There has been much discussion surrounding San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw's ejection on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Chargers after a helmet-to-helmet impact with quarterback Justin Herbert. No one disputed that the play shouldn't have resulted in a penalty. However, many questioned the decision to throw Greenlaw out of the game when the linebacker didn't appear to be intentionally targeting Herbert with his helmet.
«It kind of actually blew my mind,» Shanahan said, via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com. «I understand the penalty. I totally get that right at the third down marker, he was lowering his shoulder, but I have got to learn what that is. I get how it is with penalties and stuff because I think he did hit his helmet . . . but I thought there had to be intent and something unnecessary, and that was a big play right there. For us to lose Greenlaw for the whole game off that, that really shocked me. So, hopefully they can teach us that so we can understand why we lost one of our players.»