As we’ve been doing for several years now, we’ll break down the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponent each week, telling you what to expect from a scheme and individual standpoint. Like last year, Josh Carney and I will cover the opposing team’s defense. I will focus on the scheme, Josh on the players.
To kick things off for 2023, the San Francisco 49ers’ offense.
ALEX’S SCHEME REPORT
49ers Run Game
The bread and butter of their offense, it’s consistently been one of the NFL’s strongest rushing attacks. Last year, their 504 rushing attempts ranked ninth in the NFL while their 4.7 yards per carry tied for eighth. They scored 20 times on the ground, fifth in football.
I spent most of my time tape-wise watching the 49ers’ preseason and of course, Christian McCaffrey didn’t see action. They needed to keep him healthy for Week One. Acquired in a trade with Carolina last year, he made an immediate impact. In 11 games, he averaged 14.4 rushes per game and 4.7 receptions per game with four receiving touchdowns, a dual threat of the highest order. He will play a majority of the snaps.
But he’s hardly the only one involved in the run game. WR Deebo Samuel is one of the most unique offensive weapons in the NFL as a runner and receiver. Last year, he carried the ball 42 times with three rushing touchdowns. Two-thirds of his carries came on first and 10 and only two of them came inside the opponent’s 10 yard-line. Watch out for Samuel on early downs between the 20s.
Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, whose name I’ll never learn how to spell, logged 522 offensive snaps a year ago. Their ability to move him around the core of the formation makes it hard to declare 21 personnel against. He can be a traditional fullback but often aligns standing up in the slot. Defenses can play their base formations against this, but linebackers have to be prepared to cover. Perhaps Pittsburgh will use some of its three-safety “big nickel” looks against Juszczyk and their tight ends like George Kittle.
Schematically, it’s a majority zone-based one. They most often run it to the field side and interestingly, they often run weakside away from the tight end, especially out of two-back sets with their fullback. Try to run away from defensive numbers and still benefit with the lead blocker. Examples.
When they run their gap scheme, it’s more often to the boundary side with the backside guard and tight end pulling on counter runs.
In short-yardage situations, they run man/duo schemes to plow ahead and move the sticks or put the ball in the end zone.
In 2022, they ranked ninth with 61 runs of 10 or more yards.
Some other offensive stats. Last year, they ranked sixth in points per game at 26.5. They finished highly on third down at 45 percent, fifth in the league, though their red zone percentage was surprisingly low at 17th in the league, 54 percent. The driving reason for their success was the fact they took great care of the ball. No one had a better turnover ratio than the 49ers’ plus-13 while their 17 offensive giveaways were third fewest in the NFL.
49ers Pass Game
Despite a serious elbow injury in last year’s NFC Championship Game, Brock Purdy’s rehab went well, and he’ll start this weekend. A rookie gem last season, he won every game he started (and finished) and while the 49ers’ scheme certainly helped, Purdy’s numbers were good. He completed over 67 percent of his throws, threw 13 touchdowns, and had just four picks. He didn’t just manage the game either. He threw multiple touchdowns in every regular-season game he started and had an 8.1 yards per attempt, which would’ve tied Patrick Mahomes had Purdy qualified with enough attempts, though scheme had an impact here, too. The 49ers tied the Chiefs for the highest YAC per reception last year at 6.6, more than 2.5 yards higher than Pittsburgh’s 4.0 mark.
It’s worth noting of Purdy’s four interceptions, three of them came on first and 10 (the other on fourth down). All four were considered deep shots by NFL standards, plays of 15-plus yards downfield. As a unit, the 49ers ranked higher in explosive pass plays than run plays, and their 56 completions of 20 or more yards ranked seventh in the league.
The weapons who return are all familiar. Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk (one of the more underrated receivers, if not players, in football) and TE George Kittle. Aiyuk went over the 1,000-yard mark last year with eight touchdowns while Kittle found the end zone 11 times despite just 60 receptions. His scores finished second among all tight end behind Travis Kelce’s 12 and Kelce had 110 receptions. For Kelce, he caught a TD once every 9.2 receptions. For Kittle, it was once every 5.5.
The “Big Three” were the team’s top red zone targets. Aiyuk and Kittle tied with 15 targets while Samuel had 13. Aiyuk had seven of his scores there while Kittle had six (Samuel only had one).
Turning on the tape, the 49ers weren’t scared to come out throwing with Purdy. They wanted to be aggressive and get him reps to see how he looked, and he played well overall. In Week Two against the Denver Broncos, the 49ers threw on their first three plays. They came out with a similar script in the finale against the Los Angeles Chargers.
A staple of Shanahan’s offense, the boot game is a big part of their short passing game. The zone runs and the bootlegs look the same. Alert the Y tight end being off for split flow action, though you still gotta figure out if it’s run or pass.
The 49ers have no problem going to their left on boots too. That’s how they opened up the game against Denver with Samuel flowing across. Alert reduced splits for this type of action.
A lot of the 49ers’ passing game is West Coast. Five- and seven-step drops from under center. Plenty of true split backs. Lots of crossing routes over the middle like these all-slant combination routes. Alert these on first and 10 or second and 10-plus. Quick hitters to get back into more manageable situations.
Alert screen game on second and long. second and 7, second and 10. Variety of them. Tight end screens, running back screens, wide receiver screens (stacks are an alert for the latter). One final interesting note. Didn’t see their backs stay in and protect much, even against blitz threats. The team seems to prefer to hit the back hot in the flat than have him protect, probably because McCaffrey is better off catching the ball than eating up a blitzer. But if the rush can get home, Purdy could be in trouble, especially if you’re able to roll coverage down and take the hot in the flat away. Example.
