San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan called the sideline disagreement between star receiver Deebo Samuel and two teammates an “overreaction” and said the team has moved past it.
The incident happened late in the 49ers’ 23-20 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday, after kicker Jake Moody missed his third field goal of the game.
TV cameras showed Samuel getting into a heated exchange and shoving long snapper Taybor Pepper in the throat when Samuel approached Moody on the sideline. Samuel also made contact with the side of Moody’s helmet as part of his follow-through.
“I didn’t think it was too big of a deal,” Shanahan said on Monday. “But after getting home and seeing it all on ‘SportsCenter’ and everything and all that stuff, I wanted to make sure I did. Talked to the guys about it, talked to a number of guys on the team. We squashed it and we’re good.”
Samuel admitted after the game that his actions were out of character and that he let his emotions get the best of him. Pepper explained that Samuel had told Moody to “lock in” after the miss, but Pepper wanted to protect his kicker.
Moody said it was just something that happened in the “heat of the moment” and that he didn’t need an apology.
Shanahan largely agreed with Moody’s take, saying he didn’t like the physical contact between Samuel and his teammates but emphasized that Samuel didn’t have any bad intentions.
“I like Pep’s intentions on it, he’s got his kicker’s back,” Shanahan said. “But I think he kind of interpreted wrong what Deebo was doing to him and overreacted a little bit. Deebo didn’t like that and got him out of his face, and that’s really about where it ended.”
Moody bounced back from his three misses and made the game-winning kick from 44 yards out on the final play.
