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Washington Football Team: Week 14 reality checks vs. 49ers

By Tim Payne

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - DECEMBER 07: Chase Young #99 of the Washington Football Team celebrates following their 23-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on December 07, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - DECEMBER 07: Chase Young #99 of the Washington Football Team celebrates following their 23-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on December 07, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 19: Raheem Mostert #31 of the San Francisco 49ers runs the ball in the first half against the Green Bay Packers during the NFC Championship game at Levi’s Stadium on January 19, 2020 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 19: Raheem Mostert #31 of the San Francisco 49ers runs the ball in the first half against the Green Bay Packers during the NFC Championship game at Levi’s Stadium on January 19, 2020 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

2. The Reality Is, the 49ers have the best run offense this team will face all season.

The Shanahan run system is legendary. Mike Shanahan seemingly pumped out a new 1,000+ yard rusher every season in Denver and Washington.

Kyle Shanahan learned the zone run scheme from his dad, and he’s continued to add wrinkles, going all the way back to 2012 with RGIII and Alfred Morris in Washington.

Historically, the Washington defensive line has struggled a bit more with zone run teams than with gap scheme run teams. They are going to have to be extremely disciplined to avoid getting strung out and washed down the line by the 49ers’ offensive line.

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Ron Rivera mentioned in his press conference on Thursday that the defense needs to attack vertically and not let themselves get too spread out horizontally along the line of scrimmage. Ultimately, the ability to limit the San Fransisco running attack may be the single biggest key to this game for the Washington Defense.

My Prediction: Shanahan will pull out a few wrinkles to keep Washington off-balance, and the 49ers will manage to run the ball much more effectively than most teams have against Washington this season. Expect somewhere in the range of 175 yards on the ground for San Fransisco.

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