Die Saalfelds » Kyle Shanahan’s coaching tenure hasn’t quite

SANTA CLARA http://www.tampabaybuccaneersteamonline.com/mike-edwards-jersey , Calif. (AP) — gotten off to the greatest start in San Francisco.He lost his first nine games with the 49ers last year before the arrival of Jimmy Garoppolo provided a late-season spark with five straight wins to close a 6-10 campaign.With Garoppolo sidelined by a season-ending knee injury in Week 3 this year, the Niners have started the season 2-10 for the second straight year under Shanahan.Shanahan is just the fifth coach to begin his tenure with a team by going 2-10 or worse in each of his first two seasons. Cleveland’s Hue Jackson (2016-17), Detroit’s Jim Schwartz (2009-10), Tampa Bay’s Leeman Bennett (1985-86) and Tampa’s John McKay (1976-77) are the others.Bennett got fired after his second season and Jackson didn’t make it through his third with the Browns. Schwartz and McKay stayed long enough to lead their teams into the playoffs, progress Shanahan hopes to be able to make with the 49ers.“I’d love it to be a lot more obvious and a lot easier,” he said. “We finished 6-10 last year and I’d love to be improving from this year. I also know it was hard work to get to 6-10, especially starting 0-9. I think we came in this year with a franchise quarterback and we lost him early in the season, which definitely makes that much harder.“I think we came here knowing that it was going to take some time. I think the way we finished last year definitely excels everyone’s feeling and what they thought. But, by no means did I think we were coming into it this year and it was just going to be easy. I knew it was going to be extremely hard.”Here’s a look inside some more interesting numbers heading into Week 13:ELITE COMPANY: Todd Gurley of the Rams finds himself in exclusive company. He has gained 1,649 yards from scrimmage and scored 19 TDs so far this season. Only six players have topped those marks in the first 12 games, including Hall of Famers LaDainian Tomlinson (2006), Emmitt Smith (1995), Eric Dickerson (1983), O.J. Simpson (1975), Jim Brown (1965). Priest Holmes is the other, doing it in 2002.TOUCHDOWN TOM: Tom Brady’s next touchdown pass will move him past a couple of all-time greats. Brady is currently tied with Brett Favre for third place for the most regular-season TD passes with 508. Brady is also tied with Peyton Manning for the most ever combined in the regular season and playoffs with 579.PROLIFIC PAT: Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes is joining some special company in his first season as a starting quarterback. He joined Brady and Manning as the only players to throw at least 40 TD passes in the first 12 games of the season. Manning and Brady each won the MVP in the seasons they accomplished the feat.Mahomes also just had his seventh game of the season with at least four TD passes, a mark topped only by Manning when he had nine in the 2013 season.DOUBLE THREAT: Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is proving to be almost adept throwing TD passes as he is catching them. Beckham threw a 49-yard TD pass and caught a 1-yarder against Chicago last week, the second time this season he has caught and thrown for a TD pass in the same game. The only other time someone did that twice in a season was 1924, when Eddie Kaw and Benny Boynton did it for the Buffalo Bisons.Beckham also threw a 57-yard TD this season and has as many TD passes of at least 49 yards as Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Andrew Luck and Jared Goff this season.DOUBLE THREAT PART II: Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey had 55 yards receiving and 106 yards rushing last week in a loss to Tampa Bay. That marked his fifth straight game with at least 50 yards on the ground and as a receiver, the longest streak in NFL history.NO TAKEAWAYS: The 49ers have gone four straight games without generating a takeaway http://www.tampabaybuccaneersteamonline.com/matt-gay-jersey , one shy of the post-merger record accomplished eight times previously, including the Jets this season. San Francisco has just five takeaways through 12 games, the fewest since the merger after 12 games. The previous low was seven for Jacksonville in 2016.RARE BLOWN LEAD: Steelers fans could be forgiven for feeling pretty confident with a 23-7 halftime lead last week against the Chargers. Pittsburgh had been 174-0-1 all-time at home when leading a game by 16 points. The Steelers had lost only two road games when leading by at least 14 at halftime, blowing a 21-7 lead to Dan Marino and the Dolphins on Nov. 1, 1987, and a 20-3 lead to the St. Louis Cardinals on Oct. 13, 1963. Jackie Smith caught a 55-yard TD pass in that comeback for St. Louis. Smith would be remembered more for another play against the Steelers — a dropped TD pass for Dallas in his final career game in the Super Bowl in 1979.HIGH-SCORING LOSSES: The Raiders and Steelers became the latest teams to end up on the losing end of a game when scoring at least 30 points. In all, 20 teams have lost this season despite that high point total, one short of the post-merger record for a season set in 2013. Atlanta, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Tampa Bay all have two losses when scoring 30 or more points.TRIPLE CROWN: Oakland spent a fifth-round pick on punter Johnny Townsend, one of just 20 punters taken in the first five rounds this century. The move isn’t paying dividends as Townsend is on pace for a not-so-spectacular Triple Crown. He ranks last among all qualifying punters in gross average (43 yards), net average (37.4 yards) and percentage of punts downed inside the 20 (19.6 percent). ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — John Elway’s plan has worked brilliantly.After watching his 2017 rookie class crater in crunch time, the Broncos general manager placed high value on experience and maturity this spring. Those criteria produced a cast packed with players who had spent four years in college and who had been captains for their teams.“One thing we learned last year when you’re 5-11 and you’re in a losing streak, you need that maturity and that leadership to get things turned around,” Elway said following by far the best of his eight drafts.The Broncos (6-6) are in the playoff picture thanks to a terrific trio of rookies who led Denver’s turnaround from a 3-6 start.Playing leading roles in this resurgence are Bradley Chubb , who leads all rookies with 10 sacks, Courtland Sutton , who is Denver’s new No. 1 receiver http://www.tennesseetitansteamonline.com/a.j.-brown-jersey , and undrafted gem Phillip Lindsay , who leads the league with a 6.1-yard rushing average and has scored five touchdowns during the surge.“This isn’t just a regular rookie class. This is a unique rookie class that is really mature,” Lindsay said. “You’re not going to get another rookie class like this in the NFL, I don’t care what anybody says.”The rookies certainly have a bravado built on their immediate impact.With Emmanuel Sanders going on injured reserve, Sutton isn’t flinching at the prospect of facing No. 1 cornerbacks now, beginning with Richard Sherman this weekend.“I love it,” Sutton said. “I look forward to it. It’s going to be good.”After surviving the league’s toughest schedule, the Broncos figured they’d catch a breather this month with the 49ers (2-10), Raiders (2-10) and Browns (4-7-1) coming up.Then they lost cornerback Chris Harris Jr. to a fractured fibula in their game at Cincinnati on Sunday and Sanders to a ruptured Achilles 72 hours later.“Nothing’s been handed to us,” quarterback Case Keenum said. “So, we’re going to have to earn everything we get.”The Broncos brought in two veteran replacements for Harris and Sanders in cornerback Jamar Taylor, who was released by the Cardinals last month, and wide receiver Andre Holmes, whom the Broncos claimed off waivers from Buffalo.“To sign two veteran players like those two guys in the last two days, we’re lucky,” coach Vance Joseph said, adding both will play Sunday at San Francisco.Joseph said he doubted Tramaine Brock (ribs) will play after missing his second straight practice Thursday, so that makes Taylor the fourth cornerback behind Bradley Roby, second-year pro Brendan Langley and rookie Isaac Yiadom.Eleven rookies have played for the Broncos this season, logging 3,289 snaps, seventh-most in the NFL. And receivers River Cracraft and Tim Patrick http://www.tennesseetitansteamonline.com/amani-hooker-jersey , along with injured tight end Jake Butt, all made their NFL debuts for Denver this year, too.Among the rookies the Broncos expect to play bigger roles down the stretch are receiver DaeSean Hamilton (knee), running back Royce Freeman (ankle) and linebacker Josey Jewell (ankle), all of whom are coming back from minor injuries.“We’re all ready to just step up and be the next guy up, be the next person to make plays for this team,” Hamilton said.Hamilton got a taste of that increased workload last week when he led Denver’s receivers with 47 snaps at Cincinnati even though he didn’t see a single pass thrown his way.“That was a tough game for a flanker,” offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said. “He had to go in there and block their safety, Shawn Williams, time and time again. He came over to the sideline a couple of times like, ‘Do we have any other plays? Do we have any that I might see the ball in the air, besides me being our sixth O-lineman?’ Which is what he was in the game.“So, we need to pay his fee at some point and throw some balls to him for all that work he did.”Chubb has logged 641 snaps this year, Sutton 592 and Jewell 554. Lindsay has only played 409 snaps, but his workload figures to increase with the loss of Sanders because he can line up in the slot on third downs.“Yeah, we may need to tap those abilities he has even more because we’re going to miss Emmanuel’s quickness and dynamic playmaking ability,” Musgrave said.Lindsay has averaged just 15 touches a game, a byproduct not only of the coaches monitoring his snap count but of Denver’s 34.6 percent conversion rate on third downs, which ranks 27th in the NFL.“If we can convert some third downs that we’re not making, then we got more opportunities for everybody,” Musgrave said. “I think that would definitely be a great step in the right direction for this final four-game stretch.”As they tap Elway’s 2018 class even more.