49ers notebook: Kyle Shanahan sees signs of historically good Falcons offense
The Atlanta Falcons with Kyle Shanahan as the offensive coordinator in 2016 had the third-highest-scoring team of the past decade.
Quarterback Matt Ryan was named MVP, the team finished 11-5, played in the Super Bowl and had the ninth-best scoring outfit of all time. It ranked in the top five in both passing and rushing yards, which helped Shanahan earn his first head coaching job with the San Francisco 49ers the following season.
It makes Sunday’s game between the Falcons and 49ers on Sunday a reunion of sorts. Atlanta coach Dan Quinn, who hired Shanahan before the 2015 campaign, is still with Atlanta and spoke fondly of his former offensive play caller this week.
“I couldn’t have been more pleased with the job that he did here with the team,” Quinn said in a conference call with Bay Area reporters Wednesday.
The Falcons were the fourth team for which Shanahan served as offensive coordinator. He was in the league for 11 seasons previously having gained valuable experience at those stops, which Quinn noticed before Shanahan became one of the younger head coaches in the NFL when he was hired by the 49ers.
“Well you could really feel it in the offensive meeting rooms, his presence in front of the entire group,” Quinn said. “So I thought that could easily be transferred over to an entire team. Certainly had great models to look at through the years, in his own house (his father, Mike), or in (Gary Kubiak) or other guys to take examples from. So he really had himself squared away in that space right away.”
The players and organizations are different. But Shanahan is trying to replicate the success he had with Atlanta with his current team. The 49ers enter Week 15 averaging 30.5 points per game, second in the league, as the 2016 Falcons averaged a robust 33.8.
“I think we have signs of it,” Shanahan said. “What we did there in ’16 was pretty special. Just from the first game to the last game, it was all year, there was really no letup in that. I think we had one game where we were under 20, I think, was at Philly, but besides that everyone was just moving pretty good that year consistently. I think we’ve shown signs of potential of that this year. Hopefully we can get there week in and week out.”
That year, of course, didn’t end how Quinn nor Shanahan would have liked. The Falcons famously gave up a 28-3 third-quarter lead as the New England Patriots came back to win the Super Bowl in overtime, 34-28.
“I think any play caller worth his salt, you go back in any game, he’d like to have this many back,” Quinn said. “But let me tell you, he made a lot of really good calls too.”
Five starters miss Wednesday’s practice
San Francisco is significantly banged up heading into Sunday’s game.
A slew of prominent players missed practice Wednesday, including defensive end Dee Ford (quadricep, hamstring), defensive tackle D.J. Jones — who could be done for the season with an ankle injury — cornerback Richard Sherman (hamstring), safety Jaquiski Tartt (ribs), defensive tackle Jullian Taylor (elbow) and slot cornerback K’Waun Williams (concussion).
Sherman and Ford, who aggravated his hamstring injury Sunday in New Orleans, could both miss multiple games.
Tight end Garrett Celek was San Francisco’s only player listed as limited. He received treatment for a back injury.
Receiver Dante Pettis, who returned to practice last week in Florida, was listed as a full participant after spraining his knee before the loss to the Ravens Dec. 1.
▪ The 49ers on Wednesday brought back receiver Jordan Matthews and cornerback Dontae Johnson on one-year contracts. Both players spent a portion of the offseason and training camp with San Francisco but failed to make the team after final cuts, but were later re-signed for depth purposes.
The team also officially placed center Weston Richburg on injured reserve after tearing his patellar tendon in the third quarter of Sunday’s win.
The 49ers on Tuesday placed receiver Marquise Goodwin (foot, knee) on season-ending injured reserve which led to the return of Matthews. Johnson was brought back in light of the hamstring injury to Sherman in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s victory over the New Orleans Saints that could cause him to miss multiple games.
Matthews’ only appearance for San Francisco this season came in the rain-soaked Oct. 20 victory in Washington. He later signed with the Eagles and made four catches for 33 yards in two games. He was waived Nov. 25.
Johnson appeared in two games with the Chargers in September before joining the 49ers in October. He was waived Nov. 11.
▪ San Francisco made a pair of practice squad additions, signing offensive lineman Kofi Amichia and cornerback Jermaine Kelly.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 10:24 AM.