Greenlaw saved the day for 49ers
Goal-line tackle on Seahawks TE Hollister helped the 49ers clinch top seed last season
The 49ers are just hours away from the first of their dreaded biannual tests against Russell Wilson, the Seahawks quarterback whose dazzling array of skills keep opposing coaches and players up nights.
While no one’s been close to discovering a cheat code while playing Wilson and his topscoring offense, in linebacker Dre Greenlaw, the 49ers found someone who’s somehow beaten their system twice.
Remarkably, the unheralded Greenlaw was able to turn the red zone into a dread zone for Wilson and the Seahawks.
Most famously, the 49ers leaned on Greenlaw’s shoulder last year while holding on for a 26-21 Week 17 win in Seattle that enabled San Francisco to capture the NFC West and clinch the conference’s No. 1 seed. Greenlaw’s fourth-down tackle at the goal line in the final seconds stopped Seattle’s
Jacob Hollister mere inches from handing the 49ers their ninth straight loss in the Northwest and ruining their postseason path.
Greenlaw’s dramatic, game-winning stop will long be remembered in 49ers lore, but these 49ers still thoroughly enjoy reliving the play that happened a little more than 10 months ago.
At the time, though, not many of them took delight in living through what had all the earmarks of yet another game-winning drive by “Comeback Kid” Russell and the Seahawks. Seattle used 14 plays to drive 68 yards in a little more than two minutes, setting up a fourth-andgoal play from the 49ers’ 5.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was asked Friday if he could recall what was going through his mind with the game and his team’s chances for a first-round playoff bye on the line.
“Probably not much,” Shanahan admitted. “Just locked in and watching the moment. Sitting there wishing you could do something about it. Sitting there watching your guys. It was completely silent, at least that’s how it feels to me.”
For Jimmy Garoppolo, the drama turned out to be too much to bear.
“I really didn’t even watch it,” the 49ers quarterback told reporters Thursday. “You do everything you can and it comes down to that one moment, that one play. I didn’t even watch it to be honest with you.”
As Wilson was lining up in shotgun formation, 49ers star tight end George Kittle was on edge, but in his typically unique way.
“Stress and anxiety,” said Kittle when asked what he was feeling before Seattle’s fourth-down play. “It was an amazing play but that was a very brutal series because you knew it was the last series of the game and our offense wouldn’t get another shot.
“That’s tough when it’s not in your hands. But the way our defense played last year, I knew they’d get the stop,” Kittle said. “Still, this being in Seattle and with that stadium and crowd, the anxiety was definitely through the roof. It was a great anxiety. I loved it.”
When Wilson hit Hollister on a quick slant pass at the 1, it appeared as though there was no way the tight end could be kept out of the end zone. Then came Greenlaw, who lowered his shoulder and dropped Hollister seemingly right on top of the goal line. The 49ers rejoiced when the ball was spotted just short of it.
Shanahan, though, remembered he wasn’t quite ready to accept what he’d just seen.
“I’ve been burned before where I erupt, then it ends up overturned,” Shanahan said Friday. “Even though I saw our guys celebrating, it took me about five minutes before I fully accepted it.
It wasn’t until we fully had the ball and finished it did I know we had won. But it was a cool moment.”
Even so, the 49ers’ exuberance over Greenlaw’s tackle was overshadowed the following day when the team watched film of the on-field celebration. There on the screen, much to the amusement of players and coaches, was footage of general manager John Lynch excitedly sprinting to the end zone as though he was back in his playing days.
“I didn’t catch it in the moment but it was one of the most fun things the next day, making fun of him and showing it to the team and pointing it out,” Shanahan said while playfully detailing how Lynch sometimes breaks into an alter ego. “He’s usually ‘Captain America,’ but every once in a while ‘Red 47’ comes out. You see that in moments of games where he gets excited at the end.”
Looking back, the play was significant in another way — it made Greenlaw feel he was no longer just an overlooked fifth-round pick from Arkansas, thankful to be on a roster.
“I think it gave me motivation and it gave me confidence just to know I can make those hits in the NFL and that I belong here,” Greenlaw told NBC Sports Bay Area earlier this week.
An iconic play like that is more than most late-round picks could expect to deliver in their rookie season. But, to Greenlaw, it wasn’t even his most enjoyable play against Wilson and the Seahawks last season.
Greenlaw told 49ers announcer Greg Papa his truly special moment last year came six weeks earlier while the Seahawks were poised to beat the 49ers in overtime. While deep in 49ers territory, Wilson tried picking on the little-known 49ers rookie making his first NFL start.
It didn’t go well for Seattle.
Wilson spotted Hollister being covered by Greenlaw, who threw a wrench into the tight end’s wheel route by stepping in front of him for a leaping interception. The Levi’s Stadium crowd erupted as Greenlaw returned his first career pick nearly 50 yards the other way.
A 49ers’ missed field goal attempt ultimately allowed the Seahawks to escape with a victory on a field goal with 2 seconds left.
Despite the loss, getting the best of Wilson in that crucial spot was a play Greenlaw still treasures more than any other.
“Definitely, I think the interception would probably be my favorite ... just the excitement that I got from everybody, just the confidence that (it) helped build through the rest of the season,” Greenlaw said.
Asking Greenlaw to produce another game-altering play against Wilson today might be a bit much to ask. But then again, he seems to be full of surprises against the Seahawks.