The San Francisco 49ers had a big pass rush dilemma Monday night.
They were reluctant to blitz Josh Allen because they were afraid of his mobility, and they were leery of playing too much man-to-man coverage against the Bills’ wide receivers.
So they sat back in zone coverage and rushed four men most of the game.
The result: Allen ran them through a shredder for 375 passing yards in the Bills’ 34-24 victory.
“Josh has been doing a great job picking defenses apart this year,” Bills receiver Isaiah McKenzie said. “When a defense plays a lot of zone coverage, we have to do our part as receivers to find holes in the zones. It’s kind of hard because you’re not going to get a lot of run after the catch. ... But we came to play tonight, and Josh came to play.”
Allen threw four touchdown passes with no interceptions.
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Playing against his childhood team, Allen was absolutely masterful on the national stage, writes Jay Skurski.
The Bills’ quarterback now has produced 33 TDs passing and rushing and receiving this season, the second most of any QB in the NFL, behind only Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers (34). Russell Wilson of the Seahawks and Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs each have produced 32.
The Bills franchise record for total TDs produced by a QB in a season is 34 by Jim Kelly in 1991.
Unlike in their Super Bowl season of last year, the Niners have not been getting enough pressure with their four-man rush, which is the basis of their defensive scheme.
They entered the game ranked 22nd in sacks. They have been using the blitz more this season, on 32.7% of opponents’ pass plays, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s not their preferred style, but it has been working. The Niners blitzed just 19% in 2019, 26th most in the NFL.
But when they faced a mobile quarterback and a deep receiving corps in the Arizona Cardinals early in the season, they sat back and didn’t risk blitzing as much.
They were even more conservative against the Bills.
Niners cornerback Richard Sherman said Allen played a “freaking fantastic game.”
“You have to give them credit, he was in good control of the game,” Sherman said.
The Washington Football Team’s triumph did more than tighten the race for the top seed in the AFC playoffs and hand the Steelers their first loss of the season. It robbed Buffalo of its chance to do the same.
One of the rare times the Niners blitzed, Allen burned them for a 23-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie.
Here’s a look at some of the Bills’ big pass plays, starting with the McKenzie TD, which gave Buffalo a 24-10 lead in the third quarter.
Jet-motion TD. Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll chose a perfect time to run a rub route against man coverage.
McKenzie ran a jet-sweep motion before the snap to the left of the formation and cut outside of receiver Gabriel Davis, who ran a short in-cut. Niners safety Tarvarius Moore could not get around Davis, and McKenzie was wide open down the left sideline.
The Niners rushed five men, sending linebacker Dre Greenlaw on a blitz.
“We came with jet motion,” McKenzie said. “We’ve been trying to use that. ... I ran a wheel route. Gabe did a good job setting a pick, but not bumping the receiver. It worked out well.”
Allen used great footwork, too, to get his feet lined up for the throw to the left, which was right on target.
Coverage bust. Allen made a great play on the 28-yard touchdown pass to Davis in the fourth quarter that gave the Bills a 34-17 lead.
Cole Beasley ran an out-route from the right slot. Davis, wide right, ran straight down the right sideline.
Sherman let Davis go behind him. Either Sherman was confused, or slot corner Dontae Johnson was supposed to cover deep.
But Allen made the play by pump faking as if he was throwing to Beasley. That made the Niners defensive backs hesitate, and Davis got behind them.
Allen, semi-flat-footed, drilled the pass down the sideline.
It was another four-man rush by the 49ers.
Bills tackles Dion Dawkins and Daryl Williams dominated the Niners’ edge rushers – Kerry Hyder, Arik Armstead and Dion Jordan.
“Josh was extra confident,” said Dawkins.
“We gave him a lot of time in the pocket. Josh stood there and got the ball where it needed to go.”
Sherman said it was a miscommunication and that the Niners were in “palms coverage,” which is a pattern match coverage by the cornerback and safety. The wide cornerback usually is keying on the slot receiver’s route. It probably wasn’t Sherman’s mistake.
Cole Beasley was free money Monday night, writes Jay Skurski.
Stutter stepper. Beasley showed his savvy as a route-runner on his 5-yard TD catch in the second quarter.
The Bills’ slot man lined up inside Davis and waited for the rookie to run a corner route. A couple stutter-steps by Beasley allowed the defense to back up a bit, waiting for the routes to develop.
Beasley then hooked up at the goal line, and Sherman was too deep in the end zone behind him to break up the bullet pass from Allen.
Again, it was a four-man rush, and Allen had a clean pocket.
Misdirection route. The Bills sold a play-action fake well on the second TD pass of the game.
Allen faked a hard handoff to Devin Singletary to the left, and the entire offensive line stepped to the left as if it was an outside zone play off left tackle.
Tight end Dawson Knox ran behind the line of scrimmage to the right. The Bills run this tight-end motion all the time, as part of a split-zone run play to make the linebackers hesitate in filling their gaps.
This time, Knox didn’t block anyone. He sprinted out to the right flat and caught Allen’s pass. Stefon Diggs executed a textbook cut-block on the safety, Moore, to give Knox enough room to get into the end zone.
