Deebo Samuel scores beauty of a touchdown vs. Cardinals

Leading by a touchdown over the Cardinals, the 49ers turned to Deebo Samuel for a lengthy touchdown on Monday Night Football in Mexico City.

The San Francisco 49ers haven’t necessarily had the same “wide back” success with All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel this season as they enjoyed a year ago.

However, someone forgot to tell Samuel when the Niners squared off against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football from Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan had tried to get Samuel more touches in the first half, particularly on some screen plays to take advantage of Arizona’s aggressive defensive front. Still, the Cardinals largely sniffed those plays out and limited Samuel’s overall impact around the line of scrimmage.

Yet Samuel would make an exceptional play early in the third quarter where he’d look like his vintage All-Pro self from a season ago.

With some help, of course.

Deebo Samuel gifts 49ers a beautiful rushing touchdown vs. Cardinals

San Francisco opened up the second half of Monday night on offense and held a 17-10 lead after the break.

Facing a 1st-and-10 from the Arizona 39-yard line, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo‘s toss to Samuel took advantage of the misdirection. With some significant blocking from left tackle Trent Williams and center Jake Brendel, all Samuel had to do was navigate his way through the Cardinals’ swarm of defenders and into the end zone for the touchdown:

Turns out, that was the longest run Samuel had this season, and it also gave the 49ers a much-needed 24-10 lead.

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The Niners haven’t used Samuel as a dual-threat option as much this season as they did a year ago, but his prowess as a rusher and receiving weapon hasn’t gone away.

With San Francisco looking to take command of the NFC West with a win over the Cardinals, having Samuel do just that on Monday night was absolutely vital.