49ers’ Shanahan applauds Greenlaw for toeing line with physicality originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Dre Greenlaw played just as physically as the 49ers could have hoped for in the Week 3 win over the New York Giants on Thursday at Levi’s Stadium.
The hard-hitting linebacker received an unnecessary roughness penalty with 5:50 remaining in the fourth quarter for a hit on Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton who was being tackled out of bounds by 49ers teammate Charvarius Ward.
The unnecessary roughness penalty was the second in as many games for Greenlaw after the linebacker’s hit on Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua in Week 2 cost the 49ers’ defense 15 yards in the red zone.
In speaking to reporters on a conference call Friday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said he was pleased with Greenlaw’s physicality and believed he toed the line as closely as he could have and is interested to see if the NFL will fine the 26-year-old linebacker for his questionable hit in Thursday’s game.
“I love how Greenlaw plays and I think he plays as aggressive as you can usually without breaking any rules,” Shanahan said. “And I think both of these, these last two weeks were as close as they could get. From what I’ve seen on this one, I thought it could have gone either way. I’m going to be curious to see their answer on that when we get that back from the league this week.
“I didn’t think either of them were too bad, so it’s nothing. Yeah, when guys cross the line and we’re making real stupid penalties that’s something that’s always addressed. I feel we haven’t had an issue with that. We’ve gone very few throughout these years. But those were two that I thought could have gone either way.”
Greenlaw has established himself as one of the NFL’s better linebackers, but his hard-hitting style of play has led to a handful of fines over the course of his five-year career. Greenlaw was fined three times for a total of $31,648 last season alone.
With Greenlaw and All-Pro linebacker…
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