Niner Noise
FanSided

3 key lessons from SF 49ers loss to Washington in Week 14

By Akshaj Dwivedula

Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk #11 of the San Francisco 49ers against free safety Deshazor Everett #22 and inside linebacker Jon Bostic #53 of the Washington Football Team (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk #11 of the San Francisco 49ers against free safety Deshazor Everett #22 and inside linebacker Jon Bostic #53 of the Washington Football Team (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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SF 49ers
Middle linebacker Fred Warner #54 of the San Francisco 49ers is attended to by team trainers (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) /

Fred Warner masks major holes in the SF 49ers defense

This is something I’m sure the SF 49ers probably knew heading in, but the game against Washington only further proved it: linebacker Fred Warner helps make this defense.

Typically, when talking about a masking agent on defense, you’re either talking about a pass-rusher who’s so uniquely dominant that they’re capable of speeding up a team’s play-clock and force them out of certain plays. The SF 49ers’ running a bevy of sweeps and end-arounds versus the LA Rams because of defesive tackle Aaron Donald lurking in the middle is a good example of that. In the second game in this year’s season series, they went back to a little more traditional action, and Donald nearly won the game for the Rams.

Another type of player who is a masking agent is the deep free safety who can erase the deep third of the field and cover sideline to sideline. Players like safeties Earl Thomas or Ed Reed in their prime, who allow corners to play aggressively because they can cover up any deep mistakes. A shutdown cornerback is like that in a way, but although they can erase a player or a zone, they don’t have the same capacity to mask a mistake from other players like a pass-rush or a deep safety can.

Warner has taken on the role of a masking agent for the SF 49ers. His pass coverage is so ridiculously good he is capable of taking away so many actions teams like to run.

Against Washington, the immediate aftermath following his injury showed exactly that. Washington immediately threw to the running back on the boundaries and tried to hit the middle with more success than they had previously. The reason being, without Warner, those typical table routes a running back run in the flat are far more likely to be successful.

Warner can clean up a bad play from the defensive line on a run and can erase mistakes in coverage. He’s just an all-around superstar. One can only hope his Week 14 injury isn’t too severe or lingering.