Why the 49ers’ offense isn’t relying on YAC this season

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Trailing in the fourth quarter of a Year 2 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk found himself working separately for a potential game-winning landing.

With more than four minutes left, a 52-yard touchdown would have sealed the 49ers’ victory. As quarterback Brock Purdy continued his growth, he saw Aiyuk, prepared to throw to him, but decided against it.

Later, struggling a bit, Purdy settled for a total of 5 yards to wide receiver Jauan Jennings. Purdy didn’t throw it because the Rams broke down a defense, Aiyuk improvised while directing it, and Purdy wasn’t a little sure where the deep defense was as he waited to let it fly.

A lot has been made up of that forgotten opportunity, but there’s one more important takeaway: It might be the only clean, deep ball Purdy has left uninjured in the past.

San Francisco’s offense, long known as the home of Yards Next Catch (YAC), remains one of the most productive and fruitful systems in the league (the red zone struggles to separate itself). Therefore, he will appear in six weeks more this season than in the age.

The offense has uncovered more individual defenses and the defenses have left more defenders on defense. Because of this, Purdy has been forced to try harder and throw deep into tight windows as defenses are crowding passing lanes and sending fewer attackers.

“I feel like there may be an issue of man coverage and trying to play one-on-one football,” Purdy said. “We see it more and more to catch the man. And then for us, what does that mean? We just have to beat the guy in front of us and then for me, as a quarterback, I have to be precise with the ball and “We have to execute. That’s football at its finest.”

The age of six games is not enough to determine whether the way the Niners are performing offensively is additional growth or a twist of fate depending on the opponent, it probably won’t be a surprise to see this decline further afterwards. from the Tremendous Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas Town Chiefs in February.

“The NFL is a complete copycat league, 100%,” tight end George Kittle said. “And when you have the Chiefs, they had success against us with man coverage. They did a really good job with that on us. And then teams say, ‘Hey, let’s try that too until you can beat us.’…No “Every team can do it because they don’t have the guys to do it, but I’ve definitely seen more male coverage (this year).”

The Chiefs will face the 49ers again this weekend in a Super Bowl rematch (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox). When asked today what the advantages are to playing with so many guys against the 49ers in particular, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo noted that the offense has been too good against the zone.

“I just think their system is designed so that they can really expose zone coverage, and yet I think they have enough skill that if they don’t have the right people covering their guys, that can be a challenge as well.” .

In the Super Bowl, the Chiefs played man defense on 73.2% of free rushers, the second-most Purdy has faced since taking over as the starter in 2022, second only to last season’s loss to the Cleveland Browns . It was an increase of more than 20% in men’s defense over what Kansas Town played in the regular season.

The multi-man contest plan allowed the Chiefs to clog the middle of the field with defenders, eliminating one of the vital shots the 49ers love. That gave Spagnuolo the opportunity to wait until the fourth quarter to make charges from all angles.

“I thought last year was the best defense we played all year,” 49ers guard Kyle Shanahan said of the Chiefs’ protection. “And I feel that way this year so far… I have a lot of respect for him and his plan.”

So far this season, 49ers fighters (with the exception of the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks) have adopted the swimsuit.

The 49ers have faced 47.4% man protection on their free backs, up from the 41.8% they saw last season, and the Fighters have asked both outside cornerbacks to put pressure on the scrimmage series, the sixth most in the league.

To make matters even more complicated, Purdy and the 49ers have consistently taken out seven or more defensive backs. That includes a league-high 23 dropbacks in which three or fewer runners were sent to Purdy.

“They are very aware of our team and the threats we have and I think they are doing a very good job of playing very tight and having two or three players on each ball carrier,” Kittle said.

There was a significant drop in YAC for a team that has ranked at or near the league lead in each and every last one since Shanahan took over in 2017. It then rounded out third place in the NFL in YAC/en total in 2023 (6.4 yards), the 49ers have fallen to 30th in the league with 4.2 yards.

What has been accomplished is gathering more opportunities for Purdy to go out and work (26 quick attempts for 127 yards and then complete with 39 for 144 last season) or to keep the ball longer by moving and looking for bulky plays to punt. until the pasture becomes unwell.

“For me it’s more about keeping a work alive,” Purdy said. “I’m not going into a game saying, ‘Okay, I’m going to hold the ball longer and try to make something happen.’ The question is how can I be efficient, help the offensive line, get the ball out of their hands? and do my job?”

That explains why Purdy spends the most weeks in region (2.8 seconds), before throwing (3.17 seconds) and before being sacked (5.93 seconds) of any certified quarterback in the NFL. . It’s also why his 9.5 yards of wind per fight also dominates the league. All of which are a significant increase from the 2.48 seconds in the region, 2.88 seconds to pass, 4.31 seconds to catch, and 8.0 yards of wind/fight since 2023.

It also puts more force into the offensive series to provide coverage for longer, something that would seem easier with fewer pass rushers to deal with, but eventually proves difficult when Purdy attacks and leaves the area.

“There’s just that hole, and… watching a game, we’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s a three-man race. It’s going to take some time,'” offensive series educator Chris Foerster said. “And suddenly I wonder, why does he keep running and why doesn’t he throw the ball?” “That’s what happens.”

Christian McCaffrey’s lack of work (Achilles tendinitis) also contributes. While Jordan Mason has performed admirably in the run competition, he also doesn’t threaten defenses as much when it comes to home run speed or passing competition. McCaffrey averaged 4.2 receptions in the contest last season, while Mason has eight receptions in six games.

“When Christian is out there, it’s easier in everything you do,” Shanahan said. “You know defenses understand how good he is one-on-one, so… you hope there are two people there, which helps you in other places.”

In fact, when teams paid close attention to McCaffrey out of the backfield, he often spread the middle of the field for Kittle and receivers Aiyuk, Jennings and Deebo Samuel Sr. to do damage.

Those opportunities had been harder to find. The Niners pass catchers average just 2.83 yards split in the week the ball arrives, which is close to the league, and is down from the 3.55 yards they averaged in 2023.

That has put the onus on Purdy to put more balls into tight windows, something he has attempted to do at the best possible rate in the league with 7.2 tight window attempts per contest, double what he did last season.

Despite all that, Purdy remains the NFL’s fifth leader in QBR (70.3), passing yards (1,629), yards per fight (8.8) and total ratio above expectations (5.2%). If Purdy continues to put up big numbers and McCaffrey returns, it will be harder to lock down the 49ers and they will return to the YAC.

“There are jobs where we’ve had the opportunity to do YAC,” Kittle said. “We have individual guys that can play a little better and I think we’re going to continue to play better, but I think it’s going to open up… and eventually we’ll get it back.”