Manny Lawson report card, Week 2 (Now with pictures!)

Week 2, Seattle @ San Francisco

Final Score: 23-10, 49ers

Lawson's stat line: 3 solo tackles, 2 assisted tackles, 

Brooks stat line:  didn't play 

Parys Haralson's stat line: 1 solo tackle, 1 assisted

Jeff Ulbrich's stat line: 1 assisted tackle

1st Series
1.) left side. Down. pushed off line of scrimmage. 5 yard gain
2.) left side. Up. drops back into coverage. ball thrown away from him
3.) right side. nickel. up. rushes and is pushed outside.

2nd Series
1.) right side. up position. rushes, gets tangled up by the tackle and makes no impact
2.) right side. down. completely blocked by the tight end. 6 yard gain by the offense
3.) lined far right (Harlason, franklin, smith, balmer, lawson) gets into the backfield untouched but misses the tackle on a 3rd and 2. Seattle converts.
4.) Left side. up position. pushed out of play by tackle
5.) Left side. Up position. Rushes, sheds blocker. Gets a hand on Jones who runs away from him but is stopped. Lawson really should've had this tackle
6.) Lined up right. Nickel. completely held up by the tackle and didn't get in on the play

3rd Series
1.) Left side. Up. Blocked by tight end on a run play.
2.) Lined up on left side. Up position outside TE. Makes it to the backfield untouched and picked up by the RB.
3.) Right side. Nickel defense. Rushes and is untouched. Gets a hand in Hasselbeck's face as he throws the ball which is incomplete.

4th Series
1.) Left side in "rover" situation. Screen set up and goes outside. Lawson comes up to make the tackle. Excellent work
2.) Lined up on left side. Pass coverage against the tight end. The TE was wide open for a huge gain. Completely negates the excellent work done on the previous play. This was a 2nd and 15 that gained 17 yards.

3.) Left side. Down position. Pushed off LOS and is completely out of the play. Haralson manages to come from the other side to make the tackle
4.) Out of play (Ulbrich in)
5.) Out of play (Ulbrich in)
6.) Right side. Nickel defense. Rushes and gets pushed out of play.
7.) Right side. Up position in pass defense on full back who comes out of the flats. Run for 2 yard gain on other side
8.) Right side. Nickel defense. Up position outside of tackle. Rushes and is pushed outside of action.
9.) Right side in up position. Does a little dance in front of the lineman which accomplishes nothing.

5th Series
1.) Left side. Up position. blocked on run play by the TE.
2.) Left side. Drops in pass protection man on the TE. Ball not thrown his way
3.) Right Side. Down. Nickel defense. Rushes but no pressure. Louosy pass-rush technique

6th Series
1.) Down on right side. Nickel defense. Lined up outside of tackle at an angle. No pressure
2.) Right side. 4 pt stance. Nickel. Actually manages a bull-rush with pressure
3.) Lined up on right side outside of tackle. Runs stunt with Justin Smith and picked up by center. Hasselbeck rushes right up the middle for an 8 yard gain and a first down

4.) Right side outside of tackle. Does a nice swim move to get past tackle but then seems to barely tap the RB.
5.) Not in play (Ulbrich subbing)
6.) Not in play (Ulbrich subbing)
7.) Not in play (Ulbrich subbing)
8.) Not in play (Ulbrich subbing)
9.) Not in play
10.) Right side. Up position. Dances with opposing tackle and gets no pressure
11.) Lined up on right side. Stunt to middle, easily blocked by the center.
12.) Right side. 3 Pt stance. Rushes and is man-handled badly by the right tackle. Thrown to the ground.

7th Series
1.) Left side. Up position. Julius Jones bounces off his right guard into Lawson
2.) Left side. Up position. Lined up outside of tackle. Rushes and barely taps the running back for no pressure. Lawson should be able to knock a RB off his feet.

3.) Stacked up on right side with both OLB on that side. Lawson tries to find a seam up the middle but doesn't get close to the QB

8th Series
1.) Left side. Up. Pushed off LOS
2.) Left side. Up. Rushes and is cut blocked by the RB
3.) Not in play. Ulbrich subbing
4.) Right side. Nickel defense. Lined up outside of tackle. Sucked in on a beautifully executed screen play
5.) Not in play. Ulbrich subbing
6.) Left side. In pass protection on slot receiver. Bad snap so no play his way
7.) Drops back into "rover" position. Run to left side. Lawson runs that way and gets tangled up with two other 49ers.

9th Series
1.) Right side. Down position. Nickel defense. Rushes and is pushed otuside of play
2.) Right side. Up position. Nickel. Makes a one-handed rush then drops back into coverage
3.) Right side. Nickel defense. Up position. Rushes, held up by tackle. Gives up on play at first contact and doesn't continue to pursue the ball.
4.) Right side. Up position. Rushes and gets past tackle. Does a really good rip move on the running back to put pressure on the QB that causes a bad throw and leads to the interception.

10th Series
1.) Right side. Up position. Tries stunt and bumps into Haralson knocking him to the ground
2.) Right side. Down. Nickel defense. Gets good pass rush with pressure on the QB
3.) Not in play. (Had Haralson, McDonald, Smith and Balmer)

11th Series
1.) Right side. Down. Off the line slow, tries to move to the middle in a stunt, that doesn't work so runs back to the other side.
2.) Lined up on right side. Down. Nickel defense. Drops back into pass coverage. Bobbled snap so no pass thrown
3.) Right side. Up. Nickel. Gets good bull-rush on tackle, pressuring Wallace
4.) Right side. Up. NIckel. Rushes one-handed and bounces off tackle. Gets lucky because Wallace scrambles to the right and Lawson runs around to sack him. This sack is caused by the pressure Haralson is bringing that forces Wallace out.

5.) Right side. Down. Nickel. Tries stunt to middle but no room so dances around until the ball is thrown
6.) Right side. Down. Gets decent bull-rush despite being double-teamed
7.) Not in play. Ulbrich in for him, Evans in for Haralson
8.) Not in play. Ulbrich and Evans in
9.) Not in play.
10.) Right side. Nickel defense. Rushes but really quick dump-off
11.) Right side. Nickel defense. Down position. Rushes gets no pressure
12.) Right side. Nickel. Down. Rushes, pushed out of play.
13.) Right side. Nickel. Down. Rushes and does a good job getting pressure but does it by tripping over the center

12th Series
1.) In middle as rover. Pass to the left side of field, Lawson chases him down for the tackle
2.) In middle as rover. Pass to Burleson on far right. Lawson chases him down and Burleson slides to end the game.

Some comments

1.) Lawson's bull-rush technique is awful. He gets absolutely no leverage which is why he's  so easily pushed around. 

2.) Another irritating trait is his tendency to give up on plays way too soon. As soon as he thinks the play is done (regardless of the whistle) he gives up. It happens over and over again and cost us at least one game.

3.) In this game Lawson was used more as a linebacker, but didn't have many balls thrown his way. He did give up a huge play on a critical down so I'd have to say that his pass-coverage thus far is below average.

4.) Speaking of pass coverage, Clements was on fire this game (and the AZ game). I have high hopes for him this season.

5.) Balmer and Evans got plenty of action this game and did decent. 

Slightly better this week than last but still not very good. I'd give him a D for this week's work. A couple of good plays, a couple of bad plays and a whole bunch of nothing. Last week it was a whole bunch of nothing, with only one good play.