Preview of Week 2 49ers Vs. Steelers

In Week 2, the 49ers travel to Pittsburgh to face a Steelers team coming off an opening night loss to the Patriots, 28-21. The game never felt quite as close as the score might indicate. The Patriots, specifically Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, appeared to dominate the Steelers with ease in front of a national audience. After an impressive win over the Vikings on Monday Night Football, the 49ers travel to the East Coast on a short week to face a Steelers team that was exposed to start the season. Starting off sluggish and sloppy is always a fear with the early morning East Coast start time. With plenty of preparation going into the game, the team should have time to get acclimated to an East Coast time zone and prepare for a Steelers team that is dealing with both suspensions and injuries to some of the offensive starters. In Week 1 it is fair to say that Jim Tomsula, Geep Chryst, and Eric Mangini exceeded national expectations about the team’s performance. Pittsburgh offers another good measuring stick for the potential of this team.

Pittsburgh will be facing the 49ers without two of it’s most dynamic skill position players and perhaps the team’s most important player overall in the Week 2 match against the 49ers. LeVeon Bell, who is serving a two-game suspension for possession of marijuana and driving under the influence, will sit this one out before returning next week for the Steelers. Bell was one of the top running backs in the league last year, with over 2200 all-purpose yards from scrimmage. Bell’s ability to excel as both a running back and a receiver make him incredibly difficult for teams to cover. Often times, linebackers are in charge of picking up running backs coming out of the backfield and few linebackers in the league could cover Bell last year. Fortunately, the 49ers have Navorro Bowman who, until the play that ended his 2014 season before it began, was known to be one of the best coverage linebackers in the NFL. While it is possible that Bowman could cover Bell coming out of the backfield, it would be a tall task for only his second week of playing a full game. In addition to Bell sitting this one out, Pittsburgh will also be missing Martavis Bryant to suspension, a speedster in his second year with the team. Bryant’s job is pretty easily defined as a deep ball option that can be targeted a few times a game. With defenses having to worry about Bryant beating them deep, they are left to have at least one safety over the top, effectively opening up the box for inside runs and short crossing routes for Antonio Brown. Brown is one of the best receivers in the league at beating tight coverage off the line with incredible footwork and creating space between himself and defenders, turning seven yard passes into forty yard gains. Without LeVeon Bell and Martavis Bryant, the 49ers are able to focus on Brown and the things that he does well. Less elements of the offense to gameplan for are certainly beneficial for the 49ers.

While Bell and Bryant being absent are certainly difficult for Pittsburgh, no loss may be more difficult to adjust to than the loss of starting center Maurkice Pouncey. With Pouncey playing next to right guard David DeCastro, the Steelers had one of the best young interior offensive lines at a time where offensive line play across the league is marginal at best. According to Jeremy Woo of SI.com, Pouncey will likely miss 10 weeks with a broken fibula, leaving Cody Wallace to start at center. Wallace does have experience with the team, having started two games last year at center, but the loss of Big Ben’s most trusted offensive lineman can’t be overstated. Centers are typically responsible for recognizing defensive adjustments and calling out blocking schemes for the line. Roethlisberger can make these calls on his own but to have a center that can effectively communicate with his group makes Ben’s work at the line of scrimmage less overwhelming.

Pouncey being unavailable for the game immediately shifts the battle in the trenches in the favor of San Francisco. Ian Williams is one of the more underrated Nose Tackles in the league, as he always seems to get hurt just as his skill is peaking in a season. If Williams is able to continually command double teams from the interior of the Steelers offensive line, Bowman will be able to roam free and shut down the Steelers run game similarly to Monday night against the Vikings. DeAngelo Williams, starting in place of the suspended Bell, is in his first year in Pittsburgh after playing for 9 seasons in Carolina. Williams looked strong in Week 1 against New England, rushing for 127 yards on 21 carries but the New England Patriots are rarely known for a particularly good run defense and were playing without Vince Wilfork at nose tackle. Wilfork has moved to Houston, leaving a large space up the middle in New England that makes it much more difficult for linebackers to run free and make tackles. Similarly to how Ian Williams is expected to keep Bowman clean, Wilfork did the same for linebacker Jerod Mayo. Without Wilfork to command double teams, the gut of the New England defense has lost some serious beef. DeAngelo Williams may still have plenty of gas left in the tank after ten years but it is important not to crown him too soon. If he were that impressive, the Cowboys would’ve tried to sign him by now.

