Kaepernick and 49ers' Offensive Line Struggling to Handle Pressure
The San Francisco 49ers have many problems offensively. Or at least with the way they think about offense.
Giving running back Frank Gore only 14 carries against one of the league’s worst run defenses led to record levels of double facepalming. Stevie Johnson is also still criminally underused and nearly forgotten.
But here’s the most important question after a loss to the St. Louis Rams that dropped the 49ers to an even 4-4: Can they make sure their quarterback remains in an upright position for most of a game (any game)?
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Colin Kaepernick is currently the NFL’s most sacked quarterback and has been turfed 27 times. His punishment reached a historic peak against the Rams when he became one of only 20 quarterbacks in league history to be sacked eight times or more in a game, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. But only shrug that off as an isolated incident if you like lying to yourself.
Go beyond that just one game further, all the way back to Week 7. That’s when the 49ers lost their first of two straight, and the Denver Broncos sacked Kaepernick six times.
Taking 14 sacks over a two-game period is a uniquely brutal volume of abuse. That's especially true when we observe there are five quarterbacks who have started every game for their respective teams (Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Joe Flacco, Brian Hoyer and Andrew Luck), and they’ve been sacked 14 times or less over the entire season.
The pounding Kaepernick has endured and been unable to avoid extends past even those two weeks. He’s been sacked at least four times in half of his starts this season. That’s established a pace impossible to ignore with the 49ers now halfway through their schedule.
At his current per-game sack rate Kaepernick is set to go down 54 times this season. That would also put him in historically awful company by adding to the 23 quarterbacks who have taken the same level of pummeling in a season, again per Pro-Football-Reference.com.
Looking at more recent totals, just one quarterback has been sacked more than 54 times in a season over the past five years.
| Year | Times sacked | |
| Ryan Tannehill | 2013 | 58 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 2012 | 51 |
| Alex Smith | 2011 | 44 |
| Jay Cutler | 2010 | 52 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 2009 | 50 |
The root of the problem isn’t new, though it was exploited by Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Blitzing Kaepernick creates chaos and confusion, but containing him and getting to the pocket with only four pass-rushers is much more effective.
Williams took that thinking to its extreme in Week 9 with a different approach, one with that containment but still plenty of pressure.
Kaepernick was blitzed on 51.2 percent of his dropbacks, according to ESPN Stats & Information. That’s absurdly high and an abrupt spike compared to the pressure Kaepernick usually faces. He’s been blitzed on only 25 percent of his dropbacks overall this season, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
The pressure erased nearly any trace of a deep passing game. Kaepernick completed only one of his four attempts that traveled 15 yards or more through the air (again from ESPN Stats & Information). There was simply no time for him to stretch the field and let loose with his laser arm.
Pressure eliminates time and disrupts rhythm, two core elements for any successful passing attack. But blitzing isn’t what ruined Kaepernick’s afternoon. Generally he still thrives amid a disintegrating pocket, completing 61.0 percent of his throws against five or more pass-rushers for 8.8 yards per attempt, per PFF.
| Comp % | Yds/attempt | TDs | |
| When not blitzed | 65.2 | 7.1 | 5 |
| When blitzed | 61.0 | 8.8 | 7 |
Against the Rams he completed 66.7 percent of his passes when blitzed, including a second-quarter touchdown pass to wide receiver Anquan Boldin after escaping a rush and rolling right. What was the problem then?
The problem, it seems, was when pressure didn’t come.
Of the Rams’ eight sacks, two were the result of Marcus Martin getting abused as the rookie center made his first NFL start. The learning curve against the likes of Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is a steep and often unpleasant one, so that was expected.
But five sacks came against a standard four-man rush. That speaks to a deeper issue of one-on-one battles being lost cleanly.
Let’s zoom in on four plays with decisive protection breakdowns and confusion from disguised pressure, which then led to uncharacteristically poor decisions from Kaepernick while on the run.
Sack No. 1
The situation: First quarter, 1st-and-10 from San Francisco’s 36-yard line
The result: Sack for seven-yard loss
The Tape: Right tackle Anthony Davis has a balance problem (in football…in real life he has a social media mistaken-identity problem).
As Rams defensive end William Hayes tries to gain the edge Davis’ form is fine at first. He takes two long strides to his right in an attempt to force the pass-rusher wide while still maintaining a solid blocking base.
Then he engages with his first punch to Hayes’ shoulder. Everything is still calm in Davis’ world at this point. Kaepernick is one step into his dropback, and Hayes is contained.
