Kyle Shanahan clears the air regarding Deebo Samuel "throat punching" Taybor Pepper
During Sunday's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Deebo Samuel was seen in an altercation with long snapper Taybor Pepper. Samuel's frustrations over kicker Jake Moody boiled over and Pepper appeared to intervene.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Monday that he believes it was just an "overreaction." While he said Deebo Samuel shouldn't have acted the way he did, he said that he believes the wide receiver was trying to encourage the kicker and that Pepper misread it.
"Oh yeah, totally. I think it was a little bit overreaction, and I don't think, you never want Deebo to throw a baby punch or anything on anybody on our own team, but Deebo also wasn't saying anything bad to Jake, like it sounded. He was meeting him on the field telling him to lock in, the same thing I'll tell to an offensive player who just dropped some balls or made some penalties or something," Shanahan said.
Shanahan continued by talking about Taybor Pepper's reaction:
"And I like Taybor Pepper's intentions on it, he's got his kicker's back. But I think he kind of interpreted wrong what Deebo was doing to him and overreacted a little bit. And Deebo didn't like that and got him out of his face, and that's really about where it ended."
Despite the three missed field goals earlier in the game, kicker Jake Moody did make one when he absolutely needed to, winning the game as time expired.
What happened with Deebo Samuel during Week 10 vs. Bucs?
The San Francisco 49ers entered Week 10 with a 4-4 record and were hopeful that things would turn around with the return of running back Christian McCaffrey. Kicker Jake Moody missed three field goals, which prohibited the 49ers from taking and extending a lead over the Buccaneers.
In the fourth quarter, after his third missed opportunity, wide receiver Deebo Samuel walked up to Moody on the sidelines. Long snapper Taybor Pepper apparently interpreted the interaction as aggressive and approached Samuel. The wide receiver proceeded to place his hand on Pepper's neck pushing him away from him, hitting Moody in the head at the same time.
After the game, Samuel said his behavior was "out of character" and that frustration got the best of him. He also told reporters that he didn't say anything bad to Moody he just wanted to fire him up.