49ers getting overwhelmed by turnovers
Kyle Shanahan insisted this week he’s more interested in dealing with turnovers on the field, rather than on the roster.
“Our record right now (1-6) doesn’t impact the big picture to me,” the second-year coach claimed in the wake of a fifth consecutive loss. “It’s tough to deal with; it’s frustrating. We’re all working extremely hard and want much better results. But just because the record doesn’t show that isn’t going to make you doubt yourself and go rip up your plans and do something totally new.”
The San Francisco 49ers will enter their Week 8 game at Arizona as one of four one-win teams in the NFL.
Coincidentally, they will play the other three — Arizona, Oakland and the New York Giants — in the next four weeks, with a bye interspersed.
It’s a chance for the 49ers, who came up just one score short in three of their six losses, to rebound, like they did last season when, at 1-10, they inserted Jimmy Garoppolo for the final five games and won them all.
Or it’s an opportunity to conveniently come up just short three more times and give themselves an advantage come draft time.
Shanahan let everyone know exactly where he stands on that annual sports debate this week.
“We knew when we came here it was going to take some time and we want that to be as fast as possible, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “But you also don’t want to make stupid decisions because of that. We’re trying to be smart in everything we do. We’re not trying to just do this a quick, easy fix way. We’re trying to build this thing to last and to do that, it does take some time.
“Planned on it going faster and it hasn’t so far. But that doesn’t make me lose any confidence in what we’re doing. I know we need to continue to work, continue to get better, but we’re going through a tough time right now. But that doesn’t change anything to me where I feel we’re going.”
The 49ers are coming off a rock-bottom-type performance at home against the Los Angeles Rams in which they threw two interceptions, lost two fumbles and had a punt blocked.
Meanwhile, the Rams had no turnovers in the 39-10 cakewalk.
The 49ers’ defense now ranks last in the NFL in total takeaways with three, tied for last in interceptions with one and tied for 24th in fumbles forced with two.
Meanwhile, the offense leads the NFL in turnovers with 18, is tied for first in fumbles with eight and is tied for third in interceptions thrown with 10.
Their net takeaway figure (minus-15) is three worse than any other team.
“I think you’re taking every step possible in those type of areas,” Shanahan said of his approach in practice to the turnover discrepancy. “You could have every single person carry around a football or something like some movies and things like that. That’s about all that’s left.
“So we’re trying to focus on executing, doing the little things better. Trying to not get into some second-and-long situations where you can avoid some tips and things like that where you become one dimensional. We have to protect the ball better with the fumbles. And it hasn’t been one particular guy. We’ve played with four backs this year and all four guys have fumbled.
“We can’t run away from it. We keep talking about it, keep harping on it. We just go back to work and keep trying to get better.”
SERIES HISTORY: 55th regular-season meeting. 49ers lead series, 29-25. The Cardinals won their seventh straight in the NFC West rivalry with a 28-18 victory at San Francisco in Week 5. The 49ers haven’t won at Arizona since a 23-20 victory in Week 17 in 2013. The last two Cardinals home wins have been decided by a field goal.
