Deommodore Lenoir and Troy Aikman Credit: © Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / © Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
By Sam Neumann on

Deommodore Lenoir spent the week talking up a matchup with Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Troy Aikman spent Saturday night making sure everyone watching ESPN knew how little he thought of that idea.

And after the 49ers’ 13-3 loss to Seattle, Lenoir made it clear he wasn’t thrilled about being the punchline on national television.

“Y’all think I give a f*ck what Troy Aikman has to say,” Lenoir wrote in a since-deleted Instagram story. “Clearly his eyes rollin in the back of his head when the game is on. Y’all show me where 11 (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) gave me work. Post every route every matchup.”

Lenoir didn’t hedge during the week. He told reporters that he wanted Smith-Njigba in man coverage, one-on-one, and made a point of saying he hoped the Seahawks receiver was ready for it.

That bravado came back up on the broadcast after Lenoir was flagged for pass interference on Smith-Njigba in the end zone. San Francisco eventually held Seattle on fourth down, but the penalty was all Troy Aikman needed to revisit Lenoir’s comments.

“Lenoir talked this week about wanting to match up with JSN, and I thought it was pretty funny, because Lenoir hasn’t matched up with anybody all season long,” Aikman said on the ESPN broadcast. “When plays outside — which is most of the time — he is lined up in the left cornerback position all but one snap. Now, they’re putting Jaxon Smith-Njigba to his side, so he’s been assigned [to] him on a couple of throws already. So, it’s clear that the Seattle Seahawks like that matchup.”

The reality, though, is that the much-hyped showdown never really materialized. San Francisco plays a zone-heavy scheme, meaning Lenoir and Smith-Njigba weren’t locked into true one-on-one coverage for most of the night. Whether that was by design or simply a byproduct of how the 49ers defend is hard to say. Either way, the matchup Lenoir spent all week calling for largely didn’t happen.

Smith-Njigba finished with six catches for 84 yards. He had 124 yards against the 49ers in Week 1, so this was actually a quieter game for him statistically. But Seattle won, clinched the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and locked up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The 49ers are the No. 2 seed at 12-5, meaning they’ll have to go on the road if they want to reach the Super Bowl.

Afterward, Smith-Njigba was asked about the noise Lenoir made during the week.

“Yeah, I definitely heard it,” Smith-Njigba said. “It’s hard to respond back to all my fans. But I knew that we were going to see him today and take care of business.”

As for Lenoir and Aikman, the cornerback made his feelings clear. Whether Aikman responds or even acknowledges the Instagram post remains to be seen. But Lenoir’s postgame reaction suggests he didn’t appreciate being called out on national television, regardless of how his matchup with Smith-Njigba actually went.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann