49ers vs Bears: hard blocking creates explosive plays
Week 8 of the 2021 NFL Season.
Sunday, Oct 31 @ 10:00am PT.
49ers snap their 4-game losing streak and keep their playoff hopes alive. What stood out to me in today’s win was the DOMINANT offensive blocking which led to explosive plays on the ground and in the air.
- Jimmy in shotgun (~5yds behind the line of scrimmage). Ball is snapped, 5 step drop, ~3 seconds in the pocket before taking his deep shot.
- Chip block from Sanu in the slot before he releases. Throws the edge defender slightly off balance and Trent Williams takes care of the rest.
- Interior DL weren’t allowed to crash into the pocket. And the DE was gracefully guided around Jimmy. Good work by Mike Mcglinchy
Example 2: Screen to Deebo. YAC for 83 yards.
- Ball is snapped. Entire OL chips the DL and then rushes to zone-block up the left.
- Screen thrown to Deebo.
- Two linebackers are crashing into the backfield and #82 (TE Ross Dwelley) and #71 (OT Trent Williams) do a great job redirecting their momentum out of Deebo’s way.
- #11 (WR Brandon Aiyuk) freezes the CB then blocks to make a play on Deebo.
- Meanwhile you still have all the OL busting ass to get upfield and make blocks on the second and third levels of the defense.
- Late in the play you see #6 (WR Mohamad Sanu) (who started on the other side of the formation) still racing downfield and preventing any DBs from making a play.
Example 3: Aiyuk crosses the field to make a critical block
- It’s a pitch to #25 (RB Elijah Mitchell).
- All the OL are zone-blocking to their left. All of them managing their one-on-ones. #71 (OT Trent Williams) is able to get up to the second level and make a block on a LB.
- Studs #44 (FB Kyle Juszcyk) and #89 (TE Charlie Woerner) make MULTIPLE chips and blocks. Woerner is blocking off FOUR guys and keeping pace with Mitchell until he falls.
- While Mitchell is headed outside, he’s looking for his hole, makes one cut, then GOES straight downfield with plenty of red & gold ahead making blocks for him.
- What I LOVED about this play. Was the effort we saw from Brandon Aiyuk in his UNLEASHING from the “dog house”. At the beginning of the play we see #11 (WR Brandon Aiyuk) at the top of our screen. He runs a slant across the field with his eyes on Mitchell to monitor trajectory. Later (once the video camera catches up to him) we see him HANDLING some DBs to keep the run play alive down the stretch. You can see Aiyuk was LOVING the explosive run after the play. Happy to see that he’s enjoying his time even getting the basics done on the field.