To understand what the San Francisco 49ers do with their ground game, it’s important to go back almost three decades to when head coach Kyle Shanahan’s father Mike was head coach of the Denver Broncos.
Denver’s run of success surely started with Hall-of-Fame running back Terrell Davis, who totaled 2,008 yards in 1998. While Davis had four 1,000-yard seasons under Shanahan, including three of 1,500 yards or more with 49 total touchdowns, he wasn’t the only one who was able to produce in the running game.
Mike Anderson had 1,487 yards and 15 TDs in 2000, a year after Olandis Gary had 1,159 yards. Then there was Clinton Portis with 1,508 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2002 and 1,591 yards and 14 scores the next season.
Heck, even Reuben Droughns rushed for 1,240 yards in 2004. Google him if you like!
The average per attempt for all those runners was between 4.5 and 5.5.
In 2012 and 2013 when Mike Shanahan was at Washington, Alfred Morris rushed for 1,613 yards and 1,275 yards while totaling 20 touchdowns.
Fast forward to the 49ers and in Kyle Shanahan’s debut 6-10 season in 2017, Carlos Hyde managed 938 yards and Matt Breida had 465. Breida had 814 in a 4-12 2018 season when, yes, Morris added 428. Those two, plus Jeff Wilson Jr. and Raheem Mostert, combined for 1,769 yards. The following year, Mostert (772), Breida (623) and Tevin Coleman (544) combined for 1,939 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.
Elijah Mitchell (963), Wilson (294) and Trey Sermon (167) totaled 1,424 in 2021.
Then came Christian McCaffrey in 2022, but this season with McCaffrey on injured reserve, Jordan Mason enters Sunday’s game with 447 yards, second-most in the league, and is averaging 4.9 per carry with three touchdowns.
Asked this week what he learned from his dad, Kyle said, “I think really just growing up and watching it and just realizing the importance of it, mainly. Just the commitment to it as a team. Not just dabbling in it, just truly growing up watching how important it was. And so when I started in football, I always believed it was one of the most important things, so I’ve always just looked at football that way. And I don’t think there’s much of a secret to it.
“First time I coached with him was in Washington. I remember always asking him, ‘What’s the secret you’re not telling me?’ And then he would just laugh at me and go, ‘The secret? There is no secret. You just get what you emphasize and you work hard at it and you hold everyone accountable.’ And that’s really what we do. And then you try to get the right runners in here. It’s not like every back could do this stuff, by no means. You’ve got to have the right backs and we’ve been fortunate to have some good ones.”
Of Mason, he said the key is “how hard he runs, that he almost always gets more than it’s blocked for. He usually goes to the right hole and hits it right, he runs violently and doesn’t slow down and runs very similar to how he did in college. He’s a very efficient, hard-running back.”
The Cardinals are obviously very aware of what they are facing Sunday.
“It’s unique in how Kyle deploys people and how they have different ways to do things,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said. “What I think they really do a good job of is counter-punches, so when you try to take something away, he gets to what he needs to get to counter-punch that. Obviously, their O-line coach (Chris Foerster) is one of the best in the business. Their running backs coach (Robert Turner Jr.) is one of the best in the business. Their receivers block, their mode of play is on point.
“They have really good players and a good scheme, but they have a lot of different things. They got their babies, but then they got a lot of change-up and counter-punches so when you try to take away something; you put assets to one spot (then) you don’t have assets to another spot. They’re really good at finding where you’re not putting assets to and attacking it.”
Asked why what they do isn’t easy replicated, Gannon said, “Probably their players, that would be the first thing. It’s a player’s game. They’ve got really good players and Kyle, like all good coaches, he continues to adapt. You see that from week to week, from year to year. He does a good job of adapting.”
Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis went deeper in the weeds than Gannon in talking about Mason and the 49ers’ approach to the run game.
“He knows how to run the different types of runs they have,” Rallis said of Mason. “The wide zone, very good at finding those. Just reading it down the line, finding those cuts. And then when he does find that seam, he is a load to bring down. He’s doing a great job right now of hitting his tracks in the run game, and when he finds that cut, he’s making it. And then he runs hard, he runs downhill. He’s a big man. So you got to do a good job of tackling and mitigating those hidden yardages because right now he’s breaking through tackles and doing a good job.”
As for how the 49ers pull it off with a variety of backs, get ready for a lesson in scheme.
“It complements very well from how they set up their wide zone and then how that can complement their inside run game,” Rallis said. “It all looks very similar to a defensive alignment. So it looks like a backside cutoff, but it’s actually now front side. Looks like a B-block, so now it’s a B-deuce. So it’s getting washed and they’re creasing you and then within the wide-zone game, they do such a good job of being able to change the points. They’re running 38, 39; is it 18, 19? How can they take advantage of two-highs where they can take the point back one, and create a short edge.
“Changing up the front-side combinations depending on what kind of front you’re in with the tight ends. They have different zorros, zeldas, sammy; like different ways that they can change up that front side. And then the way that they get the receivers involved as well. Those guys have different rules, whether it’s pushing the count: 38, 39; 18, 19, gets them involved in cracking, like big cat, wildcat, all that different stuff that they have. It syncs up very well and what they can create in wide zone is short edges and they can really capture your edge very well. So that coupled with the inside runs that complement and look the same to the defense is ultimately what they do really well.”
We all don’t have to understand what Rallis is talking about, but it shows what actually goes on during NFL games and trying to prepare for them.
The bottom line is the Cardinals will have their hands full Sunday afternoon, just like every team that faces the 49ers.
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