The San Francisco 49ers clinched a thrilling 23-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, with kicker Jake Moody sealing the win with a 44-yard field goal as time expired.
The game-winning kick capped an otherwise difficult day for Moody, who struggled with three missed field goals that had allowed the Buccaneers to stay in contention.
Moody, who returned to action after missing over a month with an ankle injury, appeared to struggle to find his rhythm, putting the 49ers under pressure and giving Tampa Bay a shot at a late-game comeback.
Following his third missed field goal, tensions boiled over for the Niners.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel confronted the young kicker, which quickly escalated as long snapper Taybor Pepper stepped in to defend Moody.
The sideline confrontation ended with Samuel taking a swing at Pepper. This bizarre moment partially overshadowed what was an impressive win for the 49ers.
After the game, Pepper shared his perspective on the heated moment.
“High-emotion game,” Pepper began. “Jake was having a little rough patch there, (so I’m) standing up for Jake. The game wasn’t over, and everybody knows what happened at the end. It’s not over until the clock hits zero.
“It’s nice that he had a rough patch that he was able to come back from because not a lot of people get that opportunity.”
While not exactly taking full accountability for his actions, Samuel did admit that he “got out of character” by blowing up on Moody and Pepper.
“Normally, I don’t even get like this, but just frustrated in the heat of battle. You know, it was really close game, and I kind of got out of character,” Samuel said.
“I think (Moody) had a little dog in him, a little motivation to go out there and make the field goal,” he added.
Moody, to his credit, downplayed the incident and pointed out that these types of confrontations happen all the time on the football field.
“It’s such an emotional game, and stuff like this happens all the time. You just move past it,” Moody said.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan also downplayed the blowup and made it clear that he’s not worried about any type of negative fallout from it.
“I didn’t see any of it, so I don’t know how bad it was, but something I’m not too worried about,” Shanahan said. “We’ll fix it. If it hasn’t been fixed already, we’ll fix it on the plane, and we’ll go back to loving each other tomorrow.”
Linebacker Fred Warner chalked the whole situation up to Samuel just being a passionate competitor who wants to win.
“That’s just the fiery spirit of the team. Everybody, of course, wants to win, and I don’t put too much weight on it,” Warner said.
Samuel summed the whole incident up with a simple message, stating: “I’ll talk to Moody, and we’ll get past it.”
The bottom line is the 49ers picked up a much-needed conference win on a day where they welcomed All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey back to the field.
While their record is mediocre for their standards (5-4), the football world is well aware that the 49ers are as dangerous as any team in the league.
Shanahan’s squad will welcome in the NFC West rival Seattle Seahawks this coming Saturday. Both teams know full-well that at this point in the season every game is pivotal.
What are your thoughts on the Samuel-Moody/Pepper blowup???
