49ers-Eagles: Can the 49ers even hope to contain DeSean Jackson?
by David Fucillo on Dec 17, 2009 8:06 AM PST
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PrintOn Tuesday, Frank Gore was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week following an impressive 167 yard, 1 TD performance in the 49ers win over the Arizona Cardinals. As was briefly mentioned, some folks were surprised to not see DeSean Jackson's name on the award given his incredible performance against the Giants on Sunday Night Football. Well, Jackson ended up being named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his punt return touchdown.
As much as I loved Frank Gore's performance, if there were an award for overall player of the week, DeSean Jackson would have had as strong a case as any player with his punt return TD, along with his 178 receiving yards and receiving touchdown. I'd say that's a rather adequate performance, wouldn't you?
The 2009 Eagles have put together some impressive offensive performances at times and have a host of intriguing weapons with which the 49ers will have to contend. At this point, the biggest threats are in the passing game. It sounds like Brian Westbrook will likely be out again this week, leaving the remaining Philly running backs who have been rather inconsistent at times, and downright awful the last couple weeks.
When looking at the Eagles passing game, Donovan McNabb is guiding things and Brent Celek is certainly a very solid tight end. However, at this point DeSean Jackson is the guy who probably scares me the most. Given his career at Cal that's not exactly shocking, but it's still the biggest issue to be addressed at this point. Jackson can certainly be contained, but it takes a whole lot of work on a whole lot of fronts. After all, he's continued to impress as a punt returner, and has blown past cornerbacks with ease much of the 2009 season.
After the jump we look at DeSean Jackson the punt returner, and DeSean Jackson the wide receiver.
DeSean Jackson - Punt Returner
As solid as Jackson can be as a wide receiver, the punt return game is where he is often his most dangerous. To date Jackson is averaging 17.7 yards per punt return. In 10 of 13 games he's had at least one 20+ yard punt return. Generally punt returning can be boom or bust for most teams. And yet I consider myself surprised when Jackson doesn't have a big return in a game, even if he doesn't take it the house.
Of course, this plays somewhat into the 49ers wheelhouse given the fact that they have one of the best in the business in Andy Lee. Lee gets an impressive combination of distance and hang time that usually allows him to avoid over-kicking the punt return coverage. Lee is 2nd in the NFL in net punt yards, and the 49ers are 14th in the league in punt return average at 8.3 yards. While that is not fantastic, it's still solid enough. The 49ers will be facing their toughest test of the season in Jackson. When a team faces a great punt returner, the team will aim for shorter punts out of bounds rather than give up the big return. I'd imagine initially the 49ers are going to be willing to play with fire and see if Andy Lee and his punt coverage team can contain the best returner in the game right now.
DeSean Jackson - Wide Receiver
Jackson was certainly a solid receiver in college, but I always thought he did most of his damage as a return man. I was able to pull up his ESPN college stats page, and it's an intriguing group of numbers. His final season saw an increase his receptions, but a sizable decrease in yards per catch. I recall some complaints about his receiving skills his final season, but nothing of the sort regarding his punt return skills.
However, since taking his game to the NFL, I wonder if he's starting to turn into a better receiver? His yards per catch this season surpasses his best year in college and it seems like we're always treated to footage of him having to slow down after burning a receiver after Donovan McNabb seems to underthrow the speedy receiver. Whatever the case may be, I feel more impressed with him as a receiver in the NFL than I did when he was a receiver at Cal. Maybe at Cal he felt he didn't need to bring his A-game every week, or maybe there's some other reason. Either way, he's impressing.
Of course, that means somebody on the 49ers will get the pleasure of covering Jackson on Sunday. This past week saw the 49ers do a masterful job against the dynamic Arizona receiving duo of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. I'm guessing at this point we'll see Shawntae Spencer covering Jackson. The Eagles will be without Jeremy Maclin this Sunday, but could have Kevin Curtis in the lineup. It sounds like the top 3 receivers for Philly will be Jackson, Reggie Brown and Jason Avant. It's a bit of speculation, but I suppose the matchups would be Spencer/Jackson, Bly/R. Brown and T. Brown/Avant.
