When Deebo Samuel demands the ball, you give Deebo Samuel the ball.
That’s exactly what happened in the third quarter of the 49ers’ 23-17 wild-card victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, which was highlighted in a mic’d up clip shared Tuesday by Inside the NFL.
You can hear the 49ers' do-it-all wide receiver tell coach Kyle Shanahan “Let’s go!” right as he was heading onto the field following K’Waun Williams’ interception of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott with the 49ers leading 16-7.
Samuel implores his 49ers teammates to “put the ball in the box” during the huddle, and then he did exactly that on the first play on the drive, taking a handoff out wide and then cutting it back for a 26-yard touchdown.
After the play, you can hear Samuel telling Shanahan “I told you! I told you!”
Shanahan dryly responds, “Thanks for telling me.”
Perfect.
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Samuel and Shanahan spoke about the play following the game, and both of them were pretty spot-on in how they remembered it.
“Right before he went out there, he mouthed something to me which I kind of guessed was, ‘Give me the ball,’ Shanahan said. “When I look at him talking that way, it’s extremely motivating and he makes it a lot easier to call plays.”
“That is absolutely right,” Samuel said. “When K’Waun got the interception, I looked at Kyle and said, ‘Hey, listen. Give me the ball. I got you.' So I went out there and on the next play, I scored.”
You can bet that if Samuel asks for the ball again this Saturday when the 49ers face off against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Divisional Playoff, Shanahan surely will oblige.