The 49ers\u2019 special-teams unit has been under fire for much of the 2024 NFL season. And after San Francisco\u2019s heated theatrics in its Week 10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the criticism won\u2019t be going away anytime soon.<\/p>\n
A plot graph shared Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, by user @SFdata9ers illuminates the 49ers\u2019 season-long struggles on special teams.<\/p>\n
\n\nSpecial Teams: Kickoff vs. Punt Coverage<\/p>\n
The #49ers rank dead last in EPA\/Play for both kickoff and punt coverage – and it’s not even close. Through 10 weeks, #SF has lost a staggering 11 expected points on kickoffs and 22 on punts. pic.twitter.com\/Js6XDu45q2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 SFdata9ers (@sfdata9ers) November 16, 2024<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There\u2019s no way around it: San Francisco\u2019s Expected Points Added for special-teams snaps is the worst in the NFL by a large margin.<\/p>\n
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, well aware of his team\u2019s lapses, discussed the special-teams issues with reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah it’s — we devote a lot of meeting time and a lot of practice time,\u201d Shanahan said about San Francisco\u2019s special-teams unit. \u201cWe don’t double down on that, the time spent on it, because I feel like we do as much as we can. We have mixed a lot of guys in there. \u2026 I do think guys are getting better and stuff, but we\u2019ve got to make sure that we don’t make those dumb plays where we can cause a penalty, where we can cause a turnover and those are the things that we\u2019ve really got to clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n
There remains much to clean up.<\/p>\n
\nSan Francisco 49ers<\/h3>\n
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49ers punter Mitch Wishnowsky ranks 32nd in the NFL with 45.2 yards per boot. Kicker Jake Moody missed three kicks — but made the walk-off game-winner — in Tampa Bay. And San Francisco doesn\u2019t generate much success in the return game.<\/p>\n
But, alas, Shanahan and the 49ers will continue to chip away.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s real difficult,\u201d Shanahan said about finding improvement internally. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the choices you\u2019ve got. You start out the year playing a lot of young guys and you think they’ll get better as the year goes, and then some of your vets get hurt and now those young guys are starters. And so, that bumps other guys up and it hurts their development when they try to do both because they needed a lot more reps. But as they get more pressure on them for offense and defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven like [running back] Jordan Mason, he was one of our best special teams players last year and he’s been our starting running back for eight of the games until last week. So all that stuff is a trickle-down effect. You try to get practice squad guys up who you think can help, but they better, one guy gets hurt and they don’t know a position, that can cost you a game too. So all that, that’s challenges everyone has with special teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a tricky situation for the 49ers. But San Francisco has only itself to address its special teams issues.<\/p>\n
Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A plot graph puts the San Francisco 49ers\u2019 season-long special teams struggles into perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[237,14,353],"class_list":["post-9031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-jake-moody","tag-kyle-shanahan","tag-mitch-wishnowsky"],"yoast_head":"\n
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