Eagles-49ers rematch showed Deebo Samuel’s trash talk is justified — and perhaps just what San Francisco needs
PHILADELPHIA — Deebo Samuel waved to the crowd with his left hand and then waved with his right as he jogged out of the end zone.
The Philadelphia Eagles fans Samuel trolled were trying to enjoy a home game when, instead, Samuel made their end zone his second home for the night.
On just seven touches, Samuel raced to 138 yards and three touchdowns from scrimmage.
On his last burn, celebrated with waves, Samuel had cut inside while a blocker eliminated Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, previously matched on Samuel. He raced past defensive linemen and then linebackers as he sliced through the middle of the field. Samuel was not even touched as he gained 48 yards after the catch (46 net) on his way to capping off the Niners’ 42-19 win.
“He’s got great foot drive, he’s excellent after contact, he always finishes falling forward,” 49ers left tackle Trent Williams said. “He’s a special player, and I think his performance today shows that he’s a special player.”
Samuel’s performance indeed reflected why the 49ers have won all nine games for which he has been healthy this season, why they lost three straight games when he was sidelined due to a shoulder fracture and why any NFL opponent should fear them when he’s in the lineup.
San Francisco’s stacked offense runs so much deeper than just Samuel. But his combination of power, balance and elusiveness — in concert with his teammates’ well-placed, well-timed blocks — confounds and wears down defenses physically and psychologically.
Waving goodbye after a 46-yard touchdown scored against the cornerback he dismissed this offseason as “trash”? Some franchises would think Samuel is running his mouth into danger. But the 49ers feast off the energy he brings as they make their argument for the NFL’s best team.
“I love the fact that he can talk and set the stage and walk into a hostile environment and just thrive,” defensive end Nick Bosa said. “That’s what greatness is made of, for sure.”
Eagles had no answer for Samuel
The 49ers craved a victory over the Eagles for multiple reasons. They wanted to erase the sting of losing quarterback Brock Purdy to a UCL tear in the NFC championship game on this field 10 months prior. They wanted to prove that they are the better team they believed they were then. And they wanted to set the tone for what could likely be still another rematch in January, as the NFC’s best teams vie for the conference’s spot in the Super Bowl.
Samuel’s springtime chirp that Bradberry was “trash” and his insistence days before this game that he did not regret what he said only deepened the motivation.
All of that was at stake when the Eagles outgained the 49ers, 120 yards to minus-6, in the first quarter. But San Francisco’s defense withstood the Eagles’ red-zone advances to hold Philadelphia to 6 points on that production.
Niners tight end George Kittle shouted in the postgame locker room to emphasize how “HUUUGE” the defensive start was.
“The coolest part was they were moving the ball, doing a lot, [but] it was only 6-0,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “So we were able to weather the storm and get our rhythm back.”
And when the 49ers train starts rolling, it rarely stops. By halftime, San Francisco had overcome its opening pair of three-and-outs to take a 14-6 lead. The third quarter moved still more quickly.
Purdy found running back Christian McCaffrey on a wheel route to the left for 33 yards to enter the red zone and paved the way for Samuel — thanks to a valiant blocking effort by Kittle — to take an end-around 12 yards to the right for a game-widening score with 11:48 to play in the third.
“The acceleration,” Kittle marveled afterward. “He gets hit, and all of a sudden, three steps later, he’s running past safeties and stuff. It’s really fun to be part of an offense that when any single person on our offense touches the ball, if you’re giving a little extra effort and blocking somebody, it could turn into a house call.
“And that’s what our team did tonight. You saw a lot of those.”
The 49ers just covered 45 yards and the entire width of the field on those consecutive plays from McCaffrey and Deebo.
Deebo's 12-yard TD pushes 49ers' lead to 21-6 over Eagles.pic.twitter.com/ZRSwcVpWK4— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) December 3, 2023
None more punishing than Samuel’s next, on which he caught Purdy’s 6-air-yard pass in the middle of the field and was wrapped by Eagles safety Kevin Byard. Samuel shook Byard to the ground with an ease that physics suggests shouldn’t be possible against a 212-pound defender, Samuel’s acceleration similarly undisturbed by cornerback Darius Slay’s wrap short of the end zone.
“Cornerbacks and safeties ain’t very excited to tackle him, and he knows that,” Williams said. “Once he gets that full head of steam, he don’t have to bring a lot of finesse to the party. Guys are going to sit back on the chair and wait on him.
“They know it’s going to be a collision.”
If 49ers keep feeding off Samuel’s energy, NFL should beware
In the 49ers’ postgame locker room, the impact of Samuel’s ethos reverberated.
As Samuel dressed in all-black leather, black boots and chains at his locker (he insists he was not trying to play the villain and was instead pleasantly surprised that Williams also opted for all black), fellow receiver Brandon Aiyuk addressed a media crowd at the locker adjacent to Samuel's.
Aiyuk was explaining the 49ers’ reticence to leave their hotel this weekend “because of the hate, you could say, between both sides.” It’s a spirited rivalry that Samuel has stoked arguably more than any other person. “It made it super fun,” Aiyuk added, “and we got the dub.”
Samuel listened to Aiyuk’s interview, hovering somewhere between scoff and laugh when Aiyuk was asked if the offense needed a heat check. His disdain held credence — for a player who averaged 19.4 yards per touch Sunday and scored three touchdowns, what would a heat check even look like?
“That boy can say what he wants to,” Aiyuk told Yahoo Sports.
Coaches, fellow offensive teammates and defenders all echoed that message.
Shanahan celebrated Samuel’s manipulation of space, “as good as there is when that ball is in his hands.” Purdy touted his pass-catcher as “electric” and “stoked,” noting how Samuel fired up his team with choice words in the locker room. “People were saying things about what he said,” linebacker Fred Warner said. Then Warner grinned and nodded: “I think it’s safe to say his actions spoke louder than his words.”
San Francisco knows better than to tone down Samuel’s bluster.
Because the 49ers and Eagles’ rivalry has reached a tenor that needs an outlet, as two perennially well-built and well-executing NFL teams face off annually for a Super Bowl spot that at least one of them will not get each year. A heated third-quarter exchange showed an alternative outlet for the teams’ raging rivalry, as Eagles head of security Dom DiSandro and 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw exchanged touches and were promptly removed from the game by officials for crossing NFL rulebook lines.
Against that scene, how harmless is Samuel’s trash talk, really? Perhaps it’s just the balance the 49ers need to light the brightest possible fire under them as they chase the title that for years has been within reach but nonetheless eluded them in the Shanahan era. Perhaps Samuel is just the hero (in villain’s garb) the 49ers need to take that next step.
“I ain’t going to lie, I was in that zone all week long,” Samuel said. “Of course they beat us in the NFC championship, and then at the end of the day, talking trash, it’s just part of the game.
“We’re talking trash, having fun, and we came out here and got a win.”
With Samuel leading the charge, the Eagles won’t be the last team the 49ers wave out of their way.
