Fans may have loved seeing hard-hitting safety Adrian Colbert deliver a high-impact blow on Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr., but didn't likely want to see him disqualified from the game because of it.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan didn't argue about the decision while speaking with reporters after the 17-9 victory but acknowledged that the play should be seen as a learning experience.
"We've just got to learn from it," Shanahan said. "I saw it live, and it did seem like his helmet hit his chest, and he led with his helmet, which is a penalty. That's unfortunate he got ejected. I know his intent. It's a bang-bang play, and he's playing fast and trying to stop him on third down.
"By no means is he trying to do that but it's tough to run that fast and tackle people and keep your head back, so we've got to learn from it, we've got to coach it. But it was tough for him to get ejected there."
The decision to eject Colbert from the game didn't come from the officials on the field, Shanahan confirmed. It came from the league offices after reviewing the play.
"Yeah, it came from New York," Shanahan said.
Then there was the defensive pass interference call against cornerback Dontae Johnson with 35 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Shanahan clearly disagreed with that decision.
The 49ers head coach said he would have challenged the call had it not been inside of two minutes remaining in the game.
"That was the only one today I would have (challenged)," Shanahan said. "All the others, it's got to be — I forget the word — but it's got to be an obvious one, and that was the one I definitely would have challenged. I was hoping the NFL would or whoever is supposed to, but they didn't."
Saturday night's broadcast crew, however, did state that the play was looked at by the team in New York but not contested.
