“Don’t poke the bear.”
That was Nick Bosa’s advice to the rest of the league and Seattle defensive back Johnathan Abram after he twisted Deebo Samuel’s ankle following a tackle on Saturday. The 49ers said postgame that the play pissed them off and was a catalyst for their domination in the second half of the 41-23 win.
“It’s fucked up dude, it pissed us off,” 49ers offensive lineman Aaron Banks told KNBR postgame. “And we kind of turned up from there. We got each other’s back through and through. You mess with one, you mess with all of us. We don’t play that so they felt it after that I think.”
“That’s some bullshit,” defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw told KNBR. “Wish I was out there.”
Bizarrely, the play did not warrant a flag, something that sent Kyle Shanahan into an a tizzy. In part because Samuel laid on the ground and appeared hurt.
“I was worried that he was hurt on it,” Shanahan said at the podium. “I lost my mind a little bit on that. I was real concerned that he was hurt on it. I didn’t like how that looked, I thought it looked pretty bad, the intent of the play. I think that pissed a lot of people off, I think it pissed our team off. I think you could kind of feel our team react to that after. I wish we were like that from the first play always but sometimes when some stuff motivates the guys it’s cool to see us rally together, and I know Deebo was bothered and it’s cool we came back and answered.”
Interestingly, Deebo said he laid on the ground not because he was injured, but because he was so upset by the play, he needed some time to collect his thoughts. While he was on the ground the 49ers got in a skirmish with the Seahawks, something that Samuel enjoyed.
“I stayed down a little ’cause I almost lost my temper,” Deebo said. “You can see the definition of our team of IGYB, I got your back…At the end of the day I felt like that turned our team up a notch and as you can see we just went up there and made plays.
“It hurt for sure, but in my mind I was about to lose it. I just kept coming. Just seeing how Kyle came off the sideline that’s the definition of our team.”
After the play, the 49ers outscored the Seahawks 24-7.
“I don’t know what he was trying to achieve by doing that,” Fred Warner said. “It wasn’t the smartest move for sure.”