An offense as potent and diverse as the 49ers possesses needs to be accounted for on all fronts.
As Mike Tomlin worded it earlier this week, "they can throw short and run long and produce big plays without absorbing a significant amount of risk." That explanation of the levels in which the 49ers can operate within presents a challenge in and of itself to a capable Steelers defense to open the 2023 regular season.
Christian McCaffrey is the highest threat within the San Francisco offense, though Deebo Samuel and former All-Pro tight end George Kittle have the abilities to do as Tomlin hints at: Keep the offense moving from catching short passes and racking up yards after the catch.
If the Steelers want to limit that from happening Sunday, their retooled inside linebackers room of veterans Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, and Kwon Alexander will be vital to the matchup.
"Tackling's going to be a premium in this game," Holcomb said after Wednesday's practice on the South Side. "That first guy there has got to secure that tackle, and then you've got to have 11 guys running to that ball. It's going to be a gang-mentality out there kind of day."
McCaffrey and Samuel were among the best pass catchers in the NFL last season when it came to racking up yards after the catch. McCaffrey's 695 YAC ranked second to Austin Ekeler in the league, and Samuel followed with 493 YAC to finish 11th in the NFL. (Not to mention, Brandon Aiyuk's 388 YAC and Kittle's 382 YAC each finished in the top 35 in the league.)
Additionally, each were among the best in the league in YAC per reception. Samuel averaged 8.8 YAC per reception to lead all NFL wide receivers, while McCaffrey's 8.2 YAC per reception tied for 10th overall in the NFL. This comes to hardly any surprise when one considers how deep the 49ers tend to throw the ball.
Which is, not that deep.
Jimmy Garoppolo was tied for 25th out of 33 qualifying NFL quarterbacks with 6.9 intended air yards per passing attempt last season. As in, the average depth of his target on each attempt was just 6.9 yards downfield. His 3.2 completed air yards per passing attempt was tied for 28th out of 33.
Even after Brock Purdy took over as the 49ers' starting quarterback, that didn't change. Purdy averaged 6.6 intended air yards per passing attempt and 3.9 completed air yards per attempt, further verifying that the Kyle Shanahan offensive system is designed for those short plays while allowing for his pass catchers to roam free in space.
The icing on that cake comes back to receiver YAC. Garoppolo led all qualified quarterbacks with 7.0 pass yards after the catch per completion, while Purdy would have qualified in third in that category with 6.2 pass yards after the catch per completion, according to data from Pro Football Reference.
"Their team, all heir skill positions ... they're No. 1 in YAC," Roberts said. "If they are catching hem short passes, we've just got to tackle them, and it's not one person. Everybody knows what they do offensively. They've got a lot of schematics within their offense and we've just got to be able to -- it's going to come down to communication. It starts with communication. As long as we've got that going, we'll be putting ourselves in a good position to go and execute what we want to execute."
Holcomb graded as the best coverage linebacker among Roberts, Alexander, and himself at 67.0, which placed him 28th out of 70 NFL linebackers according to Pro Football Focus. Roberts' coverage grade of 46.2, meanwhile, was one of the worst in the NFL as it ranked 62nd out of 70. Alexander's 58.5 coverage grade ranked slightly below average among NFL linebackers, at 44th out of 70. Holcomb will be the one who is primarily tasked with containing McCaffery and, in some cases, Kittle to as few yards after the catch as possible on Sunday, but his role as the green dot will have to extend beyond his own motor and will have to be communicated effectively with Roberts and Alexander.
"We've been evolving, man, getting better at every little thing," Alexander said. "It's the first week so we've been picking it up. We've been in camp so we know how to talk to each other now, know our strengths and weaknesses, and what we can do better for each other. We're just working around there and just helping each other."
From a receiver's perspective, accruing YAC can prove as a major disruptor to the flow of a defense.
"I think it's very valuable for an offense in general," Allen Robinson told me. "You're able to move the chains without having to putt the ball behind the chains and so on and so forth. Whether that's behind the line of scrimmage pass and catches, whether that's short stuff and you're able to get the yards after the catch, you don't have to put the ball in the air which obviously helps out the offense a lot, rather than having to drop back five steps, seven steps. The pass rushers and stuff in this league, there's certain risks involved. Being able to get YAC, definitely, helps the offense a a lot."
