nd and goal, pass to Jennings. Jennings doesn't really win on the route, though the throw was behind. Better throw had a chance for a TD, but not much window.
3rd and goal, six seconds left in the half, timing is completely off. Jennings was supposed to pick Aiyuk's man, but Aiyuk was late and Jennings ends up picking his own teammate. No one open and Purdy throws it away - almost too late to get the FG.
Not red zone, but on the first INT, Deebo again dogs a route. He should pull the defender out with him, but instead the defender drops inside to close out Kittle as an option. He moves and still tries to squeeze it in, but the defender falls off and bats the sidearm throw. There was a window there, but it would have been a lot wider if Deebo actually played a decoy effectively.
1st and 10 from the 15, Mason doesn't read the hole, is late, and the play falls apart.
One takeaway is that we might have made a mistake in dropping Schrader. He's not a physical marvel, but he gets how to follow blocks. It's unclear that Mason and Guerendo really excel in that area. And the loss of McCaffrey in the red zone isn't hurting because of the receiving threat, but because our runners aren't doing what they're supposed to be.
Overall takeaway is that everyone needs to be crisper. And in my view, that means we're looking squarely at the coach.
