And on top of that, it's not their game. Yeah, that's a great idea. Completely get away from what you've been doing all year and primarily play a coverage that you haven't played before in the Super Bowl.

Fellas, I think a lot of the prognosticators are right: This game is going to be decided by the defensive line.

Only thing is, they're all thinking about the wrong defensive line.

Clark, Suggs, Jones along with the Hungry Pigs (Pennel, Nnadi, Saunders) and Kpass are going to dictate and dominate.

With this offense, KC may not see a 3rd down for the entire 1st half.

:thumb: Spot on. The Chiefs D line is not getting any respect. I think they are going to pummel Jimmy Grapes into several crucial mistakes.

We know he can't handle pressure, he gets jumpy feet and coughs the ball up.

Except, all we heard was that the Jags had an edge over us since it was warm weather. It never gets hot in Missouri. :rolleyes:

It's funny how if you look around 49ers fans think they're team is disrespected it's weird how everyone plays that angle.

The 9ers aren't going to come out playing man. They don't have the horses to even try the Pats gameplan. And that sort of defense pretty much runs contrary to everything the Seattle Scheme does, you don't just upend everything you do on defense for the Superbowl.

It's pretty funny. And it's not just about the DL, it's about the matchup of the DL.

The Chiefs primarily play 3 DEs these days (Clark, Suggs, Kpassagnon) and all are excellent at setting the edge and hold up well against the run. Jones, when used there, also sets the edge well. That's the exact type of DE you need/want against a zone run scheme. Disciplined ends who set the edge and defend the run well. Hell, even Demone Harris has been solid against the run when playing.

And then on the interior, in Pennel and Nnadi and Saunders, you have big guys who can hold their gaps and fill but who ALSO have enough athleticism to hold their gap and get a piece of the RB in there. Same with Jones, who is now playing disciplined football.

The 49ers have a great running scheme and good blocking talent. They present a challenge. This DL is well-situated to meet it.

And if the front is holding up well and keeping the second level clean, it makes it easier for Spagnuolo to go to his 3-safety nickel D and use Fuller deep, with Sorenson and Mathieu in the box.

I really like the matchup of using Sorenson as basically a WLB against the base sets, as long as the DL is winning. Gives them a better matchup in chasing the zone plays and also a better matchup if the 49ers throw.

For sure the KC defense is being slept on. Interesting to note that Xavier Williams has gotten more snaps than Saunders in the past two games. We've got D E P T H at the Hungry Pig position. Fatty fatigue won't be a factor on the interior Dline.

This game comes down to our o line vs their D line. Fisher has a chance to make Bosa his bitch

We keep hearing how great the SF defense is and KC's gets ignored, despite the fact it took them 10 games to gel KC gave up fewer points on the season.

Great point by Dan Orlovsky yesterday. It doesn’t matter what the 49ers cone out with. Pat has a cheat sheet.

All he has to do is line up Kelce outside and it will tell what the 49ers are running. They can try to switch it up after the snap, but thay won’t work well with how much speed we have.

And if they want to play man coverage on Kelce with a LB or DB, then we’ll happily take that mismatch every time.

I actually like his analysis but his conclusion just goes way the !@#$ off the rails, IMO.

Yeah, that's a really smart gameplan - crowd the line with 5, send 4 to confuse the blockign and leave a 5th as something of a spy to cover outlet passes and/or Mahomes legs. If you can get pressure, you can make things difficult. Especially if that 5th guy also has the freedom to attack if Mahomes starts to try to extend the play.

But shit, where's he get the "well it's obviously just gonna shut the Chiefs down" from? It never has before. And yes, the 49er DL is better than the Patriots but the Patriots secondary is better than the 49ers.

He had a lot of interesting information throughout that series but in the end just could not avoid a temptation to hot-take the shit out of it. Why? Couldn't tell ya.

His own analysis doesn't support his conclusion. It's just...odd.

****, i love Tyreek as a player but dude can be so cringe worthy sometimes. His Mahomes impersonation, his "marking his territory" celebration....this interview.

It's a really weird take.

1/2 of the Patriots formula was running a bunch of stunts and twists up front with the DL and crowding the line and muddying up who was coming and who was dropping. The 49ers could do some of that and drop Ford or Bosa or even Armstead into a short zone (though their 43 DEs are not as versatile as the 34 OLBs the Patriots were working with).

The other 1/2 of the formula was having the secondary skill, speed, and depth to match up across the board in man. If I remember correctly, Gilmore primarily covered Kelce man-to-man in that game, and they used the McCourtys to bracket Hill, with Jones covering Watkins and 4th CB matched up on Conley.

First problem for the 49ers is they don't have that type of talent or depth at CB.

Second problem for the 49ers is that the Chiefs have gotten a lot more dangerous at WR with the addition of Hardman. A team trying to play a coverage scheme similar to the one above would have to face the adjustment of the Chiefs putting Hardman on the field. Then either Watkins or Hardman is working solo against a 3rd or 4th coverage guy, and you likely have a single high safety. You're going to be able to force that high safety to pick one. Hardman just destroys angles (even when the pursuit is from Adoree Jackson, one of the fastest corners in the league), and Watkins is so dangerous after the catch, too.

Oh, and then you have a speedy RB out of the backfield to deal with, too. Who is certainly drawing coverage from a LB at this point.

So yeah, that Patriots model works. If you can man up and prevent quick wins from the Chiefs WR. And if you someone in the secondary who can single-cover Kelce and not get pwned. And if you have the depth to stick actual good coverage guys who can run on Watkins and Hardman.