The San Francisco 49ers take on the Seattle Seahawks in a battle for the No. 1 seed on Saturday Night at Levi’s Stadium, with the loser being either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the NFC.
For the 49ers, their offense has been rolling since Brock Purdy returned from a toe injury. But, their defense has been a real issue. Now, they have the tough task of defending Jaxon Smith-Ngijba, who has been a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses in the slot, on Saturday.
Earlier this week, cornerback Deommodore
Lenoir publicly shared his desire to shadow Smith-Ngijba throughout the game, which Kyle Shanahan said speaks to his competitive nature.
“Hopefully I get to shadow JSN,” Lenoir told reporters. “I’m ready for this. I hope he ready. Man to man coverage me and him. That’s what I want.”
San Francisco has shadowed receivers in the past, notably allowing Charvarius Ward to travel with some No. 1 receivers. But, will the 49ers actually do that on Saturday? Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh shed some light on the topic, revealing the challenges that shadowing a receiver provides.
“The reality is it’s easy for the guy who travels,” Saleh said about a corner shadowing a wide receiver. “I got that guy. I’m going to travel wherever I want. But, we’re a zone-based defense, right? So, if it was man coverage, easy for him, but then it is a little bit more difficult for the other guys. Like, how does everybody else align? Do you go match where everyone just picks a number? What if that number’s not on the field? Do you pick a different number? Or is it, alright, we’re all going to align off of DMo? And what if DMo’s in the slot? Does that put the nickel out on number one where he’s not used to being?
“So, techniques change within your man principles because now you’re in different locations. Alright, now put yourself in zone. You’re trying to match up where he is, and you’re matching up now DMo’s in the slot. Does that mean Upton [Stout’s] now playing corner third, which he hasn’t done all year? And so, there are a lot of new techniques that you’re going to ask a guy to do. It’s very expensive, not for the guy traveling, but for the guys not traveling, if that makes sense. Now, can it be done? Of course, it can be done. Do we have it in our inventory? Absolutely. Can we? Maybe. So, we’ll see.”
That’s a very detailed and understandable answer to Saleh, which explains why it’s so tough to shadow receivers. With how young and mistake-prone the 49ers defense has been, it probably doesn’t make sense to add even more responsibility in a game like Saturday’s. In addition, while Smith-Ngijba isn’t exclusively a slot receiver, the Seahawks may attack that matchup against Stout, as Lenoir is not a slot cornerback.
So, if he were to travel, that changes up a ton of things on the outside as well. The 49ers did a good job containing the Seahawks offense back in Week 1, but that was a long time ago and both teams have evolved since then. We’ll see what gameplan Saleh has, but it doesn’t seem like shadowing is in the cards.
