If one of our guys is keeping 2 or 3 of their guys busy, that means we've got 1 or 2 guys extra to get to the QB or maintain coverage.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 

You mean 1 or 2 guys extra to TRY (and fail) to get to the QB. The point is that they are focusing game plans on just stopping Matthews. It's not a bad thing to drop him into coverage sometimes when they do that because it doesn't play into their plan to drop the guy they are focusing on. If you just keep throwing him into double teams no matter what you are just playing into what the other team wants and expects.

Originally Posted by: stevetarded 

If...
Matthews is getting double and triple-teamed, the three D-Linemen need to go against 2-3 blockers plus any additional protection the offense leaves in (RB, TE).
Matthews drops into coverage, the D-Linemen get to go up against a minimum of 5 linemen
The offense is committing additional 1-2 blockers in order to contain Matthews, that is 1-2 less potential pass targets downfield.

Yes, it is important to switch things up and simply rushing the same guy every passing down isn't the best idea regardless of how well you move him around. However, if the D-Line was getting the job done, it wouldn't matter if Matthews never got to the QB. The more they pay attention to him, the less attention they're paying to everyone else and the less people there are to burn us downfield. Thus why in my personal, non-professional opinion, I believe that Matthews should not drop into coverage more than 1/5 passing downs or so.

Originally Posted by: Porforis 

It's not like he's been played like a nickle corner or anything he goes into coverage probably 8 or 9 times a game and it's not like hes just going into coverage and hanging out, the guy makes plays in that aspect as well. Who cares if he is making a QB throw the ball away due to pass rush pressure or batting down a pass the impact is the same either way.

I think the amount he was in coverage last year was good. When you have a player as versatile and all-around skilled as Clay it makes sense to use him in a way that takes advantage of all of those skills.

Originally Posted by: stevetarded 

The reason the Packers defense was so bad was because they couldn't tackle. They didn't want to tackle. 99 percent of tackling is effort. Anyone can be a good tackler, but you have to want to do it. And our coaches have to take some blame for not demanding a better effort from the players.

And don't give me the "but we had a short off season and fewer practices in pads" excuse. How long was the 49ers' off season? How many padded practices did they have? Exactly. Thats a lame excuse.

Originally Posted by: ironman 

I'm still eagerly waiting for zombieslayer to share with us how he knows the defensive play calls were not aggressive. Imagine the things we can do with knowing what the play call was? Especially now that we have access to the coaches film! I'm ready to tinkle I'm so excited. I don't know why he's holding out though ... 🤔

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

Where's my access?

If I had it, I could count how many times Capers had 3 guys rushing a game.

Originally Posted by: zombieslayer