SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Craig Dahl did not want to get into specifics, lest he give away the game plan, so to speak. But he did want to give an inside look as to what went down when he converted a fake punt on fourth-and-1 from the San Francisco 49ers’ 29-yard line early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 22-17 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kyle Nelson’s snap went directly to Dahl, who was serving as punter Andy Lee’s personal protector.
“They showed a light box,” Dahl said of the Chiefs. “And no one was in the right ‘A’ gap and Kyle made a great snap to me, and I just put my head down and went for one yard.”
He got three.
The 49ers continued the drive and nine plays later, Phil Dawson’s fourth of five field goals, this one a 27-yarder, gave the Niners a 19-17 lead with 8:42 to play.
“It’s a great feeling that you’ve extended a drive for our offense, and it turned out to be a key drive in the game,” Dahl said. “Had we not gotten it, it would have been almost disastrous for our team.”
Indeed, the Chiefs already held a one-point lead at the time and would have had a very short field with which to work. Obviously, coach Jim Harbaugh and special teams coordinator Brad Seely had to have faith in Dahl.
“We practiced it all week,” Harbaugh said. “Brad checked to see if we could do it. I said, ‘Go for it. It would have been called off if we didn’t have the right look.”
Dahl, who said he also ran a pair of fakes against the 49ers when he was with the St. Louis Rams, was grateful.
“They put the trust in me as the caller, as the fullback on the punt, whether we’re going to run it or not,” said Dahl, a safety by trade who played option quarterback in high school. “I can’t say enough about the guys up front. They executed and blocked them up and Kansas City gave us the look we needed to run it.”
