all right Brock pie and the 49ers offense against the Minnesota defense this Sunday this is the preview and we're taking advantage of the driverless car to be efficient with this work 49ers to be efficient offensively in this game against the Minnesota Vikings are going to have to beat the blitz Brian Flores the Vikings defensive coordinator blitzes at a higher rate than any other coordinator in the NFL and last season the 49ers were actually doing fine against the blitz it's a Boomer bust kind of thing if you're bringing a lot of defensive backs and guys from the back seven any completion and broken tackle can turn into a long gain and Christian mcaffrey turned a screen into a touchdown against one of those aggressive Minnesota blitzes anyway Brock pie talked about the unique challenge facing a Brian Flores defense which includes all those blitzes um yeah like you get into the you know some some teams throughout the league where you know what they're running they're in quarters three deep man like you you know what they're running with Minnesota um you know they it's sort of of a an illusion Fest they want to make it seem like they're doing this and then post Snap they're dropping eight into every which way so they do a lot it's hard for us to just grasp exactly what they're doing um so I think you know a lot of it is you know dropping back and and post snaps seeing the shell the safeties who's coming who's not um and where I need to go with the ball from there but it's definitely one of those outliers of of a scheme that you have to get ready for an illusion Fest so it certainly isn't easy playing against this Minnesota Vikings defense because they do try to disguise things but I do think that where there is great risk there is great potential reward for the 49ers as I explained before pretty spoke San Francisco should have some room to operate downfield now if they don't have Christian mcaffrey and we obviously aren't sure about that yet of course it gets tougher to be blitzes because a running back who is so effective out of the Back Field I think that's the one double-edged sword perfect weapon against the defense that's as aggressive as Minnesota's but you know let let's not get ourselves the Vikings were a middle of the- pack defense last year they lost denil Hunter who signed with the Houston Texans he was their best Edge rusher they did add Stefan Gilmore to the cornerback position so I suppose that helped some things for Minnesota but this is not a team that is stalked with big-time Talent on that side of the ball in fact one of their better players is Harrison Phillip the Stanford product playing at that defensive tackle spot he's going to put a test on Dominic puny maybe a test on Aaron Banks Spencer berford if he does get into this game at the guard positions maybe even see Harrison Phillips lined up over Jake brindle at Center who did struggle with Javon kinlaw in one of those early pass rushes last week so neutralize somebody like Harrison Phillips who just signed a contract extension if you're the 49ers but most importantly you have to win the battle cerebrally at the line of scrim Ag and that's what Brock pie did so well throughout most of the game in Minnesota last year now what ended up happening is the 49ers were driving late and Brock pie took a helmet to helmet hit on the quarterback sneak and he was on the injury report with a concussion he was in the protocol later in the week after that game against the Vikings it's never been definitively linked to that play but I think that a lot of people assume that Brock birdie suffered the concussion on on the quarterback sneak and after that point he was nowhere near as good against the Vikings he threw his two interceptions to Cameron bham the Cal product who still is a safety for this Minnesota team so obviously taking care of the football protecting Brock pie is going to be key for the 49ers but to accomplish all this you know within the context of what the Minnesota defense does the 49ers are going to have to neutralize the home crowd and for this I thought that Brock birdie had a very very interesting answer in his press conference yeah for sure I think that's definitely a component of the game um being in the Huddle screaming the play breaking and then you're not being able to hear guys and yell and and make audibles it's all signals and you know like like I said we're on silent Cadence which is a whole another Dynamic from being and playing at home and so um you know it's it's totally different but um there's there's some good things that can come from it just in terms of the preparation and being ready for those moments and executing you know sometimes the best executed games are on the road with crazy environments because you have to be more in tune to the little things and um so there's pros and cons to it but um you know Minnesota is one of those places where you have to be on top of your stuff or else you can get exposed now Minnesota has not lost to the 49ers at home since 1992 that was a Steve Young Jerry Rice John Taylor game at the old Metrodome 20 to 17 was the final score but did you guys hear what Brock birdie said there about playing on the road and that sometimes you can have your best executed games on the road because you have to be so dialed into the Small Things the silent count sometimes you can be lulled to sleep by the Comforts of home and that's what made some of those 499ers teams of the dynastic years so great was that on the road they were on their PS and q's Montana would go on the road silence the crowd so many times a chance for Brock pie to do just that but I want to tap a little bit more into the whole chrisan mcaffrey thing because uh that was a double-edged sword in a different way for the 49ers last year he actually fumbled on San Francisco's first possession against Minnesota last year that obviously hurt them but then he scored the touchdown against the zero Blitz obviously was was a plus Force for the 49ers in that game regardless of whether or not that they have him for this game I think it's very important to appraise how the 49ers offense is different with and without Christian mcaffrey and Brock birie had a great great answer in that guard Thursday I think um you know just with Christian especially like you know there's certain plays third down where you know we uh we like to get him out and and throw to him and stuff like that and so there's a lot of teams that can either double double team him and then open up some other guys um within our offense um and so that's something that you know we sort of have to remember um that's that's a that's a huge aspect you know teams always have to account for him and have a whole plan for Christian he's the best in the league at it and so um you know when he's not out there I think it sort of not necessarily simplifies things for defenses but that's a component that they don't have to really handle and then they can focus on George and ba and Debo so um that's something that for us that we have to understand and and uh as a quarterback I always like having that because I think it does open up other guys so and Pie also talked about how he feels he can most improve after a really good start against the Jets I the Jets have a better defense than Minnesota I mean between Quincy Williams batting the pass away a linebacker in coverage against Debo Samuel and S Gardner covering Brandon auk CJ Mosley Quinn and Williams a lot more star power on the Jets defense that Brock Pie looked really good against but Brock did feel that there was at least one area of his game that uh he could really improve in and it was his pocket presence have a listen to Brock pie talking about the minute errors that he made in terms of pocket presence against the Jets that he thinks he can fix um yeah I think there's just you know C certain like movements in the pocket and stuff that I saw like early on in the game where I feel like I could have been better um and sort of threw me off some reads and and um you know just that that live action and feeling of a real pass rush and having to make smaller movements within the pocket and then deliver the ball on time I feel like that's there were some reps in the game in the game early on where um I was pretty hard on myself and I need to be better at so that's something that I'm sort of honing in on and hopefully I can be better at this week so we shall see how much Brock pie is indeed better this week in terms of some of those minute details but I'll tell you what the 49ers have to be thrilled with how he's talking about Improvement in that regard because uh it is up to the details now for Brock P he's already an elite quarterback he could take it up to the very next level from MVP finalist to MVP winner if he continues focusing on and improving in some of these small details so the 49ers are heavily f I'd say 5 and a half six points that that's that's a sizable gap between them and the Vikings but they do have their work cut out for them on the road against the defense that's going to Blitz a hell of a lot but that does mean opportunity for Brock pie and company