That changed in the first quarter Monday night. The Niners safety has been reliable over his career but not a playmaker.
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He was just 2 for 4 for 21 yards throwing outside the numbers, according to Pro Football Focus. Garoppolo did almost all of his work Monday night over the middle with 13 of his 15 completions coming between the numbers. He lined up six times as a back - nearly matching his total of seven from the first eight games - and delivered five carries for 36 yards and a TD. But Shanahan unveiled a new wrinkle against the Rams, handing Samuel the ball as a running back out of the backfield on a few occasions. The Niners offense has revolved heavily around Samuel all year as he ranks second in the NFL in yards receiving at 979.
It was just really cool that the whole team played a way that you could dictate it that way.”ĭeebo Samuel the running back. You have to get turnovers and you can’t turn it back, so you steal some possessions that allows you to do it. “The defense has to play that way, the (offense) has to play that way, the special teams have to play that way and you have to do good on third down.
“I said 40 because 40 includes the whole team,” Shanahan said. That contributed to the five losses in six games that sent the Niners back toward the bottom of the NFC standings.īut the win against the Rams vaulted them back into contention, a half game behind Carolina for the seventh playoff spot in the NFC. They hadn’t been able to do that since as struggles on third down made mounting long drives difficult and the defense struggled to get takeaways. San Francisco ran the ball 40 times in a game four times in the 2019 regular season and then in back-to-back playoffs wins to get to the Super Bowl. But he felt good about the benchmark after San Francisco ran the ball 12 times on an opening 18-play drive that was capped by a TD pass from Garoppolo to George Kittle that set the tone for the game.