One Area the 49ers Need to Improve Upon Defensively
It was an impressive rebound game for the 49ers in their dominant win over the Jaguars, especially defensively.
The defense was in a freefall during the 49ers’ last two losses, so for them to look elite again was encouraging. However, there is still one area the 49ers need to improve upon defensively. That area is when they are defending against screen plays.
It was one of the few plays that the Jaguars had success with against the 49ers defense. In fact, it’s been an issue for a large part of the season for them. The 49ers are incredibly susceptible to getting decimated by screen plays and need to find a way to not be so vulnerable to them.
“That is one weakness sometimes when you play some zone coverages,” said Kyle Shanahan. “Sometimes that can be a weakness, when you rush as hard as we do. So those are the vulnerabilities of some of that stuff, which has always been an issue, not just for us, but any teams that are in passing situations or play the style that we play.
“People have gotten on us so they’re not going to go away. They’re going to keep coming more and more. I thought there was a couple times we put that bleeding out, especially more in the fourth quarter, the second half. But, we’ve definitely got to get better at that because there’s a little too much space when they’ve hit us on them.”
Screen plays are generally effective against elite pass rushing defenses. It’s a way to juke the rushing defender to make their aggressive uphill shot at the quarterback meaningless. This isn’t a unique weakness to the 2023 49ers defense. They have had their issues in season’s past with it before. It’s usually been something they just live with since they have the speed at linebacker to cover it up.
But clearly it hasn’t been enough this season. Now, it is just one type of play that is hurting the 49ers defense and it won’t be called constantly. So, the fix here could lie with Steve Wilks in predicting when those screens are going to happen to inform his players to be prepared for it. I’m sure it’ll be a talking point throughout this week since Shanahan wants it to be tightened up.
