Week 1 Arizona @ San Francisco Offensive Line Breakdown First Half.

September 11, 2007 by Nicholas Sumas

The regular season is upon us.  We are all disappointed at the outcome of the first game, but let’s find out if the offensive line was part of the problem, or part of the solution.  Let’s take a look at the offensive line, one play at a time.

 

 The first offensive play of the game is a standard formation. (2WR, 2 RB 1TE) The call was a playaction pass Fitzgerald.  The 49ers bring 5 in a half-assed blitz.  Wells man pushes him back about 4 or 5 yards behind the LOS.  As the ball is thrown, Well’s man puts a hand up and nearly deflects the ball.  Pope gets beat by Bryant Young on the outside, but Leinart had already let the pass go.  The pass is intercepted, and Levi makes a pretty good tackle to save the touchdown.  2/5

Gore scores on a 7 yard touchdown run 2 plays later.  SF 7-0.

The Cards try again.  They are in a 3 WR set, with Shipp in the backfield instead of James.  Johnson comes in motion, as this is a fake endaround.  Everyone on the line blocks down, and there is a huge hole on the right hand side for Shipp to run through. Manny Lawson has to stop and contain to prevent the endaround and this allows Shipp to go right by him.  Reggie Wells is able to get into the second level, but by this time, the play is away from the line.  Shipp gains 14 yards.  Great blocking by everyone.  5/5

First down on the 37 now.  2 TE set with Bienemann and Pope on the left side.  Boldin goes in motion to the left.  The run is up the middle to James on a misdirection type play.  Levi does his job, as he keeps the outside rush away from the play.  Deuce stands up Bryant Young  and puts down a good block, but probably gets away with a hold at the end.  Both Gandy and Johnson are able to get to the second level.  James puts on the brakes and makes a great cut to get to the outside.  Fitzgerald is also 7 yards down the field putting down a great block.   James gets a gain of 8.  Not bad at all for the line here.  4/5.

Another 3 WR set with Pope on the R hand side.  Boldin in motion to the bottom of the screen.  Leinart takes a 7 step drop.  Absolutely none of the line keeps their man near the LOS.  In fact, they all get pushed back about 4 yards.  Leinart did however have about a second to throw the ball.  There was nobody open and the pocket collapses in a hurry.  He steps up through the pocket, sees Edge near the LOS and send him a shovel pass.  Edge gets past the first defender, but Patrick Willis comes through and knocks the ball out of his hands.  Edge is able to recover the fumble, and subsequent first down.  2/5

Standard formation with Pope on the left side of the line.  The play is a draw up the middle.  Manny Lawson gets in the backfield untouched as no one accounted for him.  You can blame this one either on Levi, or on Johnson not calling out the blocking assignments.  JJ gets blown up in the backfield for a 3 yard loss.  0/5

With the aerial view from the blimp, you cannot get a good look at the play at all.  All we see is James getting back to the original LOS.  Won’t even try to break this play down.  N/A

3rd & 10 now.  3WR splitback shotgun formation.  The 49ers only bring 4 for on a delayed blitz if you will.  Levi does good job on an island, and the rest of the line does great.  Smith stays back to block and doesn’t even touch anybody until Leinart has been back there for about 2 and a half seconds.  Leinart had a huge pocket to throw in, and he overthrows his intended receiver by at least 10 yards.  Great job by the line, horrible job by Leinart.  5/5.

The Cards get the ball back on a 3 and out.  Breaston had no opportunity to run the ball back.

Standard personnel on the field for the Cards.  It is an offset I to the left with Pope to the right.  Johnson and Lutui double team the NT in the middle of the field and Wells blocks up giving James a hole up the middle to run through.  Pope does a good job of holding onto Manny Lawson without a call.  With Smith going through the middle of the field, James is able to blast forward for about 5 yards.  Better than average here.  4/5

2TE set for the next play.  Another run up the middle.  Bienemann gets absolutely abused on a swim move.  The rest of the line does a poor job creating a running lane for James to run though.  James just decides to cut his losses and lowers his head, right into oncoming 49ers.  Not a good play at all for the line.  1/5

