San Francisco 49ers: Complete grades for Week 1 victory over Tampa Bay Buccaneers
By Justin Fried
4. Coaching
The 49ers did come away as the victors of Sunday’s game which also reflects positively on the coaching staff, but it was far from a perfect game for the clipboard-holders on the sidelines.
Kyle Shanahan’s offensive gameplan evidently didn’t work out too well. Perhaps some of that was due to Garoppolo’s mishaps or the offensive line’s struggles, but it bears mentioning that the offense sputtered under his guidance.
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Following Garoppolo’s interception, Shanahan seemingly shifted to a very vanilla, run-first offense which didn’t allow the passing attack to open up very much.
Kittle was often used for short-yardage gains and the team never allowed players like Marquise Goodwin and Dante Pettis to stretch the field with the latter shockingly playing just two offensive snaps all game.
And even when it was clear that the running game wasn’t working, Shanahan insisted on running it up the gut repeatedly on first and second down. It would have been nice to see the team run more outside zones but instead they just kept pounding it up the middle.
Defensively, Robert Saleh called a good game, however, and his decision to blitz rookie linebacker Dre Greenlaw on second down early in the third quarter helped lead to Sherman’s interception for a touchdown.
However, Shanahan and the offense’s struggles bring down the overall grade even if it wasn’t entirely his fault.
Final Grade: C+