No dance parties in the end zone for 49ers
SANTA CLARA >> Missing among the league’s choreographed touchdown celebrations this season are any from the 49ers.
They haven’t had one. They also have scored only 18 touchdowns, a league low.
So, does Carlos Hyde have a skit or dance he’s waiting to unveil the next time he runs for a touchdown — which would be his first-ever December touchdown as a 49er?
“No, we don’t,” Hyde said. “We need to figure that out. It’d probably be like the running back room where we’re all eating. That’s the slogan in our room: ‘We all eat.’”
Scoring is atop the fourth-year running back’s agenda Sunday when the 49ers (2-10) visit the Houston Texans (4-8).
“I feel I haven’t made any big plays in a while,” Hyde said. “I need to make some big plays, get in the end zone for us, put some points up on the board for us.”
Perhaps the most memorable touchdown celebration this season from the 49ers was spontaneous and emotional: Marquise Goodwin’s prayer on his knees in the end zone, hours after losing his son to pregnancy complications.
Their last celebration: center Daniel Kilgore’s emphatic spike of the football, which Louis Murphy gave to him after catching Jimmy Garoppolo’s first touchdown pass as a 49er. Kilgore says the 49ers have other things to focus on than choreographing touchdowns, that it’s not as if they’re cruising as a 10win team (see: the Philadelphia Eagles).
All of the 49ers points in last Sunday’s 15-14 win at Chicago came via Robbie Gould field goals.
Hyde did help set up Gould’s winning field goal with an 18-yard, third-down run to midfield on the final drive. “I need to take that to the end zone next time,” Hyde said.
Hyde hasn’t scored in his past six games. He ran for four touchdowns earlier this season. None of his careerhigh 52 receptions have produced a touchdown.
So now comes the season’s final quarter to get back in the end zone. He hasn’t finished any of his previous three seasons healthy: 2015, ankle; 2016, foot; 2017, knee.
With free agency looming in March, he is 307 yards shy of his first 1,000yard season.
The Texans won’t make it easy for Hyde to break the 100-yard mark for only the second time this season. Their rushing defense ranks 10th (104.8 yards per game).
“They’ve got guys who make plays, especially (Jadeveon) Clowney,” Hyde said. “He shows up everywhere. You have to be on the lookout for him.”
• Coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday he sees this season “as a positive” even though he’s “extremely disappointed” with the 2-10 record. “Although it hasn’t gone exactly how I want, it was a necessity in to where we’re trying to go,” Shanahan said.
Last week’s debut of Garoppolo as the starting quarterback sparked excitement throughout the team. Shanahan noted that he has felt a positive vibe over the past month, not just the past week.
“The guys who’ve stood through this and continue to get better, those are the guys you know you can count on next year and a part of this for the future,” Shanahan said. “Of course we’re going to continue to add and hopefully build each year, but going through this, you get a foundation of some players can handle stuff, are battletested and are going to be much stronger for it going into next year.”
• Right tackle Trent Brown (right shoulder) is questionable and will be a game-time decision. He returned last week from a one-game absence.
• The Texans ruled out running back Alfred Blue (concussion), left tackle Julien Davenport (shoulder), wide receiver Braxton Miller (concussion) and linebacker Jelani Jenkins (concussion).
• Wide receiver Trent Taylor’s 92 receiving yards last game were the fourth most by a 49ers rookie since 1990, topped only be Terrell Owens in 1996 (110 yards vs. Carolina, 94 vs. Cincinnati) and J.J. Stokes in 1995 (106 yards at Atlanta).