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The 49ers have essentially been in the same defensive system since 2017, the one current Jets coach Robert Saleh installed and ran during his four seasons lording over the San Francisco defense from 2017-2020.
When Saleh became the Jets head coach in 2020, he was replaced by then-49ers linebacker coach DeMeco Ryans, who ran the same scheme for the next two years, before leaving to become the Houston Texans head coach.
But last year, while theoretically, they were running the same scheme under Steve Wilks, he didn’t have a background in that scheme, so he added some things to it, like more blitzing and man-to-man coverage on first and second down.
Wilks was a bad fit for San Francisco and was let go after one year.
Now, under first-year coordinator Nick Sorenson, I hear they are going back to their Saleh-Ryan roots, and playing a purer version of that scheme.
It’s a front-driven defense that likes to generate most of their pressure from their front four and play a lot of the cover three zone . . .
A guy who was a big help to the Jets’ defense in preparing for Kyle Shanahan’s complex offense was/is Jets backup defensive back Isaiah Oliver, who played for the 49ers last year and faced that offense in practice on the scout team.
Shanahan’s system has so much misdirection and “eye-candy” as they call it in the football world, that you have to be careful not to “go for the cheese,” to use some more football parlance about being overaggressive, and taking yourself out of positions.
“You have to be disciplined in your rules and not overplay things because that is when this 49ers offense will beat you,” Oliver said . . .
Oliver, a veteran defensive back from Colorado, who played for Atlanta and San Francisco, has learned all five secondary positions, and is prepared to backup at all of them if need be . . .
The Jets will be heading out to the Bay Area on Sunday. Sometimes East Coast teams go two days ahead to West Coast games to give themselves a little extra time to acclimate to the time difference, but Saleh is more of a believer in one day. A lot of sports science goes into these decisions . . .
The Jets’ current offensive line configuration has not played in a real football game together, so communication could be a challenge on Monday Night in noisy Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
But over this week, the Jets have pumped in a lot of crowd noise into practices, and they feel that will help them prepare for what they might face.
It was really loud this week on the practice field at 1 Jets Drive . . .
In a QB-center drill, Aaron Rodgers was taking snaps from backup center Xavier Newman, and Joe Tippmann was snapping to Tyrod Taylor.
This was just so Rodgers and Newman are on the same page in case something happens to Tippmann.
It’s very challenging for a backup center to have to go into a game on the road and make the line calls and communicate with the QB, and Newman is still pretty new to the center position, playing in an NFL game at the position for the first time last year against the New York Giants.
Newman has come a long way at the position since then.
Newman is a favorite of Jets offensive line coach Keith Carter from their time together with the Tennessee Titans.
September 6, 2024
Premium will return by 11:30 pm Sunday from Santa Clara.
