Burford has said that he didn't stick to his assignment, went on instinct instead. So he knew what to do, just didn't do it.CrimsonCrew wrote:wco81 wrote:I'm not criticizing him for it but on that 3rd down play where Chris Jones came at him unblocked, I don't know if he had room to juke and get outside of him.
Certainly the best play-making QBs have done that, evade a free rusher and make a big play against cover 0, which the 49ers struggled against in this game.
We've even seen Purdy make pass rushers miss and make plays off schedule.
Definitely the fault lies with the OL, though I don't know if Purdy is adjusting protections at the LOS.
Maybe he saw that Jennings was open and trying to get it to him as soon as he could. Even if he avoided Jones, if he escaped to the outside, the blitzers might get to him, not to mention Jennings might no longer be open.
But that is the one thing that the QBs who've won big games have been able to do, still make plays when other players break down and erase their mistakes.
On that particular play, we showed a look I can't recall seeing before - which could explain why our blocking scheme was shaky. McCaffrey had split out, but he motioned just before the snap and was coming across the formation with a modified play action at the snap. The play called for Purdy to fake it to him and then drop back from there. Jones was two steps away with a head of steam as soon as Purdy came out of the fake handoff, and he was supposed to drop back from that spot so there wasn't an open read.
My first instinct was that virtually no one could have escaped that situation. Reviewing it right now, I'm not sure that's entirely right. Jones was right up the gut, and Karlaftis was to the right coming off Kittle's block as Kittle released into the pattern (McKivitz made this block, but Purdy couldn't have bailed to his right). Purdy COULD feasibly have spun away from Jones toward the left and gotten free long enough to find Aiyuk wide open in the back of the endzone. But that would have been an exceptional play that even Allen or Lamar only makes one in ten plays. Instead, Purdy put it up toward a player who was breaking open.
I don't have any problem with that decision whatsoever. IMO, there's a much higher likelihood of Jennings shaking the coverage a second earlier and adjusting to the ball than there is of Purdy (or any QB) getting loose from Jones.
This play was pretty **** from the beginning. I think they implemented it for this game, and it has some potential, but the guys aren't up on it. Pulling the center just wasn't a good call. McCaffrey actually comes open and could have picked up the first down if not a TD, but he kind of chipped the DE who Brendel couldn't entirely get to (he was still open).
I mean, look, we had Aiyuk, McCaffrey, and Jennings all open in the deep red zone. So it's not like we should just throw that play away. But Burford probably didn't practice that play much and sure seems to have botched the protection. Give Brock a half-second more and I have no doubt we score a TD on that play.
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