More rushing won’t be as easy as rushing more
Why not run? With the 49ers’ passing game scuffling and the ground game showing signs of life, it was a virtual guarantee that head coach Kyle Shanahan would be asked about a possible new approach for his still touchdown-less offense.
“We’d love to run the ball more,” Shanahan during Monday’s news conference call. “We’ve got to do a better job all around to be able to get that done.” In particular on third down. Against Seattle, the 49ers converted only 2 of 12 third downs — and that came after converting only 3 of 15 third and fourth downs in Week 1 against Carolina. Shanahan’s point: More first downs offer more leeway to call runs.
“In order to run the ball more, you don’t just call more runs,” Shanahan said. “You have to get first downs and stay on the field. When you go 2-of-12 on third down, and you only have (48) plays that we had, it’s going to be pretty hard to get those numbers, unless you just run it every single play, and then it’s kind of hard to keep a defense off balance when you do that.”
In the opener against Carolina, the 49ers rushed only 15 times for 51 yards, with Carlos Hyde accounting for 45 of those yards. on Sunday at Seattle, Hyde surpassed that on one second-quarter carry, a career-long 61-yard run that set up the first of the 49ers’ three field goals.
Hyde finished with 124 yards on 15 carries and Matt Breida added 35 on four carries. The 49ers’ 8.37 yards per carry is the third-highest percarry mark the Seahawks have allowed in franchise history.
But despite those gaudy numbers, Shanahan did not call more than two consecutive runs.
Instead, he leaned more on the passing game, which was thoroughly ineffective.
Brian Hoyer completed 15 of 27 passes for 99 yards, was sacked twice and intercepted once, and his 48.2 rating was the third lowest of his 51-game career.
On the 49ers’ first possession, Hyde gained 4 yards on first down. Then the 49ers passed twice — gaining no yards — and punted. On their next drive, Hoyer’s first-down pass was intercepted. On the third possession, Hyde ran for 6 yards (a Seattle penalty gave the 49ers a first down) before three Hoyer completions netted 7 yards and brought out the punt team again.
The 61-yard run started to the right to get Seattle’s linebackers to over-pursue, at which point Hyde, led by fullback Kyle Juszczyk, cut to the left as Juszczyk plastered cornerback Jeremy Lane. Tight end George Kittle knocked defensive end David Bass out of the play and Hyde raced to the Seahawks’ 22.
On the conference call, Shanahan complimented Juszczyk’s lead blocking and the play of newly acquired left guard Laken Tomlinson.
“I was definitely pleased with him,” said Shanahan of Tomlinson, acquired from Detroit in an Aug. 31 trade. “He needs to keep getting better, and I hope that he does the more that he’s here. But in his first game, with the limited time he had, he didn’t have many mistakes from an assignment standpoint. He still needs to continue to get better with his techniques and things that we’re asking him to do. But, especially in his first game and not being here throughout the offseason, I thought he did a good job.”