SANTA CLARA — Solomon Thomas’ two most impactful plays in the 49ers' 26-23 win over the Seahawks will never show up on a stat sheet. They might also be the biggest plays of his NFL career.
At least that's what coach Kyle Shanahan believes.
“I thought he had two of his biggest plays that he’s had here,” Shanahan said. “It doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, but he had a crucial, they rolled out to the right, I believe it was a third down. I think it was the third-and-four. He beat their right guard, got some penetration, made Russell roll back the other way and got [DeForest Buckner] Buck a sack on that.
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“Then, he generated the holding call on the final one that got the big one to [J.D.] McKissic. He did it by beating the guy. If he wouldn’t have, he wouldn’t have been able to get that sack. So, it was two huge plays by him.”
[RELATED: DeForest Buckner's 11th sack places him in elite company]
Thomas also drew a holding call late in the fourth quarter that negated another Seattle first down. That gave the Seahawks a first-and-20 at their 33 instead of first-and-ten at the 43.
The Seahawks were unable to convert and punted with 11 seconds left in regulation. The score was 23-23 and the game went into overtime.
San Francisco 49ers
If you look at Thomas’ statistics facing Seattle, he is halfway down the list with a modest two solo tackles. What he did do was disrupt the interior of the opposing offensive line that was unable to stop him. In doing so, he had two quarterback pressures along with drawing two holding calls.
Shanahan spoke about Thomas’ improvement since he has been playing more snaps.
“I think he’s gotten better each week,” Shanahan said. “He’s gotten to play more. He’s gotten to play more inside more consistently. He’s been thrown in a lot of spots that he’s fought his way through and I think he’s gotten better doing it."
Richard Sherman spoke about how the defensive line, Thomas in particular, doesn’t get enough respect.
[RELATED: Watch Richard Sherman's postgame speech to teammates]
“Solly gets a lot of criticism,” Sherman said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily warranted for his production and today he was a menace. He was a monster. He stopped a ton of those plays and I don’t think he will get enough credit for what he’s able to do.
“You’re not going to get 6-7 sacks on Russell Wilson. But the way they affected him throughout the game was awesome.”