When you've become the #1 corner, as it appears is the case with Spencer, you're going to face a team's #1 guy most every week. Spencer did a good job last week, although he certainly had to benefit from the beating Kurt Warner took for much of the game. It'll be interesting to see if he can keep up with speedy Jackson all game long.
DeSean Jackson can certainly be contained. He's had his share of poor performances, but right now he's playing well, and just as importantly, his quarterback also seems to be playing fairly well. During this 4-game winning streak, Donovan McNabb has put up very solid numbers, even if they don't blow you away at first sight. The question now is if the 49ers can slow down what has been a rather prolific scoring team. If they're going to do this, it will likely require finding a way to shut down both DeSean Jacksons.
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Jackson is a type of WR we don't match up well against...
Our biggest success (to the extent we have ANY) seems to be against larger wide receivers who play physical, but are limited speed-wise (see Fitz, Boldin). Our secondary seems to have a lot of problems covering receivers who are very shifty, once they get off the line.
Assuming Spencer is on Jackson, he really needs to play just as close as we did against Fitz. BEAT HIM UP at the line, and once he gets off the line make sure you use solid technique and footwork to not be out of position. If Goldson is floating over the top, and Spencer stays in position, we may be okay. But just giving Jackson space so as not to get beat deep will be a disaster… he’ll carve us with with 12-15 yard gains all day.
Who would say is better?
Larry Fitz or Deshaun Jackson?
What did we do to Larry in the last game? That is right! I am not worried one bit
2 differnt types of receiver though. jackson has lightening spped compared to larry. spencer’s going to have to disrupt his routes playing up on him the whole game
by srill waiting on Dec 17, 2009 8:58 AM PST up reply actions
this
he’s smaller (Jackson) so Spencer should be able to knock him off his route pretty good. Goldson will be key though over the top. If Spencer whiffs on the jam or falls down (like Nate did against Roddy White, though he was playing off)…safety help is crucial
the thing is this is week 15. through 14 games you would think that the league would have this figured out and yet…. well you know. easier said than done thing.
by srill waiting on Dec 17, 2009 9:16 AM PST up reply actions
yeah, i haven't studied tape
but I wonder what teams have done that worked? If Maclin is out maybe we double D.Jax some and press him other times. Mix up the looks?
Grasping at straws and trying to feel good about the result…
Nnamdi Asomugha shut him down
Press coverage FTW.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
by SportsChicken on Dec 17, 2009 1:07 PM PST up reply actions
Still lost
Hopefully he won’t find it this week either. But that’s a tall order considering he had none last week and has 10 combined (7 rec, 2 ret, 1 rush).
that's the most important thing isn't it?
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
by SportsChicken on Dec 18, 2009 9:35 AM PST up reply actions
Furthermore
Fitz and Jackson have played a full season against different matchups and different defenses.
Still, who is the best overall receiver?
It’s Fitzgerald. But it doesnt mean Jackson won’t finish with like 3 catches for 90 yards, including a 70 yarder. Which could be bad if it comes at a crucial time.
there is a way
We have to be physical to beat jackson. I mean every touch or catch he has to be hit hard. Jackson is fast, but he is light.
Let's get the division!
by chriscream on Dec 17, 2009 8:55 AM PST via mobile reply actions
This.
The 49ers must fulfill the pre-draft fears that Jackson was too small for the NFL. I’m not saying hurt him, but take him off his routes, ruin his timing, etc.
As for Jackson the returner, I think the 49ers coverage teams should be able to contain him.
if after the first punt he gets a good return I say andy should be punting the rest of the balls out of bounds,stay off the field. don’t give him a chance
by srill waiting on Dec 17, 2009 9:30 AM PST up reply actions
and...
on that note for our return scheme. we should just rush the punter with 10 and leave 1 back to FAIR CATCH THE BALL. at least it may get us a wild card play with a block
by srill waiting on Dec 17, 2009 9:33 AM PST up reply actions
Little guy
I haven’t seen Jackson successful while in Linebacker Land. He always works better one-on-one on the outside. Could you imagine what would happen to him if he caught a pass near Willis? My Lord, there’d be nothing left but sneakers! Goldson will have to do a little “Ronnie Lott” on this kid: make him fear catchin’ passes!
