49ers’ Kyle Shanahan clears air about sideline dust-up
During the win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10 on the road at Raymond James Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers witnessed a bit of an unexpected dust-up on the sideline, with star wide receiver Deebo Samuel getting into it with the special teams after a third missed field goal on the day.
Apparently, Samuel lost his cool and was seen on camera pushing longer snapper Taybor Pepper, which became quite the distraction for the NFC heavyweights while they were trying to take down Baker Mayfield and company in Tampa Bay.
Ultimately, the 49ers were able to win their fifth game of the season on Sunday, but Samuel’s actions became a storyline, which head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed on Monday via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.
On Monday, Shanahan said he “didn’t think it was too big of a deal” but he still felt compelled to address what happened.
“I wanted to make sure I did and talked to the guys about it,” Shanahan said. “[I] talked to a number of guys on the team and we squashed it and we’re good.”
With the 49ers finally starting to get back on track and able to get superstar Christian McCaffrey back on the field in Week 10, the last thing the team needed was an unwanted distraction in the locker room that would dominate the headlines heading into Week 11.
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Fortunately, kicker Jake Moody was able to convert the game-winning field goal, which Shanahan also talked about on Monday via ESPN.
“I mean, he missed three kicks,” Shanahan said. “I thought it wasn’t the easiest place to kick in. The wind was weird, especially the direction that he missed. It was different but, it was a few big kicks and came back into his first game-winner on a walk-off. So, thought he finished it well and move on to next week with it.”
The focus now is to keep putting together solid performances leading to wins while trying to keep their stars healthy in the second half of the season in order to make another deep run in the NFL playoffs.