Josh’s Individual Report
It’s 49ers week, Steelers fans!
Just like that, the start of the 2023 regular season is here, and it brings a juicy matchup for Pittsburgh at home against the loaded San Francisco 49ers.
Two second-year quarterbacks going at it in Brock Purdy and Kenny Pickett, two elite-level head coaches in Mike Tomlin and Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers offense will be a significant test for the Steelers right away in 2023, and it might be the best offense Pittsburgh faces all season long.
While the offense centers around the work that running back Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel can do with the football in their hands, the 49ers offense really took off late in the season once Purdy was inserted into the starting lineup due to injury in Week 12 against the Miami Dolphins.
The 49ers didn’t lose with Purdy as the starter until he got injured against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. When he was on the field, he orchestrated Shanahan’s system quite well, throwing with good touch and accuracy, with anticipation being a strong suit in his game.
He knew where guys were supposed to be, and he did a good job of cutting the ball loose to give his playmakers a chance.
Purdy throws into space and areas of the field quite well, leading his receivers and letting them run to the football. He did a really good job in his starts reading defenses, seeing where weaknesses and opening would be, and exploiting them.
While Purdy really helped the 49ers offense take off in the second half of the season, they were an entirely different animal once Christian McCaffrey hit the field following a trade with the Carolina Panthers.
When healthy, McCaffrey is arguably the best dual-threat running back in the NFL. He can run inside and outside, has great vision and sneaky good power, and has elite-level hands for the position.
It helps that he gets some great blocking overall in San Francisco, especially in a run-game scheme that is multiple, going between outside zone and power.
Adding that home run hitter and elite-level talent in McCaffrey makes the 49ers all the more dangerous. They can do anything they want to when he is on the field.
San Francisco has always been a good screen team under Shanahan because of the way he’s able to scheme it up, hide intentions and create a ton of space overall.
Having McCaffrey as the running back in the screen game is a cheat code.
So, too, is wide receiver Deebo Samuel. They can hand the football to him as a running back, scheme up ways to get him open in space and let him run after the catch and simply take over ball games, too.
Look at the space created by San Francisco on this play-action fake.
Great blocking downfield, too, leading to the house call.
That’s what Mike Tomlin talks about with tackling being the key and defending space well. Seattle didn’t defend space well in the Wild-Card Round loss last season.
It’s hard to defend all that space when there are so many weapons offensively. McCaffrey and Samuel are the headliners, but tight end George Kittle is an elite piece, while No. 2 wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is a strong route runner who has taken his game to a new level in the last year or so.
Kittle is a force in the middle of the field, one whom Purdy trusts immensely. Once Purdy took over as the starter, he turned to Kittle quite a bit. Shanahan does a good job of putting Kittle in position to win over the middle, whether that’s on an over route, or a skinny post.
He’s very good at the top of his stem, too, creating ample separation in his routes.
Aiyuk is a major weapon, too. The 49ers do a good job of utilizing him off of play-action, where he’s able to run away from defenders and find the soft spots in the defense, making for easy throws into space for Purdy.
Along with Aiyuk, the 49ers have a physical wide receiver in Jauan Jennings, who is a good blocker and does a good job winning downfield. Rookie Ronnie Bell is an intriguing piece, too, one who brings real toughness and run-after-catch abilities to the table.
Former Steeler Ray-Ray McCloud had a sizeable role for the 49ers last season, too. Though he’s banged up entering Sunday’s game, if he’s able to go he’s going to get some touches in space.
Can’t forget about 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, either. He’s a dynamic piece for whom the 49ers try and generate touches. Powerful guy between the tackles, great blocker overall and has dependable hands in the passing game.
Up front, the 49ers have the best offensive lineman in football in left tackle Trent Williams. He’s a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer, and he’s impacted the Niners in a positive way since coming over from Washington a few years ago.
He will completely negate anything on his side of the field one-on-one, so the Steelers will have to get creative with games they run rushing the passer.
The rest of the offensive line is a question mark. Left guard Aaron Banks is a solid run blocker, but he still has issues in pass protection and needs help at times. Center Jake Brendel had ups and downs last season and was better as a pass blocker than a run blocker.
Right guard Spencer Burford really struggled last season in 744 snaps, grading out at a 49.6 overall from Pro Football Focus. He allowed four sacks, 16 pressures and was called for five penalties last season.
He’ll be getting used to a new right tackle this year, too, after the Niners lost Mike McGlinchey to Denver in free agency. That would be Colton McKivitz. Though he’s an experienced offensive lineman, McKivitz is moving to right tackle full time this season.
Tough test out of the gate with T.J. Watt opposite him.
On special teams, punter Mitch Wishnowsky is a solid punter overall. He averaged 43.9 yards per punt last season, dropped 32 punts inside the 20-yard line and allowed just 17 returns on 61 punts.
McCloud will serve as the kick and punt returner, but if he’s not able to go after being limited earlier in the week with injuries, Bell will be the return man on kicks and punts. He was dangerous in college at Michigan in that area.
Rookie Jake Moody is expected to be the kicker this season for the 49ers, but he’s been dealing with a quad injury that occurred in the preseason and had him limited during the week. The 49ers have former Steeler Matthew Wright on the practice squad. He could be a practice squad elevation for the Week One matchup if Moody can’t go.
