Coach Bill Belichick is well aware of the challenges presented by a Kyle Shanahan-coached offense, as the 49ers visit Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots this Sunday.
The Patriots have faced off against a Shanahan offense three times under Belichick, and although the 49ers coach is just 1-2 against New England, his teams have scored at least 27 points all three times, including Super Bowl LI when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.
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In preparing for this Week 7 showdown, Belichick told reporters on Wednesday that he knows Shanahan will look to exploit any and all deficiencies along his defense.
“Kyle does a good job of attacking defenses, attacking the weaknesses,” Belichick said. “What they do from week-to-week depends on what the defense does and how they feel like they can create positive and advantageous matchups.
“I’m sure we’ll see things that we’ve been hurt with during the course of the year, and he’ll try to match up favorably where he can to gain advantages in the running game and in the passing game.”
Shanahan’s offense has utilized supremely athletic skill players by giving them the ball in space and allowing them to make plays, namely wideouts Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, along with All-Pro tight end George Kittle.
“Yeah, all the guys that they give the ball to are pretty hard to tackle,” Belichick continued. “I think they led the league last year in broken tackles and were pretty high up there in yards after catch or yards after contact.
“Whoever has the ball is hard to tackle, starting with [George] Kittle. But, all the running backs, the receivers, they do a good job with the ball in their hands and they get yardage on their own.”
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49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who began his NFL career in New England and will be playing at Gillette Stadium for the first time as a visitor, looked healthy enough in his return to action last week against the Los Angeles Rams, completing 23 of 33 passes for 268 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions after missing parts of the previous three games with an ankle sprain. Garoppolo has completed almost 13 percent more passes off of play-action so far this season, and Belichick knows that will be an emphasis for his defense.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a big part of their early-down offense,” Belichick said. “Again, they’re pretty well-balanced, so it’s basically those are the two plays you see. You see runs and you see play-action passes. There’s a smattering of dropbacks in there and some other plays, but for the most part, you see a heavy dose of those two things, so they complement each other well.”
Belichick’s Patriots defense leads the NFL in percentage of drives ending in a forced turnover, so the mistake-prone Garoppolo will need to be on his A-game for the 49ers to come out on top Sunday.
Clearly the six-time Super Bowl champion coach won’t be overlooking Shanahan’s offense.