What We Learned from 49ers' Passing Game in Week 1
The San Francisco 49ers' passing game was a weakness at the conclusion of the 2013 NFL season.
My, how things have changed.
San Francisco's pass attack was one of the prominent reasons behind its Week 1 28-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
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In short, we should have expected something like this. The 49ers made a number of upgrades and additions at the wide receiver position during the offseason. These gave offensive coordinator Greg Roman and quarterback Colin Kaepernick added weapons with which to work.
On top of that, San Francisco's offense took advantage of a weak Dallas defense that ranked No. 30 in the league last year in pass yards allowed (4,589).
Highlighting the passing game were two touchdowns from Kaepernick to tight end Vernon Davis, proving once again the value of Davis in the offense and his reliance in the red zone.
But the 49ers' pass offense has plenty that needs to be evaluated. In this article, we take a look into the statistics, plays and results of San Francisco's passing game in Week 1. We'll break down some film and look at why this particular unit may be much more successful in 2014.
The Context
Let's start by reviewing what San Francisco's passing game looked like coming into the 2014 season.
Last year, the 49ers ranked No. 30 in the NFL in total passing yards (2,979), just above the lowly New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, respectively.
Fans can recall that Kaepernick had but two weapons through the air for much of the season—Davis and Anquan Boldin. The tandem combined for 20 of San Francisco's 21 passing touchdowns that year.
True, Michael Crabtree and then-rookie Quinton Patton were limited with injuries for much of the season, but this particular unit was pretty ineffective in comparison to the rest of the league.
Roman received a heavy amount of criticism surrounding the play-calling, which influenced the general offensive woes San Francisco endured in portions of the season. The lack of receiving depth certainly hindered the matter, but Roman shouldered the majority of the blame.
During the offseason, the 49ers attempted to redress the lack of depth at wide receiver. They added veteran Brandon Lloyd via free agency, traded for Stevie Johnson and drafted Bruce Ellington out of South Carolina.
The team could also count upon healthy returns of Crabtree and Patton.
But weapons are only as good as they are used. Thus, it fell upon Roman to devise a "new-look" offense—described further by Marc Sessler of NFL.com prior to the season.
Last year, the 49ers were last in the league when it came to using three-wide receiver sets per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). A new-look offense would adjust that theory heading into 2014.
Week 1 Breakdown
As expected, we didn't see much from San Francisco's first-team offense in the preseason. Why would we? The 49ers have little interest in revealing their hand too early. Watching those games back, we mostly saw simple offensive plays being called with little focus on any sort of dynamic approach.
All of that changed in Week 1 versus the Cowboys.
Granted, Dallas' defense is not particularly good. But the 49ers took advantage of that.
Their first offensive drive amounted to just three plays and lasted a mere one minute, 28 seconds of possession time. Kaepernick found a favorite target in Davis for the score.
Let's take a look at the play.
We see Davis lined up on the right side of the line after motioning over from the left. San Francisco is still using only two wide receivers here.
Kaepernick barely eludes the pass rush before unleashing the ball toward the end zone, where Davis had found a hole in the defense.
Dallas' defense reacts too late.
As we mentioned, this play spanned just three snaps. While the 49ers might have been expected to be a clock-controlling, run-first team to start the game, Roman proved everyone wrong as Kaepernick and Co. unleashed a quick-tempo offense early.
San Francisco's next touchdown came off a turnover and spanned just one play. Thus, we can't look too deeply into the time-of-possession battle here.
But let's break down the play itself.
Davis (highlighted in yellow) is again lined up on the right side of the line. No. 2 tight end Vance McDonald (highlighted in blue) motions over behind Davis, giving the 49ers man advantage to this side.
McDonald delivers a key block, allowing Davis to break free and get into the end zone.
Kaepernick finds his man after utilizing play action.
More importantly, the 49ers ran only four offensive plays up to this point and were up 21-3. Granted, two turnovers greatly assisted this unusual statistic.
But Davis did not lead all San Francisco receivers in Week 1. That accolade fell to second-year Niner Anquan Boldin, whose eight-reception, 99-yard performance put him atop the list.
Boldin helped set up the 49ers' first offensive score and was equally vital down the stretch.
While we may not have seen a significant use of three-wide receiver sets in this matchup, one thing is certain—San Francisco's offense is unquestionably better with Boldin and Crabtree on the field at the same time.
The additions of Lloyd and Johnson also cannot be overstated. Johnson came up with two catches for 33 yards.
| Anquan Boldin | 8 | 99 | 12.4 | 0 | 37 | 9 |
| Vernon Davis | 4 | 44 | 11.0 | 2 | 29 | 6 |
| Stevie Johnson | 2 | 33 | 16.5 | 0 | 21 | 2 |
| Michael Crabtree | 2 | 25 | 12.5 | 0 | 13 | 4 |
| Brandon Lloyd | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bruce Miller | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
But let's bring the focus back on Kaepernick for a brief moment. In the wake of his $126 million contract extension, it is safe to say that he needs to step up and help carry the offense in 2014.
According to Pro Football Focus (h/t David Fucillo of Niners Nation), Kaepernick finished with his highest PFF grade (3.7) since the 2013 Week 8 performance versus the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Kaepernick finished with only 16 completions on 23 attempts for 201 yards and two touchdowns, amounting to a 125.5 quarterback rating.
It is safe to say that Kaepernick "distributed the wealth" evenly enough to get the best of the Cowboys' vulnerable defense.
Moving Forward
San Francisco will host the Chicago Bears in Week 2, officially debuting Levi's Stadium to the NFL for the first time.
Chicago gave up 167 passing yards to the Buffalo Bills in its 23-20 loss, but the Bears did allow 193 yards on the ground.
It's a small sample size and they were playing the Bills, but the Bears defense is arguably a step above that of the Cowboys at this point. Thus, we might expect the 49ers to take a little bit more of a balanced approach in Week 2.
This likely means some heavy doses of Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde early on as San Francisco looks to wear out Chicago's defense early on. This, in turn, will help set up the passing game—critical in utilizing play-action schemes like the one illustrated in the clips above.
That approach has been a key factor in the 49ers' offensive schemes of years prior.
Unlike last year at this time, the 49ers will have more weapons with which to use. Will the Bears defense be equal to the task?
We'll have to wait until Sunday to find that out.
All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and ESPN.com unless otherwise indicated.
Peter Panacy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers. Be sure to check out his entire archive on 49ers' news, insight and analysis.
Follow him @PeterMcShots on Twitter.
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