49ers Defense Had Tua Playing Fast

In a battle of heavyweights between the Dolphins offense and 49ers defense, it was the Dolphins who blinked. The Niners took away what Miami does best, and their pass rush got Tua Tagovailoa playing fast. Not only did this lead to sacks and turnovers, it led to Tua missing some opportunities for big plays. It also contributed to the Dolphins’ inability to stay on the field, as they went 0-for-7 on 3rd down. The 49ers were able to control the ball for over 40 minutes as a result.

Defending the Middle

Entering the game, Tagovailoa led all passers with 38 completions in the intermediate middle of the field according to NextGen Stats. The 49ers sought to take that away, although things didn’t quite start out exactly as planned. On the first play of the game, Tua fired a 75-yard touchdown pass to Trent Sherfield on a throw in the middle of the field that was made possible by a blown coverage. But the 49ers would regroup from there, all but shutting down the Dolphins offense for the rest of the afternoon.

San Francisco’s ability to take away the middle was due to a combination of scheme and execution. This 3rd-and-6 on Miami’s second drive of the game is a great example. Note the route concept; a clearout route from Tyreek Hill with Sherfield running a deep-in route underneath him:

Focus on linebacker Fred Warner. He did a great job of reading and reacting to the route combo. As he saw Tyreek Hill fly by him down the seam, he immediately turned his attention to Sherfield, coming from the outside:

As soon as he saw him break inside, Warner dropped to where Sherfield’s route was intended to hit, enabling him to get into the throwing lane and knock down the ball:

That’s a heck of a play and a great job of understanding where the Dolphins were trying to target with their route concept.

The 49ers kept to this approach for the most part on Sunday, often playing quarters coverage with their deep safeties ready to sit on routes at the intermediate level.

The below 4th-and-2 in the 4th quarter was a good example. You can see how those safeties were playing flat-footed, ready to pounce on anything in the intermediate middle. I know the down-and-distance made a short-to-intermediate throw more likely, but this was a look we saw multiple times throughout the afternoon. You can also see how linebacker Dre Greenlaw was taking away the middle at the snap with his alignment. That enabled him to pounce on tight end Mike Gesicki’s quick-out route the second he broke to the outside and force an incompletion:

The Dolphins’ 2nd touchdown of the game came against a similar coverage where Tyreek Hill was able to get behind those sitting quarters safeties after other intermediate-middle routes got them to bite. And quite frankly, there were similar opportunities throughout the game that Tua wasn’t able to capitalize on. That’s where the effects of the 49ers’ pressure comes into play.

The 49ers’ Pass Rush Got to Tua

Let’s go back to that first 3rd down of the game shown above. This one seemed to set the tone for the afternoon. From the end zone angle, you can see that the 49ers were in their staple tilted front, with 3 down-linemen to one side of the center, and Nick Bosa to the other side:

This is a common front for stunts, especially to the 3-man side. So the Dolphins used a 4-man slide to account for it. Then they had their tight end to the other side provide help to the right tackle in the form of a chip on Bosa:

But the 49ers wouldn’t be running a stunt from the 3-man side. Instead, they would run it from Bosa’s side. Defensive end Charles Omenihu crossed the right guard’s face as the penetrator, taking him away from the middle, and Bosa looped around him inside (neutralizing the impact of the tight end’s pick):

With the slide going the other way and the right guard occupied with Omenihu, Bosa had no one to pick him up inside. The result was a big hit on Tua as he was releasing the ball:

Tua didn’t seem comfortable for the rest of the afternoon.

You can see this on Miami’s next drive. Watch how frenetic his movement was after his first read wasn’t open. This was despite having lots of time and space to operate:

Had he just calmly stepped up and reset his feet, he may have found Tyreek Hill, who was running down the middle of the field behind one of those sitting safeties I referenced earlier:

Or perhaps the throw he did end up making would have been more on target with his feet underneath him.

On Miami’s next play, a 3rd-and-7, Tua continued playing too fast, this time missing an open Jaylen Waddle on an underthrown ball that was the result of rushed mechanics, which kept Tua from fully transfering his body weight:

Also notice how those 3 second-level defenders were taking away the intermediate middle of the field again.

As Tua tried to settle into the game, the 49ers would give him constant reminders that he shouldn’t get too comfortable in the pocket. Below is another 3rd down where the 49ers got Nick Bosa a free run up the middle at Tua.

Again, notice the tilted front, this time with Fred Warner walked up to the line of scrimmage:

The Dolphins used a 3-man slide to the left this time and man-to-man matchups to the backside since the right guard was forced to account for Warner:

This time, the 49ers would run their stunt from the 3-man side since Miami didn’t have the extra man to account for it. The two interior linemen penetrated first and Bosa looped around inside:

A closer look shows that this stunt worked largely because defensive tackle Arik Armstead wrapped his arm around the center’s, ensuring he would be forced to go with him and unable to come off to pick up Bosa:

Great stuff by the 49ers’ D-line.

The inside pressure would continue. Watch Armstead win his 1-on-1 against right guard Robert Hunt, leading to a rushed and forced throw by Tua. Of course, 49ers defenders were waiting in the middle of the field to pounce on the throw:

The pressure clearly got Tua off his game. So much so that on multiple plays where there was no pressure, he missed his target:

There were several other uncharacteristic misses by Tua not shown here.

Just about everything in the Dolphins passing game is about timing. It’s about getting the ball out of Tua’s hands (often over the middle of the field) before the defense has the chance to react. That’s one reason why they use so much motion, for instance. It prevents jams and disruption at the line, keeping the timing of the play in tact. But when things aren’t clean, either in coverage or with the pass rush, Miami tends to run into trouble, as was the case against the 49ers.

The question that will persist is whether or not this was just one bad game or a vulnerability that capable defenses will continue to exploit. Judging by the opportunities that were actually there but were missed, I’d say it’s just one bad game (which happened to come against the best defense in football). We’ll find out for sure in the coming weeks.