49ers' Kyle Shanahan: Dre Greenlaw ejection 'blew my mind'

Officials immediately threw a flag and then disqualified Greenlaw following a lengthy discussion. 

"What the officials had was a flag for a player lowering his head and making forcible contact and Rule 19 allows us when a flag is thrown to examine the play and if we feel the action is flagrant then the rule allows us to disqualify the player and that’s what we determined," NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson explained after the game, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "It was a flagrant act." 

Anderson continued: 

"The timing, the manner in which the player had an opportunity to make other choices and to make a different decision; those all go into factoring whether something is flagrant. Those are just some of the factors that are considered. The runner was a downed runner. He was already down by contact. That certainly plays into taking a look at the actions taken by the defender. If he had other choices in terms of his actions, we felt like the actions he took were flagrant in nature and that was the reason for disqualification." 

Anderson insisted Greenlaw would have been ejected had the runner not been Herbert or any other quarterback in this instance. Anderson also confirmed Greenlaw could be fined and/or even suspended for the hit. Greenlaw and the 49ers won't learn about such a call until later in the week. 

Meanwhile, Herbert was briefly checked for a head injury but cleared the concussion protocol at halftime. 

The 5-4 49ers next face the 4-6 Arizona Cardinals in a prime-time showdown on Nov. 21, possibly without having Greenlaw available.