What Can Dallas Do Against the 49er D? | Divisional Round Preview by Kurt Warner | NFL Playoffs

When I was playing, I loved to play against the best defenses in the league. I knew it was going to be a huge challenge, all those defenses did something a little bit different but they each had their strengths. I loved the cat and mouse game and chess match, trying to figure out what I would do against those great defenses. Could I be the quarterback that exploited what they did? Or using their strengths against them? Last week, you guys know I took a look at the 49ers defense and what I thought Seattle could do against them. Actually, what I talked about last week, I think every team can do against the 49ers. They aren’t necessarily weak in those areas but there are some ways that you can find some holes and spread them out. Talked a lot on the empty formation last week. I went back on the last game in the playoffs where the Cowboys played the 49ers. Just to see what it is that Dallas does and how the 49ers played them last year. The 49ers do basically the same stuff. The same defense and structure. The little nuances that they throw in every week. I’m going to take a look at the 49ers again and say this is what I might do differently if I were the Cowboys. This is what I need to be ready for and have answers for. That’s what goes through my mind. I want to attack the best defenses in the league and I want to show you guys some different things to pay attention to that might show up with what they do. And also how you might be able to take advantage of some of those things. Let’s take a look at the tape from last year! Here’s a look at the tape on what San Fran does. They are so good. They understand what you do. Fred Warner especially understands. How you try to attack different teams. He has got great keys and movement and covers a lot of ground. I also say, when you have guys with great instincts and understanding, you have to use their strength against them. You have to understand what they do really well and then you have to design plays that take them and let them use their great skills and you counter it with something to take advantage of that. All the great players I played against always had to do that. Understand what they do really well? What do their instincts and where do they take advantage of what you do offensively? Their instincts try to play their favor and I expect them to run through, turn and cover, etc. If I expect them to do that, what’s my counter to take advantage of them doing what I expect them to do? I want to use their instincts against them. Those are some of the things I would do if I was the Cowboys in playing against the 49ers in knowing what they like to do. They like to run that middle-closed Seattle cover 3 when running zones. Also, shell coverage covers 4 which exploits them underneath because there is only 2-3 underneath. But we can’t let guys like Fred Warner take advantage of knowing what we do so we don’t exploit them underneath. We have to attack by running those seam or influence posts right at them. So then we can attack the outside. These are some of the things I would do and I would go in with a plan for if they play similar the way they did last year because they had so much success and it’s still the base of their defense. #nfl #49ers #dallascowboys