3rd down and 4 here.  4WR set with JJ in the backfield and Matt in the shotgun.  The offensive line gives Leinart a huge pocket to through through.  Bryant Young pushes Lutui back a few yards, close to Leinart, but it did not affect the play at all.  The rest of the linemen did a great job containing the 3 remaining rushers.  Boldin runs a 5 yard out and Leinart hits him for the first down. 4/5

Bienemann starts in the backfield, and ends up on the right hand side.  Another 2 TE set. with Fitz in motion.  This is a designed rollout for Leinart.  There is no place for Leinart to throw the ball. Gandy is looking for someone to block.  As I watch this play in slow motion, I truly have to wonder what Pope is thinking.  It appears that he is completely staring at the DE and it amazes me how Pope literally lets him run right by him.  The more I see the play in slow motion, the more I just want to slap Pope and ask him what he was thinking.  This forces Leinart to throw the ball in a hurry to Fitz on the sideline for a 2 yard gain.  1/5

Standard formation with Boldin and Fitz to the right.  This is a playaction pass that looks very good initially.  Pope’s man puts on an inside move and pushes him back about 5 yards.  He stayed in front of him, but because he can’t hold is ground, and Levi getting beat on the outside, Matt is forced to scramble. He doesn’t see anyone to throw to , so he runs out of bounds after a gain of 3 or 4. 2/5

Another 4 WR set with JJ in motion for this 3rd down play.  The 9ers bring the blitz from the right, and the left hand side of the line just crumbles.  Wells/Gandy do a horrific job, and JJ’s attempt at a cutblock whiffs as well.  Matt is forced to run to run through the middle of the pocket but he is caught from behind after a gain of 1.  Not sure whether to call this a 0 or a 1.  1/5

Luckily a running into the kicker penalty gives the Cards a 1st down, and a chance to keep the drive alive.

Another 2 TE set with Bienemann starting in the backfield and ending up on the left.  This is a sweep to the outside.  Both Levi and Lutui pull to the right and put their helmets on someone.  It was a good play by design, but the speed of the 49er defense kept this play from materializing. Gain of 3.  3/5

Yet another 2 TE set.  Pope again allows a free man to get into the backfield, but luckily he runs right past the play.  Gandy gets into the second level and makes a good block downfield.  The rest is just James making a couple of quick moves and picks up enough for the first down.  3/5 

End of the 1st Q.  Arizona 0, San Francisco 7.

Of course the ESPN cameras are a little late getting to the action, but you realize that something isn’t right about the formation. They look to be in a jumbo package to the right and Boldin is in the shotgun.  Boldin takes the direct snap and runs to the side of his blockers.  The line does a great job opening up that side of the field.  Boldin gets a 1st down on a gain of about 13.  Great playcall and great execution by the line. 5/5

Another 2 TE set, with both of them lined up on the left hand side.  Boldin in motion.  This is a run up the middle of the field.  There is a hole on the right hand side for James to run through, but he decides stop and cut left instead.  He gets tripped up, and Manny Lawson helps wrap him up.  I think the line did a good job creating the hole, James just went the wrong way IMO.  3/5

Standard formation now.  Another plunge up the middle.  Lutui gets to the second level, but Smith is forced to block the first threat from the outside.  This left no one to block the LB coming through the hole.  Edge is hit at the LOS, and falls forward for a gain of 2.  Not enough white helmets to go on gold ones.  2/5

3rd and 6 now.  Another 4WR shotgun set with JJ in the backfield.  This is becoming common on 3rd downs.  Leinart looks for Boldin, because he had not turned around for the ball yet, he looks away. Gandy misses on a cutblock, forcing Leinart to scramble.  He scrambles into a bootleg pattern, and he has time to throw the ball.  He has 5 yards in between him and the nearest pass rusher when the throws the ball.  Disappointing that none of the WR’s came back to the ball to help Leinart out.  He throws an incomplete pass  forcing the ball through coverage.  Not sure why Leinart was on the ground at the end of the play, there was too much room in between him and the defenders when he threw the ball.  Pretty sure they missed a penalty here.  2/5 for Gandy missing the cut block.

*Note, on a subsequent replay, there definitely should have been a flag thrown.  The defender went for Leinart’s legs and that is an automatic 15 yard penalty.  You can go for the QB by hitting them in the head, leading with your helmet, or tackling low around the knees.

