Film Breakdown: The Best and Worst Play Calls from Week 1
The Arizona Cardinals severely out-coached the 49ers on Sunday. But head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh still had good moments and successful play calls. In the interest of fair and balanced reporting, let's examine both their best and worst calls from Sunday's loss.
GOOD PLAY CALLS
Offense
10:05 First quarter. First and 10 at SF 24.
This is the 75-yard touchdown pass to Raheem Mostert. When I saw this play live, I thought Mostert simply juked rookie linebacker Isaiah Simmons, who was covering Mostert man to man. Wrong. Kyle Shanahan actually confused Simmons. Shanahan's play design called for Dante Pettis to run straight up the field at Simmons and for Mostert initially to run toward the sideline. Simmons thought Pettis was running a rub route that would impede his ability to chase Mostert to the sideline. So Simmons jumped in front of Pettis to outflank Mostert. Just as Simmons made his move, Mostert cut back to the inside and Simmons was out of position. Mostert caught a wide-open pass and ran untouched into the end zone. This was Shanahan at his best.
Defense
8:43 First Quarter. Third and and 7 at AZ 28.
Robert Saleh calls a safety blitz for Jimmie Ward, and no one blocks him. The 49ers five rushers contain Kyler Murray in the pocket and give him nowhere to scramble. Saleh calls man-to-man coverage and puts Richard Sherman on DeAndre Hopkins. Murray has nowhere to throw or run, so he flings a low-percentage deep pass to his No. 3 receiver, Christian Kirk, who's covered tightly by Emmanuel Moseley. Incomplete. Perfect call.
4:29 First Quarter. Third and 10 at AZ 22.
It's third and extra long, so the Cardinals use four wide receivers. The 49ers match up with their dime defense -- six defensive backs. They take Kwon Alexander off the field and replace him with Tarvarius Moore, who runs a 4.3. Smart choice. He spies Murray while Sherman covers Hopkins man to man. Another smart choice. Murray has nowhere to throw, so of course he scrambles. But Moore chases him out of bounds after a gain of just one yard. Another perfect play call. Saleh should have come back to it the second half.
BAD PLAY CALLS
Offense
12:37 Second Quarter. Fourth and 1 at AZ 1.
The 49ers' final chance to score at the goal line. Instead of running behind George Kittle, their best blocker, Shanahan puts Kittle in jet-sweep motion and has Raheem Mostert run behind a pulling Daniel Brunskill, the 49ers' weakest guard, who whiffs his block and Mostert gets stuffed at the line of scrimmage. Too cute. Run behind Kittle.
Defense
11:37 Third Quarter. Third and 17 at AZ 44.
The turning point of the game. The 49ers defense should have gotten off the field, but instead gave up a 25-yard first-down scramble to Murray. Saleh called a four-man rush with tackle-tackle stunt, meaning Arik Armstead and Kerry Hyder switched places after the snap. This did not confuse the Cardinals. All it did was create bigger scramble lanes. And once Murray started scrambling, there was no one spying him. He ran 25 yards untouched. A better call on third and 17 against an offense with only one explosive element -- the quarterback's legs -- would have been a three-man rush with two quarterback spies -- one on the left side of the defense and one on the right.
Watch the full breakdown below.
