49ers Film Room: Kyle Shanahan’s Running Game
By Rich Madrid
MISDIRECTION POWER
This next and final play is a tricky play to dissect. It’s tough to tell what audible or hand signal the quarterback and running back to determine the direction of this play. This play is from the first Packers/Falcons game from Week 8 earlier in the season.
Green Bay did not play great defense this season, so they were a bit aggressive in reacting to the Falcons running game.
The blocking scheme itself is power-gap scheme. Instead of relying on traditional zone blocking to open a running lane, potentially anywhere along the offensive line, the power run seeks to create a new gap by using a double-team block and a pulling lineman at the point of attack.
Power has three main elements that define the scheme: 1) A double team at the point of attack, 2) a kick out block of the EMOL (end man on the line of scrimmage, either a DE or an OLB in a 3-4) and 3) a lead block through the resulting hole:
Running power gives an offense a chance to take advantage of a defense that over-pursues to one side. The movement of the defensive front hinges on the direction of the down-blocking lineman.
This gets the linebackers drawn into where they think the point of attack will be:
At the snap, the running back takes a step toward the direction of the pulling backside guard.
The middle linebacker keys on this and starts to pursue:
After that initial step toward the strong side, the running back takes the pitch from quarterback Matt Ryan headed in the opposite direction to the weak side after the linebackers pursue down the line:
The misdirection element, combined with the down-blocks, makes the start of the play look a lot like the inside zone.
The key is the middle linebacker reading the down block and flowing that way to where he thinks is the point of attack, not realizing that this rides him out of the true point of attack:
The purpose of this article is not to definitively say this is what the 49ers will absolutely do next season. But it’s safe to assume the zone-running game will be the base approach. The addition John Benton as the new offensive line coach suggests as much.
There are numerous ways Kyle Shanahan can run zone, power, counter, etc.
The 49ers already had the 11th most efficient running game in the league, according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA. For much of the season, they were in the top 10 of running game efficiency with the league’s 32nd ranked offensive line, also per Football Outsiders (It’s worth mentioning Pro Football Focus graded the 49ers offensive line as 28th in the league).
Next: Should the 49ers draft running back Joe Mixon?
No matter what happens, the offense should improve over last season’s improvements and fans should be very excited.