49ers notebook: Sherman likely to miss more time; Shanahan riding with Garoppolo

Help in the form of an All-Pro cornerback doesn’t appear to be on the way for the reeling 49ers (2-3) when they host the divisional rival Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday said he’s not expecting Richard Sherman to be back at practice this week after having “some setbacks” last week while trying to recover from a nagging calf injury.

“The healing hasn’t gone the way we were hoping for,” Shanahan said, noting Sherman is trying injections this week to help with inflammation. “I know I’m not counting on him this week, so we’ll see how that goes with the new stuff we’re going to try.”

Sherman was eligible to return off short-term injured reserve to play last week against the Dolphins after sustaining the injury in the season opening loss to the Arizona Cardinals. But his absence loomed large against Miami as San Francisco’s cornerbacks have been decimated by injury since he went down in recent weeks.

The 49ers turned to Brian Allen, who was promoted from the practice squad Saturday, to start his first career game in place of Emmanuel Moseley (concussion) and Dontae Johnson (groin), who were both ruled out Friday. Allen allowed five catches for 124 yards, a touchdown and was flagged twice during the first four series as the Dolphins built a 30-7 lead in the first half.

Allen was replaced by Ahkello Witherspoon, who was suited up for emergency use only because he had been dealing with a tight hamstring since the Week 2 victory against the New York Jets.

Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick finished with 350 yards on 22-of-28 completions (79 percent) with three touchdowns for a near-perfect 154.5 passer rating. It was easily Fitzpatrick’s best game of the season.

Shanahan on Monday fielded a handful of questions about why Witherspoon didn’t start despite being healthy enough to be in uniform. Shanahan said Witherspoon was the emergency option that only would have been used if Ken Webster, initially Allen’s backup, were to get hurt.

It turns out Webster was also dealing with a hamstring issue which led to Witherspoon telling the coaching staff he felt good enough to play before he was inserted in the second quarter. Witherspoon wound up playing 41 snaps (61 percent).

The Witherspoon situation sounded like a tricky one to navigate. Based on Witherspoon’s treatment early in the week, the 49ers planned on Witherspoon starting, but his hamstring wasn’t right during practice Wednesday and Thursday, leading to the coaching staff deciding on Allen late in the week.

“I talked him to Wednesday night and Saturday and made the decision that was it like it looked in practice, and like he said,” Shanahan said. “So that made us go with the other two guys. But he was willing to dress in case of an emergency and that ended up coming up.”

Shanahan indicated had the team not planned on having Witherspoon available, the 49ers would have had more time to get creative with the position, which might have included shifting Tarvarius Moore from safety back to cornerback, which is how he began his pro career after getting drafted in the third round in 2018. Moore has played safety exclusively in the last two seasons and Shanahan said there simply wasn’t enough practice time available to get him acclimated in time for Sunday.

“If I knew that a week in advance, two weeks in advance, we’d get (Moore) ready to do that,” Shanahan said. “He could always do that in case of an emergency if all those guys went out, (if) Ahkello wasn’t dressing or anything like that. When you go into a Wednesday and you’re planning on it going a different way, for you to stop and give him all those reps on a Wednesday when you don’t think that’s the way it’s going and it doesn’t go out that way, you’re going to hurt the team in many other ways with the a chain reaction of it.”

The 49ers have started five different combinations at cornerback in the first five games. And of their five cornerbacks that made the opening day roster, Jason Verrett is currently the only one healthy.

But there was a hint of good news Monday. Shanahan indicated Moseley, who missed the last two weeks with a concussion, could be back on the practice field after seeing a specialist in recent days.

“I’m getting a lot more optimistic,” Shanahan said.

The 49ers will need all the help they can get against the Rams, who improved to 4-1 with a win in Washington on Sunday. They have the NFL’s fifth-ranked offense and are tied with the Packers to lead the league averaging 8.3 net yards per pass attempt, which accounts for sacks and interceptions.

Shanahan sticking with Garoppolo despite benching

It doesn’t sound like Jimmy Garoppolo is going to get benched for his poor performance or miss any additional time due with his balky right ankle. At least that’s Shanahan’s plan heading into the week.

Shanahan said Garoppolo came into the building for treatment Monday a little sore, but not to the point the training staff expected him to miss practice.

Garoppolo, of course, was removed from the game at halftime Sunday in favor of C.J. Beathard after throwing two consecutive interceptions. He finished with the worst passer rating of any start in his career (15.7) while completing just 7-of-17 for 77 yards and no touchdowns.

“I know he’s sore from the first half,” Shanahan said. “I think his ankle’s a little bit sore and his body a little bit from some of the hits that he had, but nothing that made it worse. It was like you expected after a game. Nothing too bad happened. We got him out of there before that did, so we’ll see how he is on Wednesday. I expect him to be at least the same, if not better, so hopefully we can have a week of that, have no setbacks Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and hopefully we get him out there Sunday night.”

Many problems leading to O-line issues

The 49ers allowed five sacks for the second straight week, which has been a huge factor in the team’s offensive struggles. There were times Sunday where the front five appeared out of sync, including a sack when left tackle Trent Williams allowed his man an easy path to Garoppolo while it was clear Williams was expecting inside help from left guard Laken Tomlinson, who was occupied with a defensive tackle.

Shanahan acknowledged the team’s protection issues Monday and said they were symptomatic of problems the 49ers are having with many facets of his offense.

“We had five sacks, I think three of them we had busts in protections. That’s guys communicating at the line, playing faster, going through all the looks and not making the mistake,” Shanahan said.

The 49ers offensive line was expected to be a strength heading into the year, particularly after plowing through the NFC playoffs by winning the line of scrimmage and rushing for 471 yards against the Vikings and Packers. Yet San Francisco has allowed 18 sacks, the fourth most in the NFL, half their total from all 2019 when they allowed the 12th-fewest.

Shanahan and his players Sunday mentioned not playing complementary football against the Dolphins, meaning the offense was forced to throw more than anticipated because Miami jumped out to its big lead in the first half. Shanahan on Monday reiterated he wasn’t able to call as many running plays as he hoped because of the double-digit deficit.

“I thought we ran the ball very well,” said Shanahan. “But when you only have 19 carries to show for it, you’re going to be in some of those situations. Always, when I do get in those situations, I start to worry about turnovers, I worry about the pressure that you’re putting on the O-line, the pressure you’re putting on the quarterback ... We started making some mistakes in protection, we started making some mistakes with the ball. We had six drops also, 2-of-10 on third down, 0-for-2 on fourth down, add it with six drops, add it with five sacks, I think we’re throwing the ball too much. That’s the situation that I got to try to control better and hopefully we can play better as a team to where we can make it easier for me to control that.”

▪ Shanahan said linebacker Kwon Alexander may have suffered a high ankle sprain, which he didn’t become aware of until Monday. It would be a tough break for Alexander given Sunday’s game was arguably his best of the season. He was credited with five tackles, a sack, a quarterback hit and tackle for loss. He was also one of the few defenders playing with energy in the fourth quarter.

Shanahan said the team is hoping it’s a minor injury and that Alexander wouldn’t have to go on injured reserve.

“They’re not sure the severity of it, it could be a minor one,” Shanahan said. “If it was an automatic high ankle sprain, I’d be talking about IR and stuff right now. But they told me to hold on that because they think it could possibly be a minor one. They’re going to do more work today on it and we’ll have an answer for that on Wednesday.”

▪ Alexander aside, the 49ers came out of Sunday’s loss relatively healthy. Defensive tackle D.J. Jones (eye) was the only player Shanahan listed on the injury report afterwards, but he’s expected to practice Wednesday.

This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 5:38 PM.