Breaking down the San Francisco 49ers' disappointing loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6
Having already covered the Cincinnati Bengals' early-season struggles on offense and power rankings at the quarter-pole of the NFL season among other topics, this is the right time to really dive into one of the major games from this past weekend.
The San Francisco 49ers traveled to Atlanta in Week 6 hoping to register their third straight win of the season, but ultimately fell to a 28-14 drubbing.
The Falcons started brightly and scored the first 14 points of the game, and maintained their momentum throughout to seal a rather comfortable victory and improve to 3-3 for the season.
This article will look at the factors that impacted the game:
49ers Offense vs. Falcons Defense
The Falcons deservedly won this game, but things could have looked very different at the start. On the initial third down of the day for San Francisco’s offense, Jimmy Garoppolo was gun-shy when he could’ve hit George Kittle for a 66-yard touchdown.
They showed a simple spacing concept out of a bunch set and I’m not totally sure if Kittle just decided to take it vertical because of something they had discussed in team meetings or if this was by design. He got up, with the safety having outside leverage, but he ended up throwing that guy off himself as the deep middle safety worked his way up.
So if Jimmy G had stepped up and put it out in front of Kittle, the score would've been 7-7. It's clear Garoppolo puts a lid on this passing attack and makes everything feel more condensed, relying heavily on his playmakers to create yards after the catch.
That’s not a bad formula, looking at the guys they have, but it makes things so much easier for a defense, when they are allowed to constantly play with their eyes in the backfield and working up rather than gaining depth.
A look at how aggressively Atlanta was shooting through gaps explains how they held the Niners to a season-low 50 yards on the ground on 16 attempts. Yet, that’s when the 49ers need to be able to rely upon Jimmy to take advantage of the space that provides his receivers to work with.
Brandon Aiyuk finally had his breakout game, hauling in eight passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Kyle Shanahan needs to continue to utilize him heavily, considering what he can do on designed touches.
The Falcons defense played with a ton of energy and clearly were instructed by defensive coordinator Dean Pees to attack downhill as soon as they saw the Niners O-line step forward, as well as meet pullers as early as possible and not allow extra gaps to develop in the first place.
When not getting called for phantom roughing the passer penalties, Grady Jarrett has been an absolute monster for this Falcons defense, making a couple of disruptive plays every week. A problem early on in his career was lining him up a lot as the 1-technique, but it made a lot of sense in this matchup.
From there, he was able to create penetration right up the A-gap and do a great job either riding first-year center Jake Brendel down the line on the backside or working over the top late, as the ball-carrier approached, to hold him up.
Atlanta played a ton of single-high coverage, daring the 49ers to attack them on the perimeter, while blowing up several screen passes on the day. The growth these young guys continue to show is impressive. It’s a long process, but this was certainly encouraging going up against a very creative offensive scheme.
Falcons Offense vs. 49ers Defense
A stat I just loved from the Falcons offense on Sunday was that they used 11, 12, 13, 21 and 22 personnel on over 10 percent of snaps. They do so much window-dressing and are able to be very diverse regardless of personnel on the field. This allows them to dictate the defensive package they’ll be facing or adjust depending on how opponents try to match them.
They can use guys like Kyle Pitts, who finally scored his first touchdown as an NFL player in the US, out wide as a legit X receiver or put him in-line and force a sub-200 pound nickelback to fill the C-gap.
Atlanta stay true to their identity, no matter who they have toting the rock. They had two rookies – fifth-round pick Tyler Allgeier and undrafted free agent Caleb Huntley – carry the ball 15 and 16 times respectively. All the guys they have back there, especially once they get back Cordarelle Patterson, run hard and gain yards through contact.
They’re now No. 3, behind only the Browns and Bears, with 165.2 rushing yards per game and they’ve only failed to reach 150 once (90 vs the Rams).
That O-line has really impressed with its ability to create movement laterally on wide zone schemes and its burst to secure linebackers off combos. Right tackle Kaleb McGary has gone from fringe starter to somebody they can utilize as a key piece, like they did a couple of times kicking out the corner on crack toss plays.
They were able to create some favorable looks off play-action and when they did actually drop back, Arthur Smith did a great job of clearing out the picture with motions and horizontal stretches, along with giving Marcus Mariota a back-side alert, where he could hit Drake London on back-shoulder fades, which are borderline indefensible.
They also got a couple of easy conversions with Olamide Zaccheus out in the flats, with Kyle Pitts picking for him. Of course his legs can also be a big factor, as he kept three times and was able to get around the corner, once for the touchdown to go up 21-14 just before halftime, and then a huge scramble right up the middle to convert a third-and-12.
There’s really not that much to say about the 49ers defense. A couple of times early in the game, they were able to crush the pocket and take down Mariota, but they were just banged up and tired, with their opponents running the ball 40 times.
They did hold the Falcons to 4.2 yards per carry and below 3.5 if you take out Mariota, and it’s not like they’ll need to match full house sets with two full-backs in any other games this season.
Charvarius Ward getting banged up in the first half, along with just having lost Emmanuel Moseley for the rest of the year, forced them to put a lot of young guys on the field, when they really needed to use their other resources to stop the run and put those guys in tough matchups.
Not having Jimmie Ward was a problem, considering how comfortable defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans has been with letting the other safety attack forward and how tremendous Talanoa Hufanga has been playing with a mindset to trigger as soon as his eyes tell him to.
One of San Francisco’s two sacks was for zero yards and they were able to create negative yardage on just two of the other 54 plays. Going against an offense that is constantly ahead or at least on schedule is very hard for a defense. Not having their best guy at setting the edge and simultaneously at turning the corner in passing situations with Nick Bosa wasn’t helpful in that regard either.
Staying healthy will be key for the 49ers
The Niners are certainly a very banged-up team, but Arthur Smith deserves plaudits for being able to put up 21 points in the first half and then close out the game in the second.
Marcus Mariota had an ultra-efficient day, completing 13 of 14 pass attempts for 129 yards and two TDs, along with another 50 yards and a score on six carries. He didn’t throw the ball more than 20 times in any of Atlanta’s three wins.
At a time where teams rely on three-wide receiver sets and two-high shells defensively, Atlanta are going the exact opposite way and punishing teams for giving them favorable looks to run against.
The defense is pressuring the passer on a league-low 12.2% of dropbacks and only the Titans have recorded fewer tackles for loss (19), but Dean Pees has a great feel for when and how to change up the picture, while having everybody pursue the ball with relentless effort.
Flipping things around, being able to overcome injuries and getting some key players back will be key for the 49ers. It remains to be seen when Football Outsiders will release their in-season rankings of adjusted games lost to injury, but FOX’s Sports Doc Matt currently has them dead-last in B.U.S. (banged-up score).
When they get back Trent Williams at left tackle and Elijah Mitchell as their primary running back, that run game will kick into gear, but in matchups like this past Sunday, Jimmy G has to be able to make those big throws down the field.
Two positives for their offense – the protection was clean throughout the day, allowing Jimmy G to hang back there at the top of his drop on several occasions, and George Kittle is back to looking like a monster-truck rumbling through defenders in his path.
The defense will need their young corners to step up with Moseley out for the year, but the 49ers should not be too concerned with some key contributors slated to return soon.