49ers star Deebo Samuel explains an altercation with his teammate during their Week 10 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Photo Credit: Fox Photo Credit: Fox
NFLBy Reice Shipley on

The San Francisco 49ers were able to come away with a 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. But that doesn’t mean that it was smooth sailing. Especially for star wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who let his emotions get the best of him when he got into a sideline altercation with long-snapper Taybor Pepper.

San Francisco had no issues moving the ball, outgaining Tampa Bay 413-215. However, the game was nearly lost by their shaky special teams.

In his return from a four-game absence due to injury, Jake Moody missed three field goals. The third miss came with just over three minutes left in the game, with the 49ers leading 23-20.

After the final miss from Moody, Samuel was captured on the sideline extremely frustrated, leading to him putting his hands around the neck of Taybor Pepper while yelling at Moody.

Ironically, Moody would go on to save the day for the 49ers, nailing a 44-yard field goal to win the game for the 49ers as time expired, the exact same distance he had missed from just minutes before.

The result on the field was overwhelmingly positive for 49ers fans. But are there any ill feelings within the 49ers locker room after the altercation?

It seems like it is largely water under the bridge as far as Samuel and Moody see it, talking about the situation with reporters after the game.

“Yeah, you know, it’s an emotional game,” said Moody. Stuff like that happens all the time. You just move past it and move on. That’s all that matters. There doesn’t need to be (an apology). It happens, I do have to make those kicks at the end of the day. That’s all I’m focused on. I’m not worried about anything like that.”

“Just frustrated in the heat of battle,” said Samuel on the altercation. “Real close game and I kind of got out of character a little bit. I’ll talk to Moody and we’ll get past it. I think he had a little dog in him, a little motivation to make the field goal. When I was talking to him at first, I wasn’t saying nothing crazy to him. I was just frustrated at that time. But he went out there and won the game of course. He wasn’t bothered by it, so we move past it.”

Taybor Pepper meanwhile provided some context about the altercation, saying that Samuel told him and Moody to “lock in” after the missed kick.

“He was telling him to lock in,” said Pepper. “We know what our job is and we got us. It’s hard being a specialist. Sometimes, it’s feast or famine. As a young, developing specialist like Jake is, the best mental exercise you can have is missing three straight and having to step up and make an almost 50-yard game-winner. So I’m super proud of Jake.”

If Moody had missed the game-winner and the 49ers had lost the game, chances are we wouldn’t be seeing this kind of reaction from all three of the players involved in the altercation.

But winning can certainly make you forget about your disagreements in the NFL.

[49ers on NBC Sports, Photo Credit: Fox]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley