The San Francisco 49ers know Renardo Green didn’t start the fight. But coach Kyle Shanahan also wanted him to learn from being the one who was caught escalating it.
Shanahan opened up about why Green was benched after his 15-yard penalty in the second quarter that landed him on the bench against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Green took an unnecessary roughness call on Trey McBride he was caught retaliating against the Cardinals tight end during the second quarter of San Francisco’s 41-22 win at State Farm Stadium. Shanahan pulled Green from the game to cool off, but he still played a team-high 71 defensive snaps.
Kyle Shanahan Saw What ‘Pissed Off’ Renardo Green
Green effectively was giving McBride a taste of his own medicine. McBride got under Green’s chinstrap and lifted his facemask up while blocking on a screen pass, and the penalty easily could have gone to the Cardinals player.
Yet, Green was called for the penalty and was removed from the game since the foul gave the Cardinals a first down — San Francisco had stopped Arizona and was about to get the ball back — at the San Francisco 38-yard line.
“I know they did something to Renardo that pissed him off, which they missed, but they always get the second guy,” Shanahan said. “We were pissed about that, but Renardo came back and had a great game after.”
The Niners were leading 19-7 at the time, and Green’s penalty cost them three points. Ironically, McBride was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the subsequent play — for a controversial nose-wipe celebration — and negated a 28-yard gain that cost Arizona the chance to score a touchdown on the drive.
Green acknowledged his mistake and was glad it didn’t cost San Francisco more than the 28-yard field goal Chad Ryland kicked that cut the lead to nine at the 6:34 mark of the second quarter.
“It was just playing football, guys being rough,” Green said. “I’m just focused on winning and glad we got a win.”
Benching Renardo Green “Was About Winning” For The 49ers
Green is having a solid second season as the No. 2 cornerback opposite Deommodore Lenoir. He has a 57.6 overall grade from Pro Football Focus while playing about 91 percent of the Niners’ defensive snaps this season.
So the message that was presented to Green from the Niners sideline was his penalty was not a winning one.
“It’s about winning,” Green said when asked what was said to him after the play. “Just do whatever you gotta do to win.”
Green rebounded and helped the Niners defense pitch a third-quarter shutout and limit the Cardinals to just 12 second-half points. He finished with six tackles, four of which were solo tackles.
The 49ers scored 16 consecutive points, and went on a 22-6 run, to pull away for their seventh win of the season. They capped a season sweep of the Cardinals and moved within a half-game of the second-place Seattle Seahawks and remained within 1.5 games of the first-place Los Angeles Rams for the NFC West lead.
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