49ers news: Breaking down the 6 sacks surrendered against the Vikings

When you look at the box score and see the San Francisco 49ers gave up six sacks, you immediately blame the offensive line for each one.

To the naked eye, quarterback Brock Purdy seemed to be running for his life against the Minnesota Vikings after defensive coordinator Brian Flores put together a masterful game plan.

Kyle Shanahan explained how blaming the line for all six sacks is unfair. Kyle said, “You’ve got to look at all the sacks.” Let’s do that and explain why, in the game of football, not everything necessarily needs to end in a “fault.”

Sack No. 1 – Take what the defense gives you

The 49ers ran a packaged play to begin the second quarter at midfield. After sending Deebo Samuel in motion, Jordan Mason was the lead blocker for a potential swing screen. Backup tight end Eric Saubert, lined up as the tight end to the right side of the formation, runs deep in case the defense jumps Samuel on the screen pass.

George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk are lined up as receivers in condensed splits. To the top of the screen, Kittle runs a slant while Aiyuk runs an “over the ball” route.

Brock is reading the weak hook defender. If he stays put, Purdy can throw the swing pass to Deebo. If the defender widens with Deebo, he can throw the over-the-ball route. For whatever reason, Purdy comes off Aiyuk too early and then goes to Kittle as his next read. The down safety, Harrison Smith (No. 22), was right there to take the throw to Kittle away, so he couldn’t go in that direction.

From there, Purdy fled the pocket before running into a sack. From the time of the snap to the time he was sacked, it was 4.6 seconds.

Verdict: On the quarterback.

Sack No. 2: No harm, no foul

When you look at all the sacks and see six, it looks devasting, as if they were the reasons the 49ers didn’t score on that possession. But this “sack” resulted in a loss of zero.

The Vikings are playing the 49ers as if they’re in 12 personnel. Kyle Juszczyk — technically a fullback but has lined up as an inline tight end on half of his snaps through two games — goes in motion from one side of the formation to the other.

Shanahan runs a “smash” concept, with Brandon Aiyuk occupying the cornerback on a five-yard curl. That leaves Deebo enough space and a throwing lane for a corner route. We’ve seen the underneath cornerback sink off the curl route and easily make that interception, so I won’t fault Purdy for not attempting the throw. Charvarius Ward nearly had an interception last week against the Jets on a similar play in the fourth quarter.

The center looks like he’s about to do a push-up, which is never ideal. Jordan Mason does a great job of blocking the blitzing linebacker, but bodies on the turf set off Purdy’s internal clock, so he scrambles.

The result of the play is no different than an incompletion after Brock’s pump fake allows him to get back to the line of scrimmage. No harm, no foul.

Verdict: Nobody’s fault

Sack No. 3: Checkdowns are your friend

When talking through the sacks, Shanahan said, “I believe one was from a hot that we didn’t throw. We just got hit in the back on one play. So we’ve got to get rid of that.”

The Vikings blitz five defensive linemen. Everybody is accounted for, so Juszczyk, the running back on this play, doesn’t need to stay in and block. Since it’s 3rd & 12, the Vikings ignore the check-down option and protect the routes at the first down marker.

Both tackles hold up well, but Brendel gets rear-ended by Puni’s defender, leaving the looper untouched with a free run at Purdy. Brendel would have to be ultra-aggressive and actively seek out Van Ginkel (No. 43) as he begins to loop around. Otherwise, there’s no way to know he’d have somebody from the other side of the line of scrimmage coming to take him out.

Purdy has Juszczyk in his line of vision for a full 2-Mississippi’s. The time from snap to sack was 4.06. There’s no guarantee that Juszczyk will pick up the first down. While there’s a good chance he doesn’t, Shanahan could be tempted to go for it on 4th & 2-to-4 fresh out of halftime, only down six points. Instead, it’s 4th & 17.

Verdict: On the quarterback

Sack No. 4:

The Vikings have five “bigs” lined up like they’re rushing, which is why Mason released into a route out of the backfield. But it’s a simulated pressure, and the edge rusher to the top of the screen peels off into coverage, which meant the linebacker to the bottom of the screen blitzed.

The line does a “full slide” to the right, and Trent Williams blocks the most dangerous man, aka the defender closest to the quarterback. Because of the simulated pressure, left guard Aaron Banks has nobody to block. That means the quarterback is responsible for the free rusher coming off the edge.

Credit Flores for understanding how to manipulate the 49ers’ protections. All afternoon, he was a step ahead, keeping the Niners guessing and looking befuddled with his exotic blitzes and coverage disguises.

It’s tough to entirely blame the quarterback when he has an unblocked rusher and is sacked in 2.2 seconds. Still, when you watch the end zone angle, it feels like he has just enough time to get rid of it underneath Samuel, who he’s looking at.

But backup tight end Eric Saubert stumbles, and a defensive lineman leaps into the throwing lane, forcing Purdy to eat the throw and take a seven-yard loss on 1st & 10.

Verdict: OL bust

Sack No. 5/6: Going to need better from Banks

The final two sacks happened on back-to-back plays. I’d wager that’s the first time that’s happened to Purdy since he first took over.

It’s 2nd & 9. The linebacker could all but whisper to Banks he was blitzing right over him. There was no element of surprise here.

Since it was 5-on-5, there’s no need for Mason to stay in and protect. By the time Purdy gets to his second progression, a purple jersey can smell his breath.

Why Banks doesn’t stay on his defender and ride him up the field is beyond me. It’s an efficient rush from No. 51, as he ensures Trent can’t help, but he gets so much depth that there’s little reason for Banks to come off him.

The sack happened in 2.6 seconds, which feels like a long-ish time without context. I’d put this on the left guard. He fails to engage with No. 51, and it looks like a free run at Purdy.

The right side holds up long enough, but if you watch McKivitz, look how easily he gets moved back once defenders get into his chest. It’s been an issue since he started a season ago.

Verdict: On Aaron Banks

The final sack was Purdy’s fumble. Williams and Banks picked up a twist from the Vikings well, but the ball slipped out of Brock’s hands as he was attempting to throw. There was nobody in Purdy’s face; the ball had just slipped out of his hands.

After the game, a number of players said it was warmer than they expected it to be. Shanahan was asked if the fumble was heat-related due to Purdy’s hands being slippery. Here’s how Kyle answered:

“People sweat when they exercise hard or when they’re really hot. So yeah, that’s probably what made it slippery. But that’s stuff quarterbacks deal with every game, especially from centers snap a lot, and quarterbacks get their hands wet from having to take snaps from centers, too, and sometimes ball carriers soak the ball also. So, there’s lots of things that go into it. But yeah, slipping has to do with things that make hands slippery.”

Is this where hand size comes into the equation? Or was it just another fluke play that went against the 49ers? That’s something we’ll never know.

As for the offensive line, Shanahan was pleased with them on the day: “But I thought they run blocked well. I didn’t think, when you see six sacks, you assume it’s a real tough day on the O-Line, but I credit that more to the whole offense. A few are definitely on them, but definitely not all six of them.”

According to Sports Info Solutions charting, Williams did not miss a block for the second game in a row. Banks had two blown blocks, Brendel had one, while Dominck Puni and McKivitz had zero.