Tale of the Tape: Frank Gore and Ryan Tannehill
A majority of Week 16 of the NFL season is behind us, leaving only the fantasy football wasteland of Week 17 ahead. For daily fantasy players, that means one last full slate of games to boost the bankroll while season-long players count their money or lick their wounds after a hectic four months of football.
So for DFSers looking ahead to the last week of the regular season, let’s make sense of two of this past week’s best performers, and consider if they’ll be worth the salary in the 2014 NFL regular season’s final week of daily fantasy.
How Frank Gore Got Back to Business
Frank Gore is old. Frank Gore was hurt. The 49ers offense kinda sucks. There were plenty of reasons to totally ignore the veteran tailback, even in a nice matchup in a slate with very few other options. But once Frank Gore was cleared to play Saturday against the Chargers, he rewarded those who trusted him with a big day on the ground. San Francisco’s top back ran for 158 yards, including a long touchdown, which showed why the 49ers running game is worth investing in when the matchup is right and the team doesn’t trip over itself on offense.
The 49ers ran Power O on the long touchdown, a tried-and-true staple of the power running game that the Niners use quite a bit. The objective for the blockers on the play side is to “down block,” or take the man to their inside and push them further toward the backside of the play. The exception will be the fullback, who will take the outside defender and seal him off, as well as a pulling guard who will lead the way for the back.
Due to the Chargers’ formation, the Niners will use a double-team on the defensive end using the tight end and tackle. This should, in theory, leave the guard with a one-on-one block on the linebacker filling the gap, and then plenty of room for Gore to run.
You can see how the play is developing on the strong side of the play here, as the tight end helps guide the defensive end inside to clear a path “off tackle”. The fullback is doing his job, attacking the outside defender, while the guard is making his way across the formation.
You can see the strong side of the line has gotten a bit messy, as some Chargers players have been able to get away from their blockers, but only enough to disrupt the positioning, and not enough to penetrate the running lane. The blockers for San Francisco do a good job of keeping them hemmed in to the tackle box, giving Gore room to run outside.
You’ll also notice Anquan Boldin appearing in this image. He’ll show up a couple more times as a key figure in the Niners run blocking schemes.
The pulling guard winds up blocking the linebacker like it was drawn up on the chalk board, and Boldin’s block on the defensive back adds another level of protection for Gore as he makes his way through the line of scrimmage.
Gore turns on the jets and gets through the line and, at this point, has a nice gain that will help the Niners move the chains and keep the ball. But he doesn’t stop there.
Frank Gore scores a touchdown on this play.
Look at the image above, and then my last statement, and try to reconcile them in your brain.
Gore has picked up six yards, would have likely fallen forward for another yard or two, and would have been praised by his teammates and given a pat on the back for his efforts. But somehow, his balance and lower-body strength kept him upright despite two professional football players wrapping him up from either side, and he slipped away for more yards.
Oh, and let’s not forget the All-Pro safety waiting to clean up the mess should his teammates miss the tackle…
… who Gore leaves behind with a simple cutback and a stiff arm.
This play is the perfect combination of execution by the offensive line and extra effort from a back that leads to a big gain and a score, and it’s what the Niners are capable of at any time thanks to the immense amount of talent they possess on offense. It just hasn’t been put to use as often as it should have been this season.
Hey, this play looks familiar. It’s another Power O, with another pulling guard, and another great block from Anquan Boldin.
Notice the cut block from the fullback and the down block from Boldin, keeping the defense inside of the tackle box, allowing Gore room to run in space to the outside.
The guard winds up blocking a defensive back on this play, since the linebackers got caught up in the mess in the middle of the field, and this springs Gore for a nice little gain.
There’s no ridiculous tackle-breaking or juking on this run, but it is another example of how the 49ers offensive line can overpower a weaker defense, and how Frank Gore is an ideal back to patiently wait for blocks and run behind this talented group in the trenches.
Gore and the 49ers face the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17 in what should be Jim Harbaugh’s last game on the sidelines. Will that inspire them to play hard for a coach that brought them plenty of success? Or will they apathetically roll over for one of the NFC’s top teams so far this season?
If the Niners play like they did against San Diego, they will likely be the fifth team in the last six weeks to go over 100 rushing yards against Arizona, including the Seahawks, who gashed the Cardinals for a big run on “17 Power,” a power run play with a pulling guard that led to Marshawn Lynch’s big touchdown on Sunday night.
Ryan Tannehill Played Like Ryan Tannehill Against the Vikings
Watching back through Ryan Tannehill’s tape against the Vikings, I thought it looked a lot like the Ryan Tannehill I remember from previous weeks. I had to keep reminding myself that the Miami quarterback was one of the leading fantasy scorers on Sunday, because the tape just seemed like “average Tannehill,” which usually isn’t good for four touchdowns.
The Vikings have been fairly stingy against quarterbacks this season, allowing one passing touchdown or less in eight games this year. And no one was feeling all that confident in Tannehill after throwing three picks and only two touchdowns over his previous three games, including cupcake matchups with the Ravens’ banged up secondary and the bad Jets pass defense.
But Tannehill found the end zone four times in a surprisingly high-scoring game, and was allowed to throw 47 times for the second week in a row, which drove up his fantasy value and produced a day to remember for those who played him in DFS.
Dion Sims is lined up in the slot for this Tannehill touchdown, with a running back to his right and a wideout to his left. He’s drawn coverage from a defensive back, something that a backup tight end usually wouldn’t get when split out wide, but the Vikings have spread the field with the Dolphins to try to cover every potential target.
Sims takes a step to the inside and then cuts back outside to continue up the field, his movement lacking in fluidity but making up for it in results. You can see the defensive back bite hard on the step to the inside, and that leaves him way out of position to defend Sims in the end zone.
Tannehill’s throw comes to the outside of Sims, almost too far, but it’s a wise decision to err on the side of caution with a late-arriving safety coming from the middle of the field. Tannehill appeared to quickly go through his progressions and got to Sims after he made his break (based on his head movement, it’s tough to know for sure what he was looking at), leaving him with a quickly closing window despite the great move from his tight end.
But this was a fair touchdown for Tannehill, as were two of his other three scores, which were bullet throws to the goal line for scores in a tight game. But his first touchdown to Mike Wallace can only be described in pictures…
This is a bad throw. Tannehill stared Wallace down, and the defensive back knew exactly what was coming. He just wasn’t quick enough to get in position to fully deflect the football forward or catch it, letting it bounce off of his hands (as well as Wallace’s) up into the air in the most fortunate of ways for the Dolphins.
But these count as fantasy points all the same for the young signal caller, who posted his first career four-touchdown game and posted his second highest yardage total since entering the NFL.
Tannehill showed his mobility and ability to throw on the run during this game, and was generally accurate on his throws, leading to an impressive stat line at the end of the game. So can he be trusted in Week 17 against the Jets?
New York, of course, shut Tannehill down in what seemed like a great matchup just a few weeks ago, and have allowed 24 or fewer points in regulation in six of their last seven games. The Jets are coming off of a solid outing against the Patriots, and are playing late-season spoiler with a defense that’s improving seemingly by the week.
So like he was this past week, I believe Tannehill is a contrarian GPP play thanks to his upside as a runner and a passer, but he’s definitely not cash-game eligible unless someone at the DraftKings or FanDuel offices hits a wrong button and prices him well below other mid-range QB options. He’s just not a week-in, week-out performer worthy of your faith in lineups that seek value, but he proved again on Sunday that he’s capable of winning you a GPP with his explosive upside.