The San Francisco 49ers are absolutely dominating with their run defense, and their four-man rush is obliterating opponents.
Last week, the Niners allowed only 45 rushing yards against the Dallas Cowboys‘ backfield tandem of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was sacked five times and pressured a whopping 14 times.
It took a few weeks into the season for the Niners defense to show its dominance. But San Francisco’s run defense ranks No. 1 in the NFL in expected points added since Week 8. Similarly, the Niners’ defensive DVOA has improved from 16th in the league to fourth since Week 10. Overall, San Francisco allowed the seventh-fewest rushing yards (103.5 per game) in the regular season.
When we look at Saturday’s divisional-playoff matchup against the Green Bay Packers, it’s a rematch from a Week 3 nail-biter. The Niners defense forced a pair of three-and-outs in the second half but couldn’t get off the field on the last drive. The Packers then kicked the winning field goal as time expired.
If the Niners want to win this game, they likely will need to outperform Green Bay in the trenches. They must bring down Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers more than once, and that will require more rotations with Arik Armstead and D.J. Jones on the inside.
In the clip below, even against double teams, Armstead and Jones clog the middle and force Elliott to bounce the play to the outside.
When Armstead and Jones are both spread wide in a 3-tech and 4i, respectively, they run a successful twist which pulls in an extra lineman and isolates the edge rushers.
This middle twist worked several times last week against the Cowboys, giving pass-rushers Charles Omenihu, Nick Bosa and Samson Ebukam isolation on the outside.
In the Week 3 matchup, the Packers were able to effectively take out Bosa when he was looking to get to a one-on-one matchup to the outside.
In these clips, we see two examples of chip blocks from the tight end, which ended up taking Bosa out of the play completely. Even if the tight end doesn’t get a clean block, it still gives Rodgers enough time in the pocket to go through his reads.
If the Niners want to prevent this from happening, they would be wise to use numerous edge-over-tackle stunts. In last week’s game, the Cowboys had a similar plan for Bosa. They had tight end Dalton Schultz chip-block Bosa, but instead, the Niners called a double-gap stunt.
With the interior linemen both rushing to the left, this opened up a huge gap for Bosa to come free.
Bosa has the speed and quickness to get to Rodgers. It’s just something the Niners need to work into their game plan.
San Francisco’s four-man front can go toe-to-toe with the best offensive lines in the NFL. But there are upsides and downsides to using a wide-nine defensive front. The four-man spread leaves the edge rushers one on one, so if you have athletic players such as Bosa on the edge, it’s going to be a rough day for the offensive tackles. The downside is the amount of time it takes to reach the pocket. When the defense does get there, the pressure can be smothering.
So if the Niners use a straight rush, expect Rodgers to get the ball out of his hand quickly. Interior twists and edge stunts on second- and third-and-long plays will be the key for the San Francisco defensive line if it wants to keep the pressure on Rodgers.
