San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw finished Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a game-leading 15 tackles, tying his career-high in Week 4. The defender didn't even know his tackle total after the game and had to be told how many he racked up.
"I felt like it," Greenlaw said after over three hours of hard-hitting play.
The linebacker has surpassed 100 tackles in a single season for the first time in his career. He has 103 now, with four more games to go.
"I'm just going to keep getting better," Greenlaw said. "Good or bad, whatever the case may be, just going into next offseason, see what I need to work on, and attack it. Just keep getting better, keep getting better, and just stacking those days, and eventually, you'll see the breakthrough out of it."
Greenlaw's coach believes the linebacker is playing his best football right now.
"He had some good ones, but I thought that might have been his best game," Kyle Shanahan said on Monday via a conference call. "The way he finished the Miami game was huge. He got off to a little bit of a slow start [against] Miami, but he finished it strong. He picked up this game right where he left off.
"All the ways they had to throw the ball there at the end, we were soft in our coverage because we were trying to make sure we didn't give up the big play. And for him to come up and make those tackles so consistently, with very few yards after the catch, I think it was as impressive of a game as he's had, and I thought that [interception of Buccaneers QB Tom Brady] was pretty unbelievable."
Next up for Greenlaw and the 49ers is a trip to Lumen Field to face the division rival Seattle Seahawks. A win would clinch the NFC West title for San Francisco and ensure the team kicks off the playoffs at home.
Seattle is coming off a 30-24 home loss to the Carolina Panthers, and look to re-enter the playoff picture with a win over the Niners.
