49ers grades from one-sided road win over Jaguars in Week 11

49ers Special Teams, Coaching Grades vs. Jaguars

It wasn’t just on offense and defense where the 49ers showed their dominance over the Jaguars. It was also on that crucial third phase, too.

Special Teams — A

There’s never any complaining when kicker Robbie Gould makes all three of his field-goal tries and all three of his extra-point attempts. Especially when two of those three field goals were from 45-plus yards out.

Those weren’t the biggest plays on special teams, though, as a quick-twitch reaction from wide receiver Trent Sherfield took advantage of a muffed punt-return attempt by Jags wide receiver Tavon Austin, essentially turning a fourth-down punt play by the Niners into a long gain for a new set of downs.

San Francisco was wise to not let kick returner Jamal Agnew make much of an impact either.

Coaching B

Kyle Shanahan might have had a gaffe early in the game after his opening 20-play, 87-yard drive that spanned 13 minutes and five seconds, the longest drive in NFL history, for what it’s worth.

But Shanahan called for a field goal instead of going for it on 4th-and-1 on Jacksonville’s 2-yard line. While that kind of conservative play-calling might work against lesser opponents like the Jaguars, there are certainly going to be times later this season where he needs to be much more aggressive.

Read More: 4 Niners who need more snaps over second half of 2021

Late in the first half, Shanahan was also a bit conservative despite having time and timeouts to get deep into Jaguars territory. A blown-coverage play by the Jags afforded Trey Sermon the opportunity to get open for a deep reception, and he ran out of bounds to stop the clock. And the 49ers were able to tack on a field goal as a result.

Perhaps some more aggression should be called for, though.

Nevertheless, those are relatively nitpicky call-outs for Shanahan, whose team wasn’t beset by multiple penalties and took advantage of Jacksonville committing too many of its own.

Over the last two weeks, the Niners have scored a combined 61 points and have allowed just 20.

Can’t complain about the overall efforts. Period.