Reuben Foster missed two snaps in Week 15 with injuries

The San Francisco 49ers improved to 4-10 with their win over the Tennessee Titans, and it is time once again for a look at the snap count. The 49ers lost Aldrick Robinson to a concussion and wrist injury in the first quarter and Reuben Foster left twice with different issues, but otherwise they got a full workload from most of their players.

In looking at the snap count below (gamebook PDF), you’ll notice that Reuben Foster played two fewer snaps than the defensive max. He left the game at one point with a hand injury, and at another point with an undisclosed injury. The latter saw him go into the blue medical tent, and then return to action shortly after. Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked if there is a pattern with Foster missing time, or if it’s more bad luck.

“I think everyone can see Reuben throws his body around, plays very hard. That's something you'll have to ask Reuben about. He's already tricked me enough. I told him I'm not coming out there anymore. And then one day I'm going to need to. But, hopefully not. But he usually, I think it's pretty serious and then he's back out there a couple plays later. But, I know he plays through a lot of pain. I know he throws his body around. You guys can see how violent he plays. But, he definitely has made me nervous many a time, so I try not to worry too much until he's out longer than a couple plays.”

Foster has not gone down with an injury every game, but it is becoming an almost expected occurrence that he will get some trainer assistance at some point in a given game. He has tremendous football intelligence to diagnose a play, but he is also one to get as physical as needed to make a play. He gets dinged up and it will be something to track moving forward. But hopefully they are just these little things that do not cost him more than a snap or two.

Here’s the full Week 15 snap count.