T. Zachary Moradian
+1
I doubt he tries to go over the middle though, just the sight of Wills would probably make him do a complete 180 and head toward the sideline. With that said, I hope they attempt it and I hope Willis knocks him out of the game… of course I wish the kid no harm, but maybe he gets a shoulder stinger and can’t continue… I’m OK with that.
by return2greatness on Dec 17, 2009 10:49 AM PST up reply actions
Bump and run
I actually think the Niners having some young physical guys in the secondary will make for a good matchup. I don’t mind playing bump and run on Desean all day. Match that with the pass rush the Niners have had for the past three weeks and it should make for a really interesting contest.
donovan
he’s not as mobile as he used to be but still is a threat out of the pocket. the dline will need to contain him in the pocket and keep him crowded which will be tough. a lot of stunts up front would be nice to see. it would throw their timing off a bit.( I hope)
And a lot of...
I don’t know who this Brooks guy is, but if he can build off his performance Monday night and get after Donovan, I think we’ll frustrate him like Warner into some tasty INT’s.
T. Zachary Moradian
You don't know?
Ahmed Brook went to Virgina and was one of the best LB’s in the country. He got into trouble at school and was kicked off the team during his junior (?) year. Nolan wanted him in the supplemental draft but the Bengals snatched him up first. Once cut from Cincy, we picked him up and he basically sat on the P-Squad all last year. He has all the talent in the world but his work ethic was always a huge question mark. Sing looks to have turned that around as we are finally egtting a chance to see what this kid can do. I can tell you this… I’m mega excited to see how good he can be.
by return2greatness on Dec 17, 2009 10:43 AM PST up reply actions
Rushing Downright Awful?
“leaving the remaining Philly running backs who have been rather inconsistent at times, and downright awful the last couple weeks.” Don’t think so, against the Falcons, our running backs accounted for 190 rush/rec yards. Don’t look at just rushing totals.
I'm sure it was a mistake
I know McCoy is a rising star and Leonard Weaver is great (in fact, he went to High School about 3 miles from where I sit and type this now)
McCoy is always missing holes and just isn't as elusive as Westbrook
He shouldn’t be a problem.
Leonard Weaver on the other hand is a 49er killer.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
by SportsChicken on Dec 17, 2009 1:09 PM PST up reply actions
jackson
san fran does not have the speed to cover him down field. most teams dont we just need to get after mcnabb. mcnabb needs to have a bad day and we make the mistake having roman out there way to much.
Have faith
I believe if Spencer jams this kid at the line, we’ll have him in grasp all day. Playing off will allow him to do all sorts of moves and that puts a lot of pressure on Spencer and Goldson. I have faith that Iron Mike will have a “rough” gameplan in play for Jackson. Remember – Our boys need this win more that Philly.
T. Zachary Moradian
I'm not
Missing all of training camp and the first 5 games and Crabs still has made an impact. Next season he’ll be the beast we need! I’ll take versitile over speedy any day of the week! Oh and btw: RIP Chris Henry.
T. Zachary Moradian
I think he means
He’s not bitter the Niners didn’t take Desean in light of what Crabs has been showing thus far despite missing training camp (yeah, can you imagine if he didn’t miss training camp?!?) Crabs has been doing some really good things (Thank you so much Al for not taking him, I can see speed makes all the difference. . .NOT), but is not anywhere near the level of Desean yet. And yeah we definitely could have taken him in 2008, but we got Chilo Rachal. :| Took a Cardinal over a Golden Bear, I bet that ticks you off ! Who knows what he was thinking, but if McCloughan thought we needed a WR during the 2nd round, WHY DIDN’T HE TAKE DESEAN?!?!?
Actually Chilo is from $SC...but same difference
I am bitter because there was a chance that we could have gotten crabs AND desean… (just imagine that…DJ streaking down the sideline and Crabs pulling them in in the middle…also DJ on the PR team would have won us at one game (stupid SEA game).)
I am ticked a little because DJ was a Golden Bear but more so because DJ has everything that niners were lacking at the time, speed, game changer, and good receiver.
