How can the Falcons stop 49ers’ rushing attack?

Kyle Shanahan is one of the brightest offensive minds in football, even if he is an overhyped head coach with a 36-44 record in five years. He deploys the most diverse and exotic rushing schemes in the league, and it’ll take Dean Pees’ best work to neutralize the 49ers’ run game. San Francisco is committed to running the ball, even if they’re only averaging 4.3 yards per carry, ranking 17th in the league. The 49ers rank eighth in rushing attempts (378) and yards (1,611).

Similar to the Falcons’ matchup against the Panthers, there is no secret to what each team wants to do on offense. Atlanta’s defense knows this will be a physical game, but Shanahan’s offense will test their mental capabilities just as much. It is a lot of eye candy and window dressing to get defenders confused. Staying disciplined against this rushing attack will be critical to the defense’s success.

The Seahawks had a lot of success defending the 49ers, and there are strategies the Falcons could replicate. Rich Madrid of Niners Nation did a wonderfully insightful breakdown of how crowding the line of scrimmage and loading the box with defenders in different ways can stifle San Fran’s rushing attack.

Bear 3-0-3 front

The defensive linemen in a 3-0-3 technique alignment with the defensive ends in a 3-technique shaded outside the offensive guard’s outside shoulder and the nose tackle in a 0-technique heads-up position over the center.

The bear front has two main objectives: 1) create 1-on-1s with a five-man pass rush and 2) clog the interior of the offense in the run game by preventing linemen from double team blocking defenders or from reaching the second level. This is particularly problematic in the zone running scheme.

On Sunday, the Seahawks employed the 3-0-3 front on numerous occasions, preventing the 49ers from getting to the edge in the wide zone scheme and limiting the big chunk play runs we’ve grown accustomed to from a Shanahan offense…

 

Under front

Another way the Seahawks like to keep their second-level defenders clean is by playing an under front, the front that made the Seattle 4-3 cover-3 scheme famous, and one 49er fans would be familiar with under Robert Saleh.

In an under front, the defensive line sets a 1-technique defensive tackle and a 5-technique defensive end (the “big” end) to the tight end side. On the weak side, the front is home to the LEO, or weak-side defensive end is aligned outside the tackle in the 5-technique. This front can also look like a 3-4 defense with the strong side SAM linebacker walked up on the line of scrimmage in a 2-point stance.

The Seahawks will play Al Woods (No. 99) as the big end in their under front. Playing Woods at the big end position allowed the Seahawks to control the B-gap bubble and allowed their second-level defenders to stay clean and roam to the open gaps to make plays. The 49ers typically stayed away from the strong side runs when Woods was aligned to the tight end side. This did not work well for them.

The Falcons don’t have the exact personnel to replicate these schemes identically; after all, Jamal Adams is one of the most impactful safeties in the game against the run. However, that shouldn’t stop the Falcons from meshing similar tendencies and alignments with their own scheme to limit the 49ers’ run game.