https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/49ers/kyle-shanahan-believes-49ers-defensive-line-key-vs-cardinals
Kyle Shanahan believes 49ers' defensive line is key vs. Cardinals
SANTA CLARA -- Head coach Kyle Shanahan believes the 49ers have a sizable advantage over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
“I think they should be able to win their battles. If they play as well as they can, they should have a good matchup against Arizona’s O-line, and I think they should take some of the pressure off our linebackers. And, hopefully, when that happens, our guys can run around and make some plays.”
“When it comes to David Johnson and our man coverages, I put a lot of pressure on our D-line this week,” Shanahan said. “If we let him run routes too long in man coverage, I don’t care who’s covering him, he’s going to win. And in the run game, if he gets to our linebackers untouched at 4 yards, they’re going to be able to continue to run the ball.”
“It’s funny because usually the standard thing is to just pressure the rookie,” Shanahan said. “That’s what I hear from defensive coaches a lot. That’s always the first thing I hear people say, ‘How should we play this rookie? We should pressure him, right?’
“I’ll never give an absolute answer – it depends on the guy – but a lot of times I want to see a defense make a quarterback play quarterback. And what I mean by that, is I want to see a guy play in the pocket, go through progressions and have to get to two in a progression, three in a progression, see nobody’s open and get to No. 4 and check it down. Sometimes when you just blitz a rookie, No. 1 is open. He’s just running a slant, and it’s man-to-man, and if that guy just beats the corner, then it’s a route on air."