Antonio Brown will be the primary concern for the 49ers all Sunday morning, as the Steelers like to utilize him in many different manners. He threw a pass last week as well as caught wide receiver screens in open space. Todd Haley, the Steelers offensive coordinator, recognizes that, at least right now, with Bell and Bryant out, Antonio Brown is the only explosive offensive threat on the team. If the 49ers are able to hold Brown under 120 receiving yards on Sunday, I believe they have a chance to win the game. The best option in defending Brown may be to limit his opportunity for yards after the catch. Many teams try to cover Brown closely with Man-to-Man coverage and almost no defensive back in the league is fluid enough in movement to do so. Once Brown has separated from the defender through his breaks, he does the majority of his damage in yards after the catch as an impressive open field runner. Recall that last year the Steelers had excellent success with Brown returning punts, and when he wasn’t sure to score he could always drop-kick the punter out of the way. Bradley Pinion better come ready to play this week. All jokes aside, the 49ers best defense may be to routinely pull Michael Wilhoite off of the field and allow Jaquiski Tartt to play in the Big Dime package that we saw so successfully against Minnesota. With an offensive line that is missing serious power up the middle, Tartt wouldn’t be much of a liability in stopping the run if needed. Tartt’s benefit comes from his ability as a zone defender against the pass that can be an enforcer on underneath routes. If Tartt is able to contain Brown on some of his early in-breaking crossing routes and deliver serious pop in the process, he may begin to slow Brown’s value as a focal part of the Pittsburgh offense. Malcolm Butler, the Patriots young cornerback that saved the Superbowl last year, played most of the game in Week 1 trailing Brown across the field and while he held up wonderfully through most of the first half, eventually Brown’s exceptional route running wears out the technique of corners challenged with consistently shadowing him throughout his routes. Brown’s explosive nature can turn a simple 5 yard pass into a game-changing score and it is important to leave enough capable defensive backs on the field to disrupt his route immediately off the line and into the middle of the defense.

On offense, the 49ers need to continue to build on the progress from last week. The Patriots happen to have one of the best tight ends in the game and sometimes it is simply impossible to cover him in the red zone. When Gronkowski goes up like a power forward grabbing a rebound there aren’t many options besides blatant pass interference to stop the man. Pittsburgh, like most teams, simply didn't have an answer for that type of athlete.The defensive backfield for Pittsburgh has been in constant shuffle and may continue to be so up until kickoff Sunday morning. Shamarko Thomas, the man expected to replace Troy Polamalu at safety has been benched in favor of Will Allen, a veteran safety coming off of a concussion. Regardless of who plays, the Steelers are not only thin but are coming off a week in which Tom Brady exposed the seams of the defensive backs with relative ease. If Vernon Davis, Garrett Celek, and even Vance McDonald are able to get clean releases off of the line, they may be in store for large games against these safeties. When Kaepernick recognizes a single-high safety look he should begin to think about running verticals on both hashes with slot receivers and tight ends. The outside linebackers are often expected to wall off in breaking routes and force the receivers to continue vertically while the single high safety reads the receiver coming through his zone. As Kap sees the safety leaning towards one of the two vertical routes he can hit the top of his drop and immediately target the other tight end. If Pittsburgh chooses to leave two safeties high, then the middle of the field becomes easy pickings for crossing routes. Bruce Ellington should be able to recognize space behind the linebackers and create windows for Kap all morning. Provided the offensive line holds up against Pittsburgh as well as it did against Minnesota, the offense should not struggle against this defense searching for health and continuity.

While Week 1 was certainly encouraging to see from the 49ers, this Pittsburgh team may offer a better reflection of how the 49ers stack up against stronger teams in the AFC. The 49ers are fortunate to avoid both LeVeon Bell and Martavis Bryant but Antonio Brown is still an All-Pro receiver and is always capable of personally changing outcomes of games. DeAngelo Williams ran hard last week and proved that he is still an above average backup in the league but doing it for consecutive weeks, especially against a much more difficult 49er defense, will require some serious strength from the veteran. Overall, because of the timing of the suspensions and absences of key players for Pittsburgh, the 49ers have a legitimate opportunity to win the game this Sunday if they are able to attack the weak secondary of Pittsburgh, give Kap time to find weak zones throughout the linebackers, and bottle up Antonio Brown after receptions.