Rackers kicks a 34 FG.  Dansby forces a fumble and Antonio Smith recovers.  The Cards start their next drive on the 36 yard line. 

The first play is a little 3 step drop. Shipp and Arrington are in the game for this play.  The play is a quick 3 step drop timing pattern, a pass is to Pope.  Smith is all over him on the play, but Pope makes the catch.  It is a quick timing route, so as long as the line doesn’t make a huge mistake, they do their job.  It wasn’t perfect, but Leinart wasn’t in trouble either. Gain of 5. 4/5

Boldin is in motion for an offset I formation.  This is a run up the middle to James.  Levi gets abused by Bryant Young.  Bryant threw him around and spun him backwards.  He actually pushed him into the fullback Smith.  However, this also created a hole on the right hand side for James to run through.  He makes a good cut and ends up gaining 6 yards on a play that just as well could have been a loss of 3.  2/5

1st and 10 now on the 26.  2 TE set, with both of them on the left hand side, Pope standing up.  Lutui pulls to the left.  Pope again has a hard time with Lawson, but Edge makes a great cut following Pope’s block.  He slips by another tackle, and ends up gaining 6 on the play.  Hard one to grade here.  3/5

Another 2 TE set. Bienemann in motion and settles in the backfield on an offset I formation to the right.  Pass.  Gandy does well initially on the island, but starts to get beat on an inside move.  Levi does very well on his island, and the rest of the line holds up.  Leinart makes a great throw to Pope and he catches the ball on the 6 yard line.  If I gave half grades, it would be 3.5, but since I don’t the line gets a 4/5.

2 TE package here.  This is a run to the left hand side.  Gandy gets to the second level, and makes enough of a block on Willis to keep him away from Edge.  Smith also makes a great block.  Pope even makes a good block on this one.  Touchdown Cards.  Its hard to not grade this a 5/5. Pope actually makes a good block on the play and we score a touchdown.

 After the Cards score, the 49ers score on a FG, tying the score at 10.

JJ and Shipp are in the game on this play.  He is in motion, and is the 3rd WR.  Doesn’t matter.  False start, 82, offense. 0/5

The next play is a WR screen to Boldin.  The ball was thrown almost right after the snap, so there is no line breakdown here.  Gain of 2  N/A

JJ is in motion again.  5 step drop for Leinart.  The left side of the line gets pushed back, and Leinart has to throw the ball high.  It wasn’t overthrown, Fitz had to go up to get it. Gain of 6  3/5

3rd and 2 and another 4WR set with JJ in the backfield.  Leinart has a ton of time to throw the ball.  A good 3 seconds at least.  He forgets to check his checkdown.  If he does that, he sees JJ in the flat, with no one around him.  It would have been good for a first down.  5/5   The Cards get bailed out again on an illegal contact call that is usually not called in the league, and they get an automatic first down.

3WR Shotgun Splitback formation now.  Morey goes in motion to make it a 4 WR set.  There was a pocket that Leinart could have stepped up into, but the speed rush on the left hand side closed it very quickly.  The defense also stunted on the left hand side of the line.  Leinart decides to scramble to the left.  The field is wide open, so he decides to run with the ball.  He gains 5 yards.  3/5

Same 4 WR formation with 2 on each side.  This play is a draw to JJ.  Willis stays home and stiffs the play out.  JJ only gains 1 yard.  Not bad blocking by any of the linemen.  They were just trying to catch SF off guard, and it didn’t work.  3/5

3rd and 2.  The Cards call a timeout.  They call a toss sweep in the same 4 WR formation. Bryant Young came clean off of the Lutui block, as Lutui got tangled with a couple other linemen.  Bryant Young stops JJ for no gain.  I don’t like this play call at all. 2/5

Cards punts the ball and SF runs out the clock to end half time.

Halftime Tally:

2 - N/A plays

2 - 0/5 plays

3 - 1/5 plays

7 - 2/5  plays

7 - 3/5 plays

5 - 4/5 plays

5 - 5/5 plays

First half thoughts:  Most of the better plays of the line, have been for run plays.  We all already know that Pope has a hard time blocking, but wow. This was an absolutely horrid half for him.  We need a blocking TE on the roster, right now.  Leinart is not making good decisions, and I am happy with the way that the Cards are running the ball.

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