49ers Creative Toss Crack Sweep Vs Rams
Whenever the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams play these days it is a treat to watch, if for no other reason to see creativity at it’s best. This creativity is not always earth shattering and at times not even apparent to the fans or media. This toss crack sweep that the 49ers offense ran is a good example. It stood out to us here at FirstDown PlayBook. The Rams were pretty dominant winning 42-26, but that does not diminish the value of this play.
Credit Tom Brady for pointing this out. He mentioned on the broadcast that he had not seen this before. Brady has seen and played a little bit of ball so it grabbed my attention. As I ran it back and looked at it, Kyle Shanahan and his offensive staff had created at three man edge for a toss crack sweep from two backs with Quarterback Matt Jones in the gun.
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Full disclosure here. I have always hated same side sweeps. At best, they always seem like a tendency breaker. The majority of sweeps, zone reads or what have you, come with the running back crossing the quarterback’s face. These days the defenses play so fast that unless you have a world class speed in the backfield, a linebacker runs the same side sweep play down before it gains much yardage.
However; once again, the creativity of the 49ers coaching staff allows them to get to the perimeter with a fullback running full speed on the Rams’ corner. Hats off to #15 Jauan Jennings for executing the crack block because not every receiver will do this. As we mentioned before Brian Robinson Jr has great speed to the edge and that helps.
Something to also point out. This play is harder to execute than it appears on the surface. Just in case you try to run it. This orbit motion that the Fullback #44 Kyle Juszczyk runs is not easy to time up. If the ball is snapped late it will be a penalty unless you play in Canada.
If you really look at this play, it is possible that it was a check with me at the line of scrimmage. If you don’t bring the Tight End over pre-snap, you have pretty much the same play to the right side. The backfield action would obviously be different but hey, give the San Francisco 49ers another week and they will probably create it.
