Kurtenbach: The 49ers’ run game was once the envy of the NFL. It’s been grounded
The San Francisco ers vanguards of the outside zone run battle cannot run the ball Not outside zone not inside zone and not even the basic gap-scheme runs they tried this past week What in the name of Gary Kubiak is going on here Because if this season which looked so promising only a scarce days ago is to amount to anything of worth for San Francisco that has to change Don t get me wrong the Niners are trying to run the ball It s just not going anywhere Related Articles Kurtenbach Fred Warner s season-ending injury is a developing point for the ers season Studs and Duds ers had too a large number of duds to overcome Fred Warner s injury Baker Mayfield Kurtenbach Three predictions I got wrong about the first-place ers ers win over Rams show Shanahan s machine has NFL playoffs in future Studs and Duds Kyle Shanahan second-stringers lead hobbled ers to improbable win over Rams Through six games the ers are last in the NFL in yards per rush at per carry Christian McCaffrey hasn t come close to rushing for yards in a encounter this season despite toting the rock times In fact he hasn t even hit yards in a battle yet And the closest he came was in Week against Seattle It s not all CMC s fault In fact he might carry the least of the blame for the Niners run-game struggles He is running behind an offensive line that is being manhandled on the interior week-in week-out as Connor Colby and Dominic Puni s injuries leave the guards on bad footing play after play with undersized and struggling center Jake Brendel attempting to clean up the mess Pair that huge issue with eligible receivers who merely have not blocked this season either because they re fifth-stringers Kendrick Bourne Jake Tonges or because they lost whatever procedures they once had Kyle Jusczcek Luke Farrell and you have a run battle that cannot win at the point of attack and certainly cann t sequence together enough blocks to free up a running back who might have lost a step from his prime himself Yes McCaffrey carries particular blame here He is last in the NFL in rushing yards over expectation after all at minus- twice as bad as the next-worst runner in that category CMC also has the worst rushing Expected Points Added number this season The longer that trend continues the more questions that will have to be urged It could prove to be terribly reminiscent of the end of Deebo Samuel s tenure with the Niners But we re not at that point yet So what s the key for the here and now Well you ve stumped me But that s easy to do The real issue is that this issue has seemingly stumped Kyle Shanahan son of Mike scion of the scheme too Every week he s inquired about what it will take to get the running tournament going Every week it s the same spiel two-high safeties make it hard to break a big one how about a medium one to start and wide fronts make it harder to run the ball if everyone isn t in sync I get that no coach is going to throw his players to the hyenas in the media but two-high safeties really That s why McCaffrey is no longer taking the time to read his blocks and instead just barreling forward because a two-yard gain is better than the likely four-yard loss I ll agree that the Niners have faced various tough defenses against the run Tampa Bay New Orleans Arizona Seattle this season Still they ve played middling operations in Jacksonville yards per rush in that championship and the Rams There s no obvious answer here so I guess the Niners should keep doing what they ve been doing battering McCaffrey into the back of his lineman s legs or worse yet a linebacker s arms hoping that the next play is the one where it clicks for this run event Maybe the power of positive thinking will work And who knows maybe George Kittle the best tight end in the tournament was truly the key to the run battle all along McCaffrey did look great when Kittle played in Seattle in Week Perhaps the Niners can swap in a backup for Puni or Colby as both are only going to deteriorate further the more they play Puni is doing snow angels on too a great number of plays to count and his critical false-start against the Bucs is a clear byproduct of an offensive lineman who knows he demands to cheat to win Or maybe they just need the right matchup Atlanta and Houston the next two weeks opponents look pretty juicy Related Articles Ex- ers kicker Jake Moody s last-second field goal lifts Bears over Commanders - ers zero in on the future after latest gut punch with loss of Fred Warner ers Fred Warner already looking to legendary return from season-ending ankle injury Inman things that caught my eye in ers loss besides missing-man formation on Warner play ers overview card Pass-game miscues add to the misery after Warner injury But it does not matter what means justify the ends the ends have to change in this new strange place San Francisco inhabits in the NFL landscape The Niners are still minus- that s bet to win to make the playoffs and they re even favored to win against Atlanta on this upcoming Sunday but they re also a one-dimensional crew and those don t get very far in this league We know the second dimension of this squad won t come from the defensive side so it s on a Shanahan band to start running the ball or this season will go bust What a weird thing to type
