Mike McGlinchey hadn’t been this excited since the 49ers won the NFC Championship Game back in January.
When the 49ers' offense sealed their 24-16 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, they did it in a powerful fashion.
In a 3rd-and-7 situation, Jimmy Garoppolo tossed a short shovel pass to Deebo Samuel, and the sophomore receiver powered through the Rams with the help of his blockers for a hard-earned first down, including with 16 yards after the catch. This allowed the team to take two kneel-downs and run out the clock.
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In the aftermath of the game-winning run, McGlinchey grabbed backup center Hroniss Grasu and headbutted him four consecutive times — and not lightly.
“It was just an exciting moment,” McGlinchey told reporters Wednesday. “We had gone through a lot of stuff the last couple of weeks and definitely fell on some hard times and didn’t play up to our standard. Sunday night we got back on track and that’s all that was. A lot of excitement and a lot of pride in what we did that night.”
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The offensive line had been taking a lot of heat for the team's previous two losses, where they allowed five sacks in each game. In the 49ers' win over the Rams, the offense was finally clicking and the line kept Garoppolo upright all game, not allowing a single sack. McGlinchey called the last play “icing on the cake.”
Grasu is not stranger to McGlinchey’s enthusiasm, but was still taken aback by the right tackle’s physical reaction to the sealing the victory.
“Mike always expresses his feelings and he’s a guy that we always feed off his energy,” Grasu said. “I said something to him first to get him a little jacked up, but I really didn’t expect him to take it to that level, but that’s why we love Mike. He’s always bringing that energy every single day.”
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McGlinchey had no explanation as to what possessed him to react the way he did, but chalked it up to the excitement in a tough divisional win. The third-year right tackle has something in common with defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and coach Kyle Shanahan, who have admitted to the same affliction when extremely good things have happened on the field.
“I don’t know why I started head-butting Hroniss,” McGlinchey said. “I think as soon as we got the first down I kind of blacked out and started celebrating and didn’t come-to until he looked at me like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’”
McGlinchey is glad that he didn’t cause harm to the backup center, who will now take over starting duties for Ben Garland, who will be out for a few weeks with a calf strain. Grasu had a productive training camp and picked up game experience at center in Week 1 while Garland was out with a high ankle sprain.