Before the San Francisco 49ers can become a playoff team, they need to beat their rival Seattle Seahawks. We take a look at the film behind Kyle Shanahan’s success against the Seahawks, through his use of three effective passing concepts.

This is the second segment in a three-part series on San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s success against the Seattle Seahawks pass defense.

As an offensive coordinator, Shanahan was 3-2 against the Seahawks and displayed the ability to score on a defense that was regularly dominant over other opponents.

The 49ers, who have lost their last seven games to the Seahawks, hope Shanahan is able to produce similar offensive results with his new team.

A review of the game film revealed Shanahan utilizes commonly used offensive concepts, but adds wrinkles and shifts in order to keep the defense guessing.

He uses the same concepts multiple times in a game, from a number of different looks.

Shanahan uses play action off the threat of a strong running game to pull defenders out of position and create passing lanes for his quarterback. Shanahan also often attacks cornerback Richard Sherman — a player the 49ers have shied away from in recent years.

In the first segment, we reviewed Shanahan’s use of vertical stretches and strong-side floods.

Next, we’ll discuss the second general concept Shanahan uses to attack the Seahawks pass defense — the horizontal stretch.