As the 49ers head into their final game Sunday against the Rams, they find themselves struggling with fundamentals.
Even after 15 games, the 4-11 Niners are having problems with the most basic things.
In Sunday’s loss to the Lions, they tackled poorly, allowing Detroit to break off several big plays. And, seven times, they were flagged for offside or neutral-zone infractions.
On Monday, Niners head coach Jim Tomsula said the poor tackling is an issue that is troubling, and it’s something he and his staff have tried to address.
“The tackling drills, and I look at them specifically every single day as we do them and we do them in individual," he told reporters. "And we’ve changed them up, we’ve moved them around, we do them in different areas. We’ve just got to stay on top of it. And the biggest problem we had (vs. the Lions) was, it wasn’t the contact, it wasn’t the setting up, it was the bringing the hands. Wrap tackles. Wrap tackles.”
One of the biggest offenders Sunday was rookie safety Jaquiski Tartt, who’s otherwise been a bright spot this season.
This week, the analytics website Pro Football Focus – which grades every player in every game – included Tartt on its weekly list of the worst players at every position for Week 16.
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Wrote Bryson Vesnaver of PFF, who pointed to Tartt 's grade of minus-3.3: “He allowed three catches on three targets for 56 yards, all three of which went for first downs. He also missed three tackles in coverage, which is not good.”
Tartt has had some good games this season and has stepped in for veteran starting safety Antoine Bethea, a Pro Bowler who was lost for the season in Week 8. In his first start, against the Rams, he had six tackles and a forced fumble. Against the Browns, he had eight tackles and an interception.
The 6-foot-1, 221-pounder from Samford, a second-round pick this year, is a hard hitter with an apparent bright future.
That future may fade, however, if he doesn’t shed his bad-tackling habits, beginning with this Sunday’s season finale against the Rams at Levi’s Stadium (kickoff at 1:25 p.m.)
