How the 49ers Can Fix Their Passing Offense vs. the Redskins in Week 12

The San Francisco 49ers head into their Week 12 clash with the Washington Redskins having claimed back-to-back wins to keep their season alive, yet their passing offense has continued to struggle.

A decision to refocus on the running game has enabled Frank Gore to get back on track on the ground, with the Niners' all-time leading rusher putting up 176 yards in the last two games, while Carlos Hyde has continued to show flashes of the talent that led San Francisco to select him with their second-round pick.

But, although the Niners have put the emphasis back on what they do best, they are still having difficulties sustaining drives and punching the ball into the red zone, a failing that can be partly attributed to quarterback Colin Kaepernick's difficulty in building a consistent rapport with his receivers.

Indeed, a passing game that should be explosive given the weapons the 49ers have at their disposal has instead looked stagnant and out of sync.

Washington's passing defense ranks at 10th in the NFL, however, the Redskins' young cornerbacks can certainly be exploited by Kaepernick and the Niners' experienced group of receivers.

Jim Harbaugh's club will be expected to triumph comfortably against a 3-7 Washington team. Here, I look at how the encounter can help the 49ers fix their aerial attack.

The Numbers

The numbers for the 49ers' passing game do not read particularly badly.

Kaepernick is actually on pace for 3,774 yards and 22 touchdowns, which would represent his best season as an NFL passer, while wide receiver Anquan Boldin is on course for another 1,000-yard campaign if he maintains his consistent form down the stretch.

Yet, although the statistics look good for Kaepernick and his primary target, there are a host of issues that are preventing the Niners from becoming one of the better passing teams in the NFL.

Pass Protection

To put it simply, the 49ers' offensive line is not built for pass protection. This is a line that has been carefully selected by the San Francisco front office for one primary reason, running the ball. 

But that, or the injuries that have plagued the men in the trenches, does not excuse some of the dreadful failings in protecting the quarterback that the Niners have been guilty of in 2014. 

Through 11 games in 2014, San Francisco has allowed an eye-watering 32 sacks, although not all of those have been the fault of the line, with Kaepernick's tendency to hold on to the ball for a second too long often costing him at certain points in the campaign.

Still, it is no wonder that the passing aerial attack has been disappointing when Kaepernick has come under fire consistently, preventing him from getting into a rhythm with his wideouts.

There were distinct signs of improvement in the Week 11 win at the New York Giants as the Niners allowed just one sack, which came in the first quarter as Robert Ayers took down Kaepernick after failing to bite on a play fake.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the Niners' O-line had more success in keeping Kaepernick upright, although he was hurried 11 times in the game—per Pro Football Focus (subscription required)—against a Giants defense that is No. 31 in the NFL and has only 17 sacks on the season.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press/Associated Press

Jim Haslett's Redskins defense, despite being shredded by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in last weekend's 27-7 loss, promises to pose the offensive line with a tougher test, particularly given the presence of outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, who has 7.5 sacks on the year.

The 49ers' O-line is coming off one of its best showings of the season and must carry the momentum from that display into the visit of Washington despite the absence of right tackle Anthony Davis due to a concussion.

Rapport with Receivers

When the 49ers brought in Stevie Johnson via a draft day trade and acquired free agent Brandon Lloyd, it was widely accepted that San Francisco had the receiving talent to potentially become one of the better passing offenses in the NFL.

Yet one of the reasons that potential has not been realized is that Kaepernick has been unable to build a consistent rapport with any of his targets aside from Boldin.

Johnson has been the next best Niners receiver, with his route running and experience enabling the former Buffalo Bill to put up strong numbers in his first season with his hometown team—catching 32 of his mere 41 targets for 407 yards and three touchdowns—but the fact remains that he has not seen enough of the ball to become a regular difference-maker.

Michael Crabtree has played a key role in each of the last two victories, catching a game-saving 51-yard grab on fourth down in the Week 10 overtime over the New Orleans Saints and a 48-yard touchdown in the success against the Giants, which eventually proved pivotal in a tight game. 

Crabtree may have come up big in recent weeks, however, the former Texas Tech star clearly does not have the same connection with Kaepernick that he had when the quarterback took over for Alex Smith in the second half of the 2012 campaign, in which he posted the only 1,000-yard season of his career. 

Perhaps the biggest issue that has prevented Crabtree from getting going has been his unusually unsafe hands. After previously being regarded as the best pass-catcher on the 49ers roster, Crabtree is No. 2 in the league for the most dropped passes, per PFF, dropping nine in 2014.

The touchdown in New York also highlighted Crabtree's ability to make yards after the catch, something that he has largely failed to do this season, averaging just 4.3 YAC per game, according to PFF.

Boldin cannot continue to lead the receiving corps by himself and down the stretch it would serve as a huge boost for the Niners if they could either get Crabtree back to his best or offer Johnson more of an opportunity to have an impact.

Lack of a Deep Threat

Although the quality and savvy of Boldin, Crabtree and Johnson enables them to make big plays, this is an offense that still does not possess an explosive deep threat to really stretch opposing defenses down the field.

	Catches	Yards	YPC	TD
Anquan Boldin	56	688	12.3	3
Michael Crabtree	43	509	11.8	4
Stevie Johnson	32	407	12.7	3
Brandon Lloyd	11	262	23.8	1

The addition of Lloyd has proven useful at times but, with just 25 targets in 2014—per Pro-Football-Reference—this is a player whose presence on the team is looking increasingly unjustified, particularly with the Niners placing a renewed emphasis on the running game in recent weeks. 

