Kyle Shanahan says every trick play he calls has a reason. Well, almost every one.
Shanahan broke down his gadget-play philosophy with NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco after the 49ers' hook-and-lateral worked against the Arizona Cardinals. Mike Evans caught a pass, pitched it to Deebo Samuel, Luke Farrell made the key block, and Samuel ran 80 yards for the score.
"Most trick plays have a why," Shanahan said. "We see something on tape, they're neglecting someone, they're forgetting something, guys are too out of control, so you got a double pass or something like that."
The hook-and-lateral is different. "We just put that in randomly," Shanahan said. "That's more like desperation: second-and-long, third-and-long, just hoping to get a big chunk."
Against Arizona, he said, the "why" was irritation: "I was pissed that we had a false start on the first play. I was pissed the next two plays didn't work. I was pissed it was third-and-13. And I didn't want to go three-and-out," Shanahan said. "I just said, screw it, let's run that right now. And we had two ballers doing it, so it's what made it work."
Samuel said the team only worked on it once at walkthrough tempo. Shanahan said that's by design.
"It's nothing we really rep full speed because it only entails two guys," he said. "So I always try to just cover it on Saturday just in case we do it so they don't forget about it."
Shanahan added that his call sheet has a "specials" section, with about two plays per game. But, he said, the timing matters as much as the design, and he doesn't use trick plays during blowouts and saves his best plays for bigger moments.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers head coach explains methodology behind his trick plays
