Quote:
Originally Posted by All22
The storylines for this game are so weird. The game tape shows something totally different IMO.
On this forum, y'all tend towards more player-centric comparisons than any other forum (i.e. who has the best QB, best "weapons" etc) and you overrate your system players way too much.
Anything less than "Mahomes is the GOAT" is shouted down.
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It's not that anything less than "Mahomes is the GOAT" is shouted down. It's that there is no patience and little tolerance for opposing fans who come in confident and talking the same smack we've heard for the past month.
Ever since the Texans won their opening round game, it's been the same storylines tossed out by opposing fans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by All22
Most of the secondary didn't play in the Atlanta game.
But you could argue the most talented group of "Weapons" we faced this year was the OBJ, Landry, and Chubb or Gurley, Kupp, Woods, and Cooks or Kamara, Cook, Thomas, Hill, Ginn. Or Cook, Diggs, Thelien etc
I don't see the Chiefs "weapons" as better than most of those. Your running game kinda sucks and our DLine will be happy just pinning their ears back all game knowing that they're really only looking for screens but not run plays.
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If you want to talk about how your D is going to play against Mahomes and the Chiefs, the pass D is first and foremost. KC isn't going to run it to try and "establish" something just to be stubborn. It's going to be a complement and secondary or even tertiary part of the gameplan.
Your DL has to worry about, in order:
1) Defeating one of the best pass-blocking OL in football, with top-notch bookend pass protectors
2) Screen/misdirection game (Reid is going to use motion and misdirection just like Shanahan to slow the DL down and try to exploit them if they get too aggressive)
3) Mahomes' containment. This pairs with (1). The 49ers have to rush Mahomes hard so he doesn't have time to pick apart the zone D. But they also have to keep containment on Mahomes, and they have to stay disciplined so they don't get crushed by (2).
4) Defend the run game
And to complicate matters, the player who your fans cite as the key factor in making your pass rush effective is a completely one-dimensional pass rush specialist who can be exploited pretty easily if he plays on early downs.
So what is Saleh going to do? Is he going to play Ford - who is gimpy as usual - on early downs he normally wouldn't (Because really, every down is a passing down for KC)? Is he going to use him as normal, in traditional passing downs?
If Ford plays on early downs, you're going to likely be facing 11 personnel (goodbye to one LB, hello to K'Juan Williams). KC will audible into runs if it can isolate Ford.
I mean, a very simple action that will become tough to defend in this situation is a 3x1 alignment that motions into a 2x2 alignment:
Watkins OL Kelce Hill Robinson
Williams/Mahomes
In that alignment, facing a nickel D with Ford on the field at LE, you're going to motion Hill to the left side and be set up to run zone to the opposite side.
The slot corner - presumably K'Juan Willliams, right? - is likely going to motion with hill in that alignment. If he doesn't, KC will throw the ball and have Watkins and Hill isolated on one side against just one CB (good luck!). If the corner follows Hill, it sets KC up nicely to run outside zone to the outside. Kelce will crackback Ford. Schwartz pulls to the second level and gets into the LB. Zone blocking the rest of the way. They probably leave Bosa unblocked and force him to account for Mahomes (if he doesn't/crashes down the line aggressively, KC will run a true zone read and hurt them that way).
Holding that type of run play down is going to rely on Sherman beating a 1x1 block from a good blocking WR in Demarcus Robinson, one of the LB's getting around Schwartz coming to the second level, or Armstead shooting in quickly enough to blow the play up in the backfield.
Ford on early downs gives a real schematic advantage to a creative offense with a smart QB who can change the play at the line based on defensive reactions. Even to a guy who watches from his couch.