SANTA CLARA – The 49ers used to have one of the best screen passing packages in the NFL.
Jimmy Garoppolo routinely won games with the 49ers without throwing more than 10 yards downfield. He could “split” the defense by simply throwing passes behind the line of scrimmage – call them “Jimmy Gimmies.”
But Garoppolo is gone and, for the most part, so are the screens, even though the 49ers have Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing, Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo. For some reason, now that Brock Purdy is the starting quarterback, the 49ers are throwing screens less often than almost any other team.
I asked Shanahan about this trend on Wednesday.
ME: Your offense has evolved a lot over the years. With Jimmy Garoppolo you were among the leaders in fencing, and now with Brock Purdy you are among the leaders in air yards. Is that just a function of the different personnel or how the defense defends your plan?
SHANAHAN: “I think it’s both. The first thing you always look at is how you attack personnel, how you attack a defensive scheme and what they do and things like that. And no matter what you’re good at, the defense usually adapts and opens up other areas. But then you also have to do what you think players can do. I think we have good fencing players and stuff. I don’t think they are there as often as they used to be. When you have huge threats from guys on screens, there’s a lot more emphasis on guys to stop them, which might lead to other things, but it doesn’t make it easier to run the more success you have with them.
First of all, I appreciate Shanahan’s answer. He did not avoid the question. He answered as transparently as he could. He doesn’t want to call screen passes when the defense is loading up to take them away. Reasonable.
Yet Andy Reid and the Chiefs have led the NFL in screen passes each of the past two seasons, despite everyone knowing they like to throw screens.
I’m just saying.
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