SANTA CLARA — The identify “Shanahan” within the NFL means the skin zone blocking scheme.
It’s the household enterprise that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan inherited from his dad, Tremendous Bowl-winning coach Mike Shanahan. It’s that synchronized ballet of an offensive line firing off the ball in unison, transferring left or proper, attacking house first and defenders second.
This scheme is the rationale roughly half the coaches on this league have jobs.
And it’s purported to be artwork.
However for the primary six weeks of this 49ers’ season, that artwork has appeared extra like a toddler’s finger-painting challenge.
San Francisco was final within the NFL in yards per carry, regardless of having one of the best left sort out in soccer and a operating again who was an MVP candidate lower than two years in the past.
It was all terribly unbecoming, and it was threatening to torpedo a 49ers season that began with such promise.
So what did the youthful Shanahan, in entrance of all the world on a standalone night time sport, do Sunday in opposition to the Falcons? How did the offensive genius lastly determine the best way to run the ball?
By not operating his offense.
The Niners stopped being dancers and have become bouncers in opposition to Atlanta.
Neglect finesse. Neglect angles. This was pure, unadulterated energy.
It was easy. It was brutal. It was reverse day for the Niners.
And it labored. Sunday was one of the best the Niners have appeared operating the soccer all season. San Francisco ran for 174 yards in opposition to the Falcons, sparking a 20-10 win which may have modified the course of the Niners’ season.
For most people watching at residence, the change was imperceptible. However for anybody who has ever put a hand within the filth, it was jarring.
It was like watching Adam Sandler, the king of slapstick, out of the blue present up in a severe drama.
However there are some severe chops there.
The hole scheme isn’t about stretching a protection; it’s about caving in its face. You pull a guard, you “trap” a sort out, and also you inform your operating again to comply with the massive man and run by no matter’s left in his wake.
It was a pleasure to observe.
“It was a joy to play,” left sort out Trent Williams instructed me.
The star of the efficiency was operating again Christian McCaffrey, who ran for 60 yards greater than his earlier season-high with a 129-yard, two-touchdown efficiency. He added a team-high 72 yards within the go sport.
200 and one yards will earn you loads of lodging.
However the highest reward he acquired was that he, as soon as once more, appeared like Christian McCaffrey.
“He reads everything perfectly,” Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss mentioned of the Niners’ operating again. “He’s so precise… He got the best of us today.”
However he was hardly alone in deserving reward. Let’s give some like to the fellows who cleared the lanes for McCaffrey to ship a classic efficiency.
Not simply Shanahan, the playcaller, however fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who had his finest sport of the season by operating across the backfield like he was peak Tyreek Hill.
The transfer was referred to as “dash motion,” and Juszczyk mentioned it was accomplished to assist him have a head of pace as a lead blocker for the hole blocking scheme.
This was some honest-to-god fullbacking, people. Old skool stuff. And in comparison with what Juszczyk often does, he mentioned it was “night and day.”
“I think we ran power (the definitive gap-scheme play) seven or eight times, and we ran counter twice, and then we ran slice, which is the same as counter for me,” Juszczyk mentioned. “It’s so much different.”
“I’m going to have a few more bruises tomorrow, but when you win, the soreness, you appreciate it.”
And it wasn’t simply Juszczyk out in house, making performs. The Niners on these seven or eight energy performs have been pulling proper guard Dominick Puni.
Puni referred to as it “running transportation.”
“We were just trying to find a way from mumbling everything up in the middle,” he mentioned.
And so they did.
However Puni’s excellent “transportation” service was no small achievement, contemplating he has fought a knee damage all season and wasn’t capable of follow absolutely till the Niners’ Friday walkthrough this week.
Puni satisfied the Niners coaches he might play by arguing “adrenaline would take over.”
That adrenaline took over the sport.
“Tomorrow, maybe tonight, it won’t be pretty, but I’ll do anything for these guys to win, man,” Puni instructed me. “It makes it all worth it.”
“That’s what an offensive lineman is — tough, physical,” proper sort out Colton McKivitz mentioned of Puni. “He’s fighting through something that some guys will play, some guys won’t… [Him playing] speaks to who he is.”
However is that this who the Niners are transferring ahead? Is the Shanahan offense now a gap-scheme staff?
The opposing protection will dictate that — Atlanta’s fire-off-the-line protection was asking to be hit with the hole scheme — however the Niners can now win with a number of run-game appears to be like.
That mentioned, there was power for the hole scheme to be the default transferring ahead.
“That’s us. That’s how we should run the ball,” Puni mentioned. “It did feel like a coming-out party.”
Initially Printed: October 19, 2025 at 10:30 PM PDT
