SANTA CLARA — Azeez Al-Shaair knew it was a moment of truth. The 49ers’ linebacker had talked about it during the week with his teammates, plotting a strategy that wouldn’t have been conceivable for his defensive predecessors back in the day.
As Al-Shaair closed in to make the stop on a scrambling Justin Fields on third-and-1, part of him knew Fields could hit the ground in a slide. It would then be incumbent upon Al-Shaair to pull off and tap the quarterback down with his hand. Except Fields slid late, Al-Shaair had instinct take over and it was 15-yard penalty. First down Bears.
Three plays later, Fields hit Equanimeous St. Brown for a 19-yard touchdown and the Bears had a 19-10 lead that would hold up in a Week 1 upset.
Fields had already lured in Dre Greenlaw on a similar play on the sideline, giving the Bears 15 yards while in their own territory and a first down, though the drive ended with a punt.
Next up is Seattle’s Geno Smith in the 49ers’ home opener Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. The 49ers’ defenders are studying up on how to make sure they don’t give the Seahawks extra yards every time Smith ventures from the pocket.
The 49ers are hoping the roughness fouls aren’t this season’s repeat offense. Last season, it was defensive pass interference, something the 49ers didn’t get a hold on until midseason approached. But they’ll be tested in each of the next two weeks, as Smith and Denver’s Russell Wilson have been known to stray from the pocket and become a moving target.
Smith ran six times for 14 yards in a 17-16 win over the Broncos Monday night. Smith is 32, but remains mobile and isn’t too far removed from the quarterback who ran for 366 yards as a rookie for the New York Jets in 2013 during the only season when he started 16 games in his career.
“You kind of have to know who you’re playing,” Greenlaw said. “We know if we’re playing a guy like Josh Allen he ain’t going to slide. Geno Smith, on the other hand, he might slide, he might not. Definitely going in there with the idea that you’ve still got to hit him, but after what happened last week, we definitely have to be more cautious.”
The 49ers’ penalties — Greenlaw also had a costly facemask — gave life to a Bears offense that totaled only 204 yards, with defensive end Nick Bosa lamenting 15 free yards to a team that “can’t move the ball.”
Coach Kyle Shanahan realizes defensive players are put in an almost impossible position, but the split-second decisions are something they have to deal with as part of the job.
“We knew how it was going to be,” Shanahan said. “When you dive at a sliding quarterback, you have get them down, but when they slide, you have to avoid them. You can’t land on top of them. That’s something we talked about a lot and it is a very tough thing to do for those guys. But that’s part of this game, and you can’t have any excuses with it.”
On Greenlaw’s unnecessary roughness penalty, the flag looked obvious in real time. It looked different in slow motion, where Greenlaw appeared to pull up and not land with full force upon Fields. No matter. The flag flew anyway.
“I tried. I really did,” Greenlaw said. “They don’t see it. You’ve just got to take it, learn your lesson and when the quarterback has the ball, tone the aggression down just a little bit more. A lesson learned.”
Toning down the aggression, however, is counter to the nature of defensive players in general and linebackers in particular.
“You’re playing so hard to make every play and then all of a sudden you’re in a game where it’s like a hurricane, you’re trying to push him out of bounds, and he slides,” Greenlaw said. “They want you to jump over him at the last second, and it’s damn near impossible. He did a good job sliding at the right time.”
Defensive tackle Arik Armstead, like Greenlaw, brought up Buffalo’s Allen an example of a take-on-all-comers quarterback.
“He’s going to try and embarass you and if you come up expecting him to slide, he’ll stiff-arm you, run you over,” Armstead said. “You’ve got guys like Lamar (Jackson) who will make you miss. And guys who are really athletic, will take what they can and get down. It’s more of a challenge each year as the quarterback position gets more athletic.”
Al-Shaair, with a sigh, realizes the quarterback will always get the benefit of the doubt.
“There are rules that I don’t make I wish I could change,” Al-Shaair said. “It’s definitely frustrating for defensive players. But that’s what the league wants. The quarterback is the guy they’re trying to protect. You try to make a decision and live with it. But you definitely don’t want to get the penalty.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com