On Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers will be without their leading receiver, Deebo Samuel, against the Seattle Seahawks. That is a significant loss for a team that has been surging in recent weeks. The 49ers want to ensure that improvement doesn't slow at Lumen Field this weekend.
Samuel has been a significant part of the offense, accounting for 1,209 total yards of offense and 10 total touchdowns. Luckily, the whole team has been playing better in recent weeks. San Francisco has won three straight and four of their last five, improving to 6-5 on the season and getting back into the playoff picture.
The offense will miss Samuel, but head coach Kyle Shanahan believes the team can overcome the loss of one player on offense, even one as good as Samuel.
"I mean, Deebo's an important player," Shanahan said on KNBR's Murph & Mac show. "... Any time you're missing a great player, it can't be a crisis. This is football. There's a lot of people out there, and it's all tied together. Even when Deebo's going, which, he's been unbelievable, but you better make sure you're blocking well for him and giving him some of those looks.
"And then you've got a guy like Deebo, who can turn a very [good] play that would be explosive for a lot of guys, but he can turn it into a touchdown, which that is the key—getting points. We've got to have other guys step it up and still make some plays, but we've got to make sure we're playing as a team and feeding off of each other like we have been doing."
Samuel's absence will put pressure on other offensive stars, like tight end George Kittle and wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings, to step up even more in the Week 13 clash with a division rival.
Earlier this week, Shanahan said he expected Samuel to miss one to two weeks. Samuel, however, fully expects to be on the field in Week 14 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
"It's only going to take a week [to recover], so [I'll] be back next week," Samuel said on Wednesday during an interview with CBS Sports HQ.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.