(don’t forget, Philly picked up Maclin in 2009 w/the 19th pick…Crabs still could have gone to the niners even if they improved a little with DJ)
Oh yikes
My bad, maybe I had him confused with Kwame Harris? No I’m not that crazy. Sorry Chilo! :P
But yeah, what a deadly tandem that would have been. UGH, depressing to even think about it.
BTW, USC in the Emerald Bowl, that just doesn’t sound right. . .
He's a Jr
So he’d have to declare elligible for the draft, but even so I can’t see him going that early. The Niners do have two 1st round picks next year so that might make for a possibility. But judging by depth at RB and need at OL, they are almost sure to look for an OL in their first pick.
He will go the NFL...the concussion injury make it certain
Would want to get paid…would not risk another injury in college.
Last year...
we contained DJ pretty well, only 2 punt returns for 14 yards with 6 rec for 98 yards and no TDs. Maybe if he catches a deep one on us he’ll do a front-handspring, triple-backflip cartwheel and spike the ball on the 1 yard line and we can recover.
by mr. instigator on Dec 17, 2009 11:19 AM PST reply actions
mcNabb
better put on 2 protectors on for those ribs, cuz we coming at him. we just contained Big Bad Cardinals offense, we aint scared of the Eagles. just hope the short week and travel doesnt mess up our execution.
there go that man again! FRANK GORE #21
Short week.
Won’t make a difference. And neither will travelling. We will dominate.
by mr. instigator on Dec 17, 2009 11:29 AM PST up reply actions
Hopefully man
Three big keys to this game: Like AZ, keep the offense as balanced as possible, execute and convert. They do all three, they have a great chance. And if they win this one, hopefully it will be all uphill (upsmith?) from there. Whatever happens it should be fun.
I'd rather the short week
than a long one. We do horrible after a long week.
Yes Drew K, Tim Tebow will get picked in the first round.
I'm actually more afraid of Westbrook
Yes that’s right, Brian Westbrook (only if he plays). Especially after what he did to us last time.
The difference though
Not really that he’s a little banged up, but more so that when the Niners lost to Philly last year, Nolan was still the HC, and I think the Niners all around are better this year.
He seems OK
His body is as fresh as ever.
They’re just worried about head injuries (sever concussion).
I don’t want the 49ers to be the team Westbrook comes back against.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
by SportsChicken on Dec 17, 2009 1:12 PM PST up reply actions
Me neither
I think we can dehinge McCoy’s jawbone, ya dig?
by mr. instigator on Dec 17, 2009 4:46 PM PST up reply actions
chilo isnt the pick that comes to mind..
its the first rounder Kentwan Balmer…. yikes!! what could have been Desean..
if Tarrell Brown
was a little more consistent, I’d say he would match up well with DeSean. Physically, he’d be the right guy.
We cannot hope to outrun Jackson
The man’s a freakin green and white streak, and will outrun the 49ers secondary all day long – granted, the Giants secondary (I think) is considerably worse than ours, and Jackson was having a field day this past Sunday. The Niners have no choice but to either stand the man up at the line, keep more than one guy honed in on him, and take the House of Blitz to McNabb and sit his arse down (preferably a combination of at least 2 every time).
These guys can beat themselves more often than not – McNabb is as consistant as the defense allows him to, and the Eagles live and die by the big plays. I greatly appreciate the Cardinals “warm-up”, because not only did it show SF how to crush the pass attack, but they did it against (what was initially thought to be) a solid team. McNabb is more mobile, the WR’s hostile…and to be quite frank, I’m looking forward to our offense performance more this Sunday. If Smith, Gore, and Company can’t get started up, the defense will be moot in short order.
In closing, the Niners had faced a fitting opponent before this week, and the Eagles just came off a major win with a ton (perhaps even too many) of points. One cannot write off that they might not be ready for this game, and the Niners may finally pull it off on the road.
I went to the SF/Buffalo last year, listening to the local boys write the Niners off after the Bills just crushed the Chiefs 54-31, and then the Niners stomped them on their trip to the East – the first west coast team to do so last year. Now the Eagles just out gunned the Giants 45-38, and no doubt the people there are assuming a shoe-in this week… see the resemblance?
I’ll be in Philadelphia Sunday pulling for our Crimson Storm of the West to pull the upset. Best of luck to the San Francisco Forty Niners!
