With just three seconds left on the game clock, veteran San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould headed onto the field after quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo marched the offense 48 yards to get him into range. The 49ers were trailing 23-22 when Gould kicked the field goal through the uprights to give San Francisco its fourth win of the season and third-straight victory.
The 49ers coaching staff, along with his teammates, have a lot of confidence in Gould. Following the game, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke of that confidence.
"I think Robbie is playing as good as anyone I've had," Shanahan said. "When he goes out there, I never think he's going to miss it. He's been automatic, and I'm glad he's not getting too fatigued. I wish we didn't have to use him so much. I wish we were scoring touchdowns more but the fact that every time we don't, he makes it, he's been unbelievable this year."
Shanahan's confidence in Gould helped dictate some of his playcalling during the 49ers' game-winning drive.
"I feel Robbie's going to make it there, and we did throw once, and we took a shot to [Marquise Goodwin] on the go (route)," Shanahan said. "You never know what you're going to get, but you also don't want to threaten getting a holding call or anything like that. A lot of bad stuff can happen. So we took our shot with that one pass, and we knew we were good before that play. After we didn't get that, we decided to run it, see if we could get a little bit more and Robbie came on and did his job."
Gould ended the day completing all six of his field goal attempts and the extra point following the Garoppolo touchdown pass to tight end Garrett Celek.
Garoppolo was asked if he says anything to Gould before the kicker goes out onto the field.
"Absolutely not," he answered. "No. He's in the zone. I know how that is. I don't know how that is for him but just going out for the two-minute drill, we went and handled our business, and he handled his. That's what a good team does."