It looked like 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan called his first special teams fake as a head coach. Early in the third quarter punter Mitch Wishnowsky took a snap, started to kick, then tucked and ran around the right edge for a 30-yard gain and a first down. Not only was the play negated by an illegal block call on wide receiver Ronnie Bell, it was also not Shanahan’s call.
Shanahan after the game in his press conference joked that he made the call because of his foresight on Seattle’s punt coverage.
“I just knew that it would work good right there,” Shanahan deadpanned. “So I just called my first fake punt.”
It didn’t take long after saying that for a wry smile to crack the head coach’s face.
“I don’t really know what happened on it,” Shanahan confessed. “I think he just hesitated a little bit. I haven’t gotten to talk to him personally. I don’t know if he thought it was going to get blocked, or if he bobbled the snap a hair, or if he just had a glitch, but it was a good one. Because when he paused and stuff and saw the edge, it was obviously a clean look and he didn’t hesitate for it. And I was just told he hit over 20 miles per hour on it, so, that’s real cool.”
Alas, Shanahan has still yet to call a special teams fake as a head coach. Now that he’s seen how his punter moves in that spot though he may be more inclined to give it a shot at some point.
