Tempers flared on the San Francisco 49ers’ sideline during the team’s 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
After kicker Jake Moody missed his third kick, wide receiver Deebo Samuel had some words for the 49ers’ second-year kicker. Long snapper Taybor Pepper wasn’t happy with whatever Samuel had to say, and got in the receiver’s face. Samuel responded by striking Pepper in the throat.
There was more yelling between the two players, but no further physical escalation.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t appear bothered by the incident in his press conference after the 49ers’ victory.
“I don’t have much of a take because I didn’t see any of it,” Shanahan said. “So I just got told about it – but probably an obvious one, guys frustrated and something probably happened and you know brothers scuffle a little bit. I didn’t see any of it, so I don’t know how bad it was, but something I’m not too worried about, we’ll fix it. If it hasn’t been fixed already, we’ll fix it on the plane and go back to loving each other tomorrow.”
Samuel had similar sentiments after the game, which the 49ers won thanks to a 44-yard walk-off field goal by Moody.
“Nothing, to be honest with you,” Samuel said. “Just frustrated in the heat of battle. It was a close game and I kinda got out of character a little bit. But I’ll talk to Moody and we’ll get past it.”
Samuel and Pepper both acknowledged Samuel wasn’t saying anything out of line to Moody, and Pepper said his only goal was to stand up for his kicker.
“Just a high-emotion game,” Pepper said. “Football’s high-emotion, and Jake was having a little rough patch there. I was just standing up for Jake, because there was still time on the clock. The game wasn’t over and everybody knows what happened at the end.
“It’s not over until the clock says zero. They all count three when it’s a field goal. And I always got four’s (Moody’s) back.”
Ultimately there weren’t any adverse affects for Moody. He made the 44-yard game-winner as time expired and helped the 49ers get home with a win. He said he’s not concerned about the incident.
“Like I said, it’s in the heat of the moment – it happens,” Moody said. “I do have to make those kicks at the end of the day, so that’s all I’m focused on. I’m not worried on anything like that.”
It’s understandable if some frustrations were mounting. The weather was in the high 80s at kickoff in Tampa Bay and the 49ers were in the midst of a potential collapse in an extremely important game. The team has also had a slew of frustrating losses in 2024, and this one was on the verge of being another.
Chances are this specific incident won’t linger. The larger problem for the 49ers will be avoiding more instances where players have reason for frustration on the sideline.
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