There are few things more iconic in sports than calling your shot. So much of Babe Ruth’s legend and greatness — did he really call it? — revolves around how dominant he was and the fact that it doesn’t really matter whether he called his shot or not. His preeminence in the sport has most people believing that he did.
On Sunday, Deebo Samuel seemed to call his own shot.
He called over to Kyle Shanahan and appeared to say, “let’s go,” which everyone interpreted pretty clearly as “give me the ball.”
Shanahan did, and Samuel scored on one of the most vision-based touchdown runs you’ll ever see, waiting until a late opening presented itself, then cutting back across the field untouched to put the 49ers up 23-7.
49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel said he’d “never, ever, ever” seen an NFL player call his shot like that.
He said that Samuel has forced him, Kyle Shanahan and other coaches to adapt how they do their jobs. Rather than calling specific plays to a definite end, McDaniel said Samuel provides the opportunity to try and create space for him and let him figure the rest out.
“It is really cool to watch him play. It changes kind of your job description a little bit to where you’re trying to give a guy opportunities and not necessarily thinking exactly about defining stuff. [It’s] more abstract about hey, how do we get the ball with space? So that is a unique thing that we’ve kind of grown into.
“Deebo would make any coach look great. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve never, ever, ever been around a football player that called his own shot. I get, in basketball. But when 22 people are on the field, 11 of them are trying to tackle you with every ounce of being that they have and you just say, ‘Hey, yeah, give me the ball, I’m gonna put the ball in the box.’ And for him to do it. That was a special moment that only a special player could accomplish.”
McDaniel said the way the 49ers employ Samuel is a result of Samuel’s own greatness, and of Shanahan encouraging his staff to experiment with ways to use unique players in unique ways.
To that end, Samuel was named a first-team AP All-Pro for the first time in his career, set the NFL record for rushing yards for a receiver with eight, and led the league with seven rushing touchdowns of more than 10 yards this season. It’s a coaching-talent matchup made in tactical heaven.