Every time the Falcons scored a touchdown on Sunday, there would be a pile of media members and fans who would tweet: “Kyle Shanahan won’t have Julio Jones or Matt Ryan in San Francisco.”
That point is understood.
But so is the fact that the 49ers’ presumptive head coach knows where and how to attack defenses.
NFL Films guru Greg Cosell joined Tolbert and Lund and argued it’s not just Atlanta’s talent that’s making the Falcons go — it’s also Shanahan’s wherewithal.
“He has a great feel for understanding the tendency coverages of the opponent, and that’s where it starts,” Cosell said. “Because you have to understand the tendencies and the coverages in order to break them down. And he’s really good at that. And then he has really good route concepts to do that with. Whether they are two-man concepts, three-man concepts, he’s very, very good at that.
“Now, it obviously helps when you can win in man coverage. He has Julio Jones, he has two backs in (Devonta) Freeman and (Tevin) Coleman who are very good against man coverage. So obviously all those things help. But he’s very, very good particularly when breaking down zone concepts, really good with the route concepts.”
The latest on the Shanahan hiring saga is that he’ll meet with Jed York, Paraag Marathe and other GM candidates (George Paton and Terry McDonough) on Saturday. Paton will also interview for the Indianapolis Colts’ GM opening this week.
Questions will linger about how Shanahan, 37, will fare as a first-time head coach. There will be more internal fires to fight, more meetings to hold, more interviews with the press. This is an entirely different position than offensive coordinator.
But in terms of an offensive mind who knows what he’s doing on the football field, the 49ers are arguably hiring the most qualified candidate.