Well said
Let us take a lesson from the Week 6 Raiders who stuck it to the Eagles with almost no offensive output. We just need someone to be as ferocious as Richard Seymour.
The difference between big wins
Before last Monday the biggest win of the season was against St. Louis. The Niners followed up the big win against an awful team with a game against what was at the time a pretty good team in ATL and got their butts handed to them. The face value explanation to that would be they played a miserable team at home and beat them handily as expected. But they overblew that expectation and went into ATL overconfident and fell victim to a letdown. The difference this week is they’re coming off a win against a contender with an away game against another contender. So I would think the Niners are more conscious of the fact that they can’t play to any lesser of a degree than last Monday. If not they have to play to a higher one! I think knowing what is at stake and how they’ve progressed as of late, they should do well.
Double coverage all day long
Without Maclin, Goldson doesn’t have to worry about anybody else other than Jackson.
As long as they don’t blitz McNabb too much (he’ll just hit Celek for short gains all day).
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
Whow got the AFC Offensive Player of the Week?
If anyone other than Brandon Marshall go it, that would not be right
Tim Tebow = 1,432,219 season tickets next year. Who wouldn't pick him in the 1st round with those projections?
Did anyone see the Yahoo video of who Brandon Marshall would pick as his fantasy superstar. After himself, he said he would pick Jay Cutler!
After missing as much time as he has, Gore still has a very good chance to go over 1000 yards this season. He currently sits at 835 and is 1 TD away from tieing a career high 8 TD’s. He could go over with a repeat performance this weekend.
I’ve been really impressed on how well he has come back from the two ankle injuries on the same leg.
Tim Tebow = 1,432,219 season tickets next year. Who wouldn't pick him in the 1st round with those projections?
Just an Eagles fan dropping by
All the stuff written in here is great in theory but in practice… not so much.
The idea that you can press DeSean and beat him isn’t true, I don’t know if you guys notice, but DeSean is blazing fast, quite possibly fastest at the WR spot in the NFL right now. You should go look back at the Bears game where Charles Tillman tried to press him, or against Oakland when Scrabble tried to press him, he burns people and before you have the opportunity to even get a hand on him he is already past you.
And double covering him worked earlier in the year when the Buccaneers and Panthers did it, but he has since figured out how to beat that and the Eagles coaching staff has realized how to create mismatches against double coverage (i.e. him moving to the slot for example).
The 49ers best hope is to get in his head because he will take himself out of game like he did against the Cowboys and Redskins (last season).
And the whole idea that DeSean can just be hit hard and he is done is overplayed because clearly that is not the case, he can take a hit with the best of them and he is possibly the best in the NFL at avoiding big hits, in 2 years in the NFL he has caught one big hit. And to get a big hit the defense will have to catch him and DeSean is slippery he isn’t a big guy but he is impossible to tackle in the open field one on one.
DeSean is a top 10 receiver in the NFL right now and Spencer will have his hands full because DeSean is much quicker than Larry Fitzgerald and Spencer had the speed to stick with Fitz and he was physical enough to throw him off his game but the game-plan against DeSean will have to be completely different because DeSean is considerably faster than Larry Fitzgerald.
Terell Brown
Why not put our fastest CB on their fastest receiver?
We could put Spencer in press, but that will hardly be effective against Jackson. Brown has something yet to prove and this would be a good opportunity.
I’d rather have spencer playing the 2nd receiver Avant. That way we know he could shut him down.
I think...
… Brown/Bly can probably shut down Avant as it stands, or at least keep pretty close tabs on him. Spencer isn’t as fast as Brown/Bly, but he’s not as slow as Clements is, either.
Tarell Brown
Ran the 40 in 3.87 seconds. He can out run DJax or Chris Johnson with EASE. He will SHUT down DJax.
by mr. instigator on Dec 18, 2009 9:00 AM PST up reply actions
3.87?
He’s a lot faster than that dude.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
by SportsChicken on Dec 18, 2009 9:40 AM PST up reply actions
Yeah
I think you’re right, I heard he had a broken ankle at the time of the combine so it probably slowed him down a bit. He could be sub 3.8.
by mr. instigator on Dec 18, 2009 1:22 PM PST up reply actions
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