While San Francisco 49ers fans were getting exacerbated with kicker Jake Moody after his third missed field goal against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Niners wide receiver Deebo Samuel took his frustrations out on long snapper Taybor Pepper, lunging at his teammate’s throat after appearing to say something to Moody.
The confrontation took place with just over three minutes to play in the fourth quarter after Moody missed wide right. After being shoved, Pepper followed Samuel down the sidelines, barking at the wide receiver and needing to be restrained by teammates.
Following Moody’s missed field goal, the Bucs drove down the field to hit their own field goal, tying the game at 20-20 with less than a minute to play. However, Moody redeemed himself from the previous misses by hitting a 44-yarder as time expired to give San Francisco the win.
Deebo Samuel grabbed the neck of long snapper Taybor Pepper and swiped at kicker Jake Moody after a third missed field goal pic.twitter.com/wFIK3p38DR
— Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly) November 10, 2024
Following the win, Pepper told reporters Samuel was simply telling Moody to “lock in.”
“He was telling him to lock in, and we know what our job is,” Pepper said. “We got us. It’s hard being a specialist, sometimes it’s feast or famine. As a young developing specialist like Jake is … I don’t know how much better it gets than missing three straight and having to step up and hitting an almost 50-yard game-winner. I’m super proud of Jake.”
Samuel echoed that following the game, telling reporters he got out of character in the heat of battle and clarified that he wasn’t saying anything to Pepper, but the long snapper just wanted to come over and protect Moody as a “big bro.”
“I’ll talk to Moody and we’ll get past it,” Samuel said, later adding Moody “had a little dog in him” to go hit the game-winner.
“I wasn’t saying anything like crazy to him, I was kinda frustrated at the time but he went out there and won the game for us. He wasn’t bothered by it, so we move past it,” Samuel said.
Linebacker Fred Warner, a team leader, said the incident was an indication of “the fiery spirit of the team” and it simply showed how badly every player wants to win.
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Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said he didn’t see the shove, but declined to look too far into it, simply stating, “Brothers scuffle a little bit,” and adding that if the issue wasn’t addressed already, it’ll get fixed on the plane ride home.
After the game, Moody said Samuel doesn’t owe him an apology and said he moved past the incident quickly.
“It’s an emotional game and stuff like that happens all the time. You just move past it and we won, so that’s all that matters,” Moody said.
Moody added, “There doesn’t need to be (an apology). Like I said, heat of the moment. It happens. I do got 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.”
Shanahan himself showed visible frustration on the sideline after an earlier Moody miss, but said he didn’t say anything to the kicker before the final, game-winning drive. Regarding the altercation with Samuel, Shanahan said he didn’t think the shove added any extra pressure on Moody.
“I don’t think the pressure of people getting shoved with a helmet on or something is much of it,” Shanahan said. “You’re only as good as your last kick, you’re only as good as your last throw, you’re only as good as your last game. It was great practice for himself to put himself in a situation like that and to come through. I think that does add confidence to guys so they’ve been there before. But I’m proud of how he made that at the end.”
Moody finished the game with three makes on six attempts, while Samuel tallied 62 yards on five catches. Moody entered the game with 13 field goals on 14 attempts.
(Photo: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
