Kyle Shanahan got everything he could have wanted from Eddy Pineiro’s leg in the 49ers’ 18-12 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He also found one thing to gripe about.
Pineiro was perfect, drilling all six of his field-goal tries, including three from beyond 50 yards and a long one from 59 yards. But Shanahan still circled back to a decision Pineiro made before the second half, one that rubbed the coach the wrong way.
The problem wasn’t the kicking. It was the coin toss.
Pineiro chose to defer and kick off to start the second half, a move that ran against San Francisco’s usual preseason plan. The 49ers generally want the ball in exhibition games so they can give younger players more snaps on offense, and Shanahan made it clear he was annoyed when Pineiro went the other direction.
"I've never been more mad at him than when he chose to defer to the second half," Shanahan said, smiling as he recounted it afterward. "I guess that's definitely my fault - I forgot to tell him we receive in the preseason, but I thought that was understood."
Shanahan said he went to Pineiro on the sideline and asked him what he was doing. Pineiro’s answer was straightforward: he wanted to kick off.
"So I was kind of pissed at him at the beginning," Shanahan said, "but he redeemed himself."
The performance only added to what Pineiro has already built as one of the most dependable kickers around. Since last season, he has gone 28-for-29 on field goals for San Francisco, with the lone miss coming from 64 yards at the end of the first half in Week 16.
That kind of production is why the 49ers acted fast in March, signing Pineiro to a four-year, $17 million extension with $10 million guaranteed.
And now that the preseason is over, Pineiro at least knows the rule of the house.
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