Lloyd's paucity of opportunities would not matter as much if their only other viable long-ball target was not enduring a terrible year. Tight end Vernon Davis, who has presented defenses with matchup problems throughout his NFL career due to his size and speed, has been a complete non-factor.

Davis has only 18 receptions for 176 yards and never looked like making an impression against the Giants last Sunday in spite of Kaepernick's best efforts to get him the ball.

The 49ers have never been a quick-strike passing team under Harbaugh but Davis' struggles and Lloyd's near complete omission from the aerial attack have left San Francisco with no real way to force opponents to fear the deep ball, placing more pressure on the likes of Boldin and Crabtree to make things happen on more conservative routes.

Analyzing the Redskins Secondary

There are a number of problems holding the 49ers' passing offense back, but Kaepernick and Co. still have what it takes to exploit a Washington secondary that is clearly extremely vulnerable. 

Starting cornerbacks Bashuad Breeland—the rookie who has had to adapt quickly after being selected in the fourth round out of Clemson—second-year player David Amerson and nickel corner E.J. Biggers have all struggled and have negative grades from PFF through 12 weeks of the season.

Breeland has allowed four touchdowns in coverage this season while Amerson and Biggers have given up two each.

The deficiencies of the Washington corners have been consistently exposed in 2014, with the Redskins defense giving up 36 plays of over 20 yards or more and six of 40 yards or more, numbers that should offer encouragement to Kaepernick, who possesses one of the strongest arms in the league.

Evidence of the inexperience of the Redskins secondary came on Mike Evans' first touchdown of two in the heavy defeat to Tampa Bay.

NFL.com

With Evans running a simple go route down the left side of the field, Breeland allows his fellow rookie to blow by him, believing that he has some safety help. He does, however, but Ryan Clark reads the play late and is already a step behind by the time Josh McCown has launched the ball to Evans, who has enough speed to take it in for six.

Free safety Clark—ranked No. 82 among all safeties by PFF—misdiagnosed the play on Evans' second score—and there can be no doubt that the Niners' veteran core of skilled route-runners will have been salivating watching film of corners that appear incapable of consistently defending simple routes.

This failing has been present throughout the year, particularly in Week 3 when Nick Foles threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns in the Redskins' 37-34 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, whose wideout Riley Cooper provided further proof of the the vulnerability of Washington's corners by beating Amerson one-on-one midway through the second quarter.

NFL.com

After faking his route to the inside, Cooper quickly cuts to his left down the 25-yard-line. With Amerson slow to react, he has enough of a window to make a fine catch on the sideline for a 20-yard gain.

Breeland and Amerson figure to have similar difficulties against the likes of Boldin and Johnson. However, recent history indicates that they will likely struggle to defend against the threat of Davis. In their Week 4 defeat to the New York Giants, the Redskins simply could not stop tight end Larry Donnell.

Donnell caught three touchdowns in the Giants' 45-14 success at FedEx Field as he terrorized Washington in the red zone, although he hardly had too exert too much effort in order to do so.

NFL.com

On this play, which results in his second score of the game, Donnell—lining up on the left side of the line—boxes out strong safety Brandon Merriweather with a simple move to the inside, allowing Giants quarterback Eli Manning to complete a simple touchdown pass.

Donnell's size was the difference on this occasion. Although he is a considerable goal-line target, he does not have the size or the speed of Davis.

The Niners have struggled to get Davis going in 2014, yet—with Washington ranked No. 24 in the league against opposing tight ends by Football Outsiders and having previously failed to keep a player who lacks his athletic gifts at bay—this could be the perfect matchup for San Francisco's star tight end to finally kick-start his season.

Exploiting Washington's Weaknesses

Despite being ranked as one of the league's better defenses, it is clear that the back end of this Washington unit can be easily exploited, especially by a group of receivers as talented as those on the Niners roster.

The fact remains that San Francisco is more suited to running the ball and that should still be the focus of offensive coordinator Greg Roman.

With Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde rotating in the backfield, the Niners' ground game is comfortably good enough to garner significant respect and attention from the Redskins defense, opening things up for a passing attack that could certainly benefit from the lax coverage that Washington's corners have been guilty of in 2014.

If Gore and Hyde are able to succeed in the same manner that they have in last two weeks, then the play-action pass definitely figures to be an option for the 49ers against a secondary, and particular a safety in Clark who has previous history of misreading plays.

Skeptical 49er fans will point out that the San Francisco offense had a similar opportunity to take advantage of a fragile defense last week in New York and did not take it.

But this is a Washington defense that is showing its youth and seems to have considerable trouble when defending in zone coverage, a fragility brutally exposed by Tampa Bay, and in man-to-man. Simply put, given the experience and quality of their receivers and leading tight end, the Niners have too much talent not to exploit the Redskins secondary.

Providing that the 49ers can execute a balanced game plan that gets their top targets regularly involved, this may be an ugly afternoon for the Redskins and an extremely profitable one for San Francisco's much maligned passing game.

All statistics courtesy of NFL.com unless otherwise stated.

Nicholas McGee is a San Francisco 49ers Featured Columnist based in Leeds, England. Follow him on Twitter @nicholasmcgee24.