Twice on their walk-off drive to beat the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday, the San Francisco 49ers converted on third-and-16.
The 49ers were cool, calm and collected entering and finishing both of the long down conversions. Does San Francisco have a certain plan to attack those long third downs?
“We actually do, but yes, we do and it’s not a fun area,” coach Kyle Shanahan told San Francisco media after the win, via Pro Football Talk. “Until today. It went well, usually I get in I-formation and run the ball out of frustration, but that would have been bad in that situation so I’m glad I didn’t.”
On the first conversion, Jimmy Garoppolo threw a prayer to receiver Kendrick Bourne, who answered it. A few plays later, he found wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders wide open thanks to a blown coverage by Rams rookie safety Taylor Rapp.
Shanahan knows how unlikely it was to get the two conversions, even if the second one was far easier than the first.
“In the league, you watch some people on the year and it’s like one out of 20 or something,” Shanahan said. “Usually it’s such a low percentage that you don’t really try on third-and-16 much. Usually you just try to survive the down and get half of it and punt. But we were in a situation that we didn’t have that and I think we struggled on third down most of the day. Just have to get in longer distances, I guess.”
The two conversions helped the 49ers eliminate the Rams from the playoffs and regain the top seed in the NFC.
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