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The San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys in their second preseason game by a final score of 23-6. I took a lot of Vines during the game and thought you would enjoy a Vine breakdown of the game. These aren't all of the vines I took. If you want to see all of them you can check out my Vine page. The Vines below don't break down the entire game, but they take a look at a variety of big and small storylines to consider as the 49ers pass the halfway point of their preseason schedule.
The beginning of the game was dominated by Jarryd Hayne punt returns. On his first return he not only makes a ridiculous over-the-shoulder catch, he then executes a solid return.
His second punt return might be better. I’m pretty sure that we might excavate a Cowboy when we re-sod Levi’s after that first move. To speed up the load time, Fooch removed some of the Vines and is linking to them. Check out Hayne's second return HERE.
In the midst of the Jarryd Hayne show, you had some offensive line breakdowns. The Cowboys had a pretty good, yet standard, scheme in this vine. It’s a slanted rush, with a looping player. The 49ers offensive line had issues protecting Kap with this scheme. While Marcus Martin looked to be suspect here, we have no idea what his protection call is. While he looks terrible on this play, we don’t know for sure what his call is. With that being taken into account, I still have him arrow down.
Trenton Brown looked like a turnstile in the first preseason game. And in game two, he didn’t look much better. But, on his worst play, he did get tripped. And that made him look worse than he played. Brown still leads the all "I’m going to make the practice squad" team, though.
There’s nothing I love more than a fat man INT. And in this game we saw just that. Mike "Preseason Star" Purcell showed off his athleticism on a pick-6. Honestly, he might have more vision and wiggle than Trent Richardson.
On defense, Mangini is all about disguise. Here is a cover-3 (single high safety) look where Tartt starts as the single high them comes into the box while Dahl becomes the actual single high. Just a little sample of the kind of subterfuge Mangini will employ.
The scrape exchange is one of the many ways a team can stop the zone read. In this case, the Dallas defense beats Gabbert with that concept and forces him into a keep via the scrape exchange.
I think Jaquiski Tartt is going to be a very good player. I especially like it when he destroys a failed 49er pick by the name of AJ Jenkins:
Quinton Patton did not have a great game. He had two negative plays where he tried to do too much and ended up losing yardage on his receptions. Then, he did this:
Every time I’m ready to quit him he PULLS ME BACK IN.
As the game wound down, we started to see some Mangini schemes start to take over. Vic Fangio hardly ever blitzed. But as we mentioned on the Better Rivals podcast, Mangini will blitz often. Here is an example of his blitzing prowess.
The game crawled to a close and the 49ers defense dominated. Dontae Johnson, a potential starter amongst third stringers, robbed Clyde gates (no. 81) on a hitch route. Acker and Johnson are in a battle for the starting spot. Acker received a TON of playing time tonight. It will be interesting to see how the team reacts after this game.
All in all this game was a feast for the 49ers defense and special teams. If anything this game against the Cowboys was a showcase for Eric Mangini’s defense, and Jarryd Hayne punt return skills.