49ers Announce Concerning News After Beating Giants
The San Francisco 49ers went on the road and secured a 34-24 win over the New York Giants on November 2 at MetLife Stadium. However, this victory came at a cost as the injury bug continues to bite the Niners.
After already losing Nick Bosa and Fred Warner to significant injuries, the 49ers may be facing another setback. Rookie defensive lineman Mykel Williams, the team’s 2025 first-round pick, went down and appeared visibly frustrated, pounding his helmet as medical staff attended
Following an evaluation in the blue tent, Williams slowly walked off toward the locker room. Head coach Kyle Shanahan gave an early update after the 49ers’ win over the Giants, expressing concern that Williams could have a serious knee injury.
“We’re worried it’s an ACL, but you never know until tomorrow,” Shanahan told reporters (h/t 49ers Web Zone). “He’s just down. You never know, so I said, ‘Hopefully, it’s not the worst, but if it is, hey, that sucks for this year, but that’s all that sucks for you. You’ll be back next year, and this won’t affect you at all.”
49ers QB Mac Jones Talks Mykel Williams Injury
A confirmed ACL injury to Williams would be another major setback for the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive line, already dealing with significant losses. Nick Bosa is out with a torn ACL, Bryce Huff remains sidelined with a hamstring issue, and Yetur Gross-Matos was placed on injured reserve Saturday.
Losing Williams, one of the team’s most promising young defenders, would further test the unit’s depth. 49ers quarterback Mac Jones remains hopeful that Williams’ injury isn’t serious, even as the team
“I don’t know what the severity of it was, but I was definitely pissed,” Jones said. “I was sitting there just getting ready to go back in, and I didn’t know who it was. And [then], I was like, ‘Oh, Mykel—I hope he’s OK.’ So just prayed for him, and I know he’s walking around and stuff, so hopefully he’s doing better.”
Will the 49ers Be Active at the Trade Deadline?
The 49ers recently added Keion White via trade and signed Clelin Ferrell to the practice squad to strengthen their defensive front. Despite mounting injury concerns, San Francisco improved to 6-3 with the road victory.
With the NFL trade deadline approaching on November 4, all eyes will be on the 49ers as a team that could make a move to address the losses, particularly on defense. One player that they are linked to is Cincinnati Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson. On November 2, FOX Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer provided an update on the veteran potentially being available.
“[The Bengals] did say no originally,” Glazer said on “FOX NFL Kickoff.” “Then, over the last couple of days, a bunch of GMs said, ‘Hey, you better check this out, because now they’re saying yes to us.
Blackhawks have progressed to learning next-level details of Jeff Blashill's defensive system
SEATTLE — Coach Jeff Blashill’s aggressive defensive system appears to be working relatively well for the Blackhawks.
They rank 12th in the NHL in goals allowed per minute during five-on-five play, although Spencer Knight’s excellent goaltending has contributed to that stat.
In terms of expected goals allowed, they rank 21st, but even that ranking is much improved compared to the last few seasons. Their analytics are less atrocious across the board, according to Natural Stat Trick, plus they’re improving over time.
The Hawks’ system encourages their defensemen to follow their marks and pressure the puck toward the perimeter of the defensive zone to try to kill plays quickly. It subsequently puts pressure on everyone — defensemen and forwards alike — to box out effectively because there’s less team support in the interior of the zone and around the net.
The Hawks have done a good job of boxing out, giving Knight clean sight lines to make saves. They’ve blocked only 25.4% of opponent shots, and that’s largely intentional; they want to reduce traffic wearing any color.
Now that they’ve gotten accustomed to the basic tenets of the system, Blashill has shifted toward coaching and explaining next-level intricacies. There’s still a ways to go until they master it completely.
“You can’t teach every little detail in a system right away,” Blashill said recently. “You give the main version of it, and then you start to teach the details within it as you go. That’s what we’ve tried to do. Part of it is just repetition. We try it in practice, get those reps, [get more] repetition in games and then guys get more comfortable with it.”
That’s true in all areas, not only the defensive zone. The Hawks have dived into greater detail about plays at both blue lines, forechecking strategies, penalty-kill entry defense and all sorts of other things. On Sunday, they practiced setting up below the goal line on five-on-three power plays — a trendy thing.
In the defensive zone specifically, though, a critical detail they’ve worked on involves cutting the zone in half vertically. That requires not only blocking lanes for always-dangerous seam passes but also cutting off pucks rimmed around the boards before they make it to the opposite corner.
To do that, Hawks wingers must pressure the opposing defensemen at the point, block their shooting lanes and angle them in such a way that their only option is to rim the puck down low.
“[We need to] find where the puck is and get our body or stick in the lane where it makes him uncomfortable to shoot,” forward Colton Dach said. “You have to have a good angle, as well. If you go straight at him, he could make the play around you. But you’ve just got to find a way to make him force the puck low.”
If a Hawks defenseman has his eyes up and can recognize and anticipate that’s about to happen, he can stop boxing out — leaving his man in front of the net — and jump the play, so he reaches the puck first behind the net. Blashill calls it “cutting the bottom off.”
Then he can send the puck back toward the side it came from or, if he has enough time, orchestrate a breakout by looking for a tape-to-tape pass.
“That’s the next progression to allow us to play less D-zone and put the puck in the forwards’ hands, which is where we have a lot of speed and skill,” defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said.
“That’s a tough balance as a D-man, [deciding] when to box out or when to jump off your check a second early. But we watched some clips [Thursday about] understanding when the puck is at the point, maybe just take a look — more than you would.”
