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Shocking stat puts 49ers’ special-teams struggles into perspective originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers’ special-teams unit has been under fire for much of the 2024 NFL season. And after San Francisco’s heated theatrics in its Week 10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the criticism won’t be going away anytime soon.
A plot graph shared Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, by user @SFdata9ers illuminates the 49ers’ season-long struggles on special teams.
Special Teams: Kickoff vs. Punt Coverage
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
— SFdata9ers (@sfdata9ers) November 16, 2024
There’s no way around it: San Francisco’s Expected Points Added for special-teams snaps is the worst in the NFL by a large margin.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, well aware of his team’s lapses, discussed the special-teams issues with reporters on Wednesday.
“Yeah it’s — we devote a lot of meeting time and a lot of practice time,” Shanahan said about San Francisco’s special-teams unit. “We 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. … I do think guys are getting better and stuff, but we’ve 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’ve really got to clean up.”
There remains much to clean up.
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’t generate much success in the return game.
But, alas, Shanahan and the 49ers will continue to chip away.
“It’s real difficult,” Shanahan said about finding improvement internally. “You’ve got the choices…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/shocking-stat-puts-49ers-special-033641760.html
Author : NBC Sports BayArea
Publish date : 2024-11-16 03:36:41
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