49ers players and coaches react to Deebo Samuel's sideline scuffle

Deebo Samuel's altercation with Taybor Pepper was ultimately going to raise some questions after the 49ers' win over the Buccaneers.

In some regard, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel had every right to be frustrated with his kicker, Jake Moody, throughout what ultimately turned into a 23-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Samuel and the offense gave Moody plenty of chances to bounce back from a lengthy absence, due to a high-ankle sprain suffered earlier in the season. And the wide receiver was directly responsible for five catches for 62 yards, plus another 14 rushing.

Moody, however, missed three field-goal tries, eventually connecting on the game-winner as time expired to give San Francisco the win in Week 10.

Redemption or motivation?

After Moody's third miss, Samuel got into an altercation on the sidelines, one that seemed focused on fellow special teams contributor, long-snapper Taybor Pepper. While it appears as if Pepper was coming to his kicker's defense, Samuel's frustrations nevertheless echoed what many 49ers fans were likely feeling with regard to the second-year kicker's inconsistencies.

Fortunately for Moody, Pepper, Samuel and the rest of the Niners, San Francisco pulled off the last-second win.

That likely healed some of the immediate wounds, but questions remain.

And plenty of players were asked about it postgame.

Kyle Shanahan, Deebo Samuel, Jake Moody react to sideline scuffle

Head coach Kyle Shanahan understandably wants to make it a moot point, hoping the issue between Samuel, Pepper and Moody has already been resolved.

If not, it should be shortly.

"It’s something I’m not too worried about," Shanahan said in his postgame presser. "We’ll fix it. If it hasn’t been fixed already, we’ll fix it on the plane and go back to loving each other tomorrow."

The subject of the altercation, Moody, wanted to remind everyone that football is an "emotional" game.

“It’s an emotional game. Stuff like that happens all the time," Moody responded when asked about the incident. "You’ve just got to move past it. We won, so that’s all that matters."

When pressed about whether or not Samuel offered an apology for going after him, Moody simply responded, "There doesn't need to be."

Elsewhere in the locker room, Pepper confirmed he was merely backing up his specialist teammate:

"Jake was having a little rough patch there," Pepper clarified. "[I was] standing up for Jake because there was still time on the clock. The game wasn’t over, and everybody knows what happened at the end."

Additionally, Pepper told reporters the wind at Raymond James Stadium can be a factor, also noting the difficulty of returning from an