The problem begins when Hayes counterpunches. That sturdy base is now gone, and Davis is far too upright after being jolted back. He can’t move laterally quick enough to recover.
Sack No. 3
The situation: Second quarter, 2nd-and-6 on San Francisco’s 43-yard line
The result: Sack for five-yard loss
The tape: Davis is the victim again here, this time locking in on a potential source of pressure when none came. Constant pressure does more than just make the quarterback’s bones hurt. It leads to scattered thinking and poor decisions among his linemen.
Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis approached the line of scrimmage just prior to the snap after tight end Vernon Davis went in motion. Laurinaitis was showing blitz and looking to draw the tackle’s attention, but if the running back went to the flat he was assigned to stay with him.
That is exactly what happened, leaving Davis to deal with Hayes again on a four-man rush. Unfortunately he was still fixated on Laurinaitis, gifting Hayes a free shot on the quarterback. Oops.
Sack No. 5
The situation: Second quarter, 2nd-and-1 on 50-yard line
The result: A strip-sack by Rams defensive end Robert Quinn, leading to a touchdown
The tape: Pressure is disguised with only three-down linemen, one of which is Quinn far to Kaepernick’s left. At the snap linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar sprints up the middle and behind defensive end Eugene Sims.
That was all contained reasonably well.
But the domino effect of Dunbar's blitzing and fellow linebacker Alec Ogletree also firing off the edge on the other side gave Quinn an isolated matchup against left tackle Joe Staley—the same Joe Staley who’s fresh off giving up three sacks against the Broncos in Week 7 after allowing only four all of last season while playing 1,144 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
Quinn kept Staley an arm’s length away, making his distance from stance to quarterback more direct.
Staley was beat, but he still maintained a shred of strength and balance, enough to push Quinn a touch further around the corner and buy Kaepernick a split second. What the quarterback did with that tiny slice of time created the fumble that followed.
At this point Kaepernick’s internal clock should have been beyond the ticking stage and into air-siren mode. Between the snap of the ball and the time Quinn finally lays down his tomahawk to create the turnover 2.81 seconds passed.
Earlier this season opposing offenses were neutralizing the Rams pass rush by designing plays around quick throws. It was all tied to the crazy notion that quarterbacks can’t be sacked when they don’t have the ball.
Exactly how fast were they getting the ball out? Back in Week 1 Minnesota Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel needed an average of 2.24 seconds for his release, according to ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner.
So 2.81 seconds was an eternity, especially against this pass rush. Kaepernick’s mental clock should have told him that walls were closing in.
Ogletree jumped to block his passing lane. When Kaepernick pulled the ball down any other option (throwing it away at the feet of a receiver or bracing for a sack while avoiding the fumble) was better than trying to play magician while scrambling to the outside and leaving his back exposed to Quinn.
Three plays later the Rams scored their only touchdown of the game.
Sack No. 6
The situation: Second quarter, 2-and-10 with 19 seconds left on St. Louis’ 34-yard line
The result: Sack for a three-yard loss
The tape: Every yard was precious on this play. The 49ers had one timeout and were trying to set up a field goal to end the half and regain some dignity after Kaepernick’s fumble.
Wide receiver Brandon Lloyd was the focus here. He lined up wide to Kaepernick’s right and was open after running a deep hook. But there was the not-at-all-small matter of Aaron Donald’s hands as he jumped to block the passing lane.
Kaepernick wound up to release in Lloyd’s direction but then wisely pulled it down. He still had a bit of a pocket in front of him with Gore short to the right as a checkdown option.
The right decision would have been to dump it off to Gore, who had a chance to churn ahead for a few of those crucial yards. Usually the right decision is the one Kaepernick goes with when pressure mounts.
Instead instinct won, and he tried to scramble wide. He was gobbled up by Sims, and kicker Phil Dawson was forced to try a 55-yard field goal. His attempt fell short, and eventually the 49ers lost by three points.
As noted here and written about at length previously, Kaepernick is typically at ease during moments that call for panic. But his margin for error is getting increasingly small with a rookie center present and sputtering elsewhere along the offensive line (here’s lookin’ at you, Staley and Davis).
Even Kaepernick—Captain Chaos himself—isn’t immune to the dangers of a constantly collapsing pocket. When the pressure is cranked to the levels San Francisco has faced over the past two weeks, the opportunity for one bad game-changing step, read or throw rises with it. And that's a tough existence for any NFL quarterback.
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