The 49ers came into Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons already fired up to play given the postseason implications of the game and the energy of the home crowd at Levi's Stadium, but they got even more of a spark when they saw wide receiver/running back Deebo Samuel send Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell's mouthpiece flying through the air.
Samuel collided with Terrell during a 21-yard reception in the third quarter and separated him from his mouthpiece, as can be seen in the video below. The play set up a touchdown run from Jeff Wilson that gave the 49ers a 24-10 lead en route to a 31-13 win, and it got his teammates excited in the process.
Deebo Samuel just knocked this CB's mouthpiece to San Jose 😳 pic.twitter.com/1hXdcqU4bs
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 19, 2021
"We feed on that big time," 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said after the win. "I know personally I do. I saw a lot of flexing out there, and that got me hyped today. It definitely has a trickle-down effect to everybody."
One would expect such hits from the defense, but it when the offense gets physical, it gets everyone fired up. Also among the highlight hits from the 49ers on Sunday was this pancake block from offensive lineman Trent Williams on a touchdown run from Juszczyk -- certainly not a rare sight from Williams but one that was noticed by the defensive players watching from the sidelines, just like the hit from Samuel.
"Definitely like to see the physicality from our guys," defensive end Nick Bosa said. "I saw Trent had a good one on Juice's touchdown. But yeah, whenever we see like (wide receiver Brandon) Aiyuk or Deebo lower their shoulder and George try and get those extra yards, you can hear the crowd and you get excited for it too. That's just our style of football."
Samuel's run was indicative of the physical nature of the performance the 49ers had on Sunday. There were a number of hard hits from the 49ers on the day, which is how they aim to play in every game. Their physicality was apparent on Sunday, and it led to the outcome they were hoping to get.
"That's kind of our goal every week," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "We've got some guys who enjoy the physicality of the game, whether they have the ball in their hand, or whether they're blocking, or whether they're hitting on defense. I think that's extremely important to being a good team."
Hits like Samuel's also tell the 49ers something about the opponent they're facing. 49ers tight end George Kittle said that the other team's reaction to physical play is an indicator of what kind of challenge awaits on the other side of the field.
"When you have the opportunity with your ball in your hands run through a guy's face, it really shows what type of guys you're playing against," Kittle said. "Deebo hit that guy pretty dang hard and I took him a little bit to get up. I felt like we made a lot of plays like that today where we were the guys hitting harder than some of their defensive guys. Not all of them -- (defensive lineman) Grady Jarrett, he hits really hard. 94 (DL Anthony Rush) smacked me a couple times. But I thought our offense played very physical today."
As for Samuel, he wasn't aware of what he had done on the play at first, but he quickly realized that he turned in a moment for the highlight film.
"Not really until I saw the replay and everybody was going crazy, so I knew something crazy kind of happened," Samuel said after the game.
And just as the rest of the team fed off him, Samuel used their reaction to give himself some fuel the rest of the way.
"It's just kind of the game that I always play," Samuel said. "Just to see my team riled up and stuff, it does give you a little confidence boost and a little energy, then you go out there and really try to do it again all game because not too many DBs want to be a part of that, I'm not going to lie to you."
There may well be more highlights like Samuel's over the remainder of the season given the intensity the 49ers will need to play with in order to secure a playoff spot. It wouldn't be a surprise if Samuel was the source of more of them, considering the type of reaction he got from his teammates on Sunday.
"That's an energy boost, for sure," Wilson said. "Especially seeing him have that same mentality and run like me, that's just like candy for a baby. It's just like gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, I want some of that, you know what I mean? ...He's a tremendous player and he's only getting started."