It was a tale of two halves for the 49ers when it came to pass protection. I asked Kyle Shanahan how he felt the offense fared, specifically his running backs. He did not seem too pleased:
“And yeah, I was disappointed in the pass protections. They’re bringing it to the back and the man coverage with the hug ups coming. And we got to do much better going forward than we did in that game because we struggled in that area.”
When he says, “hug ups,” that means when the running back stays in and blocks, the linebackers “hug” the line of scrimmage, and either get in the throwing lane or insert as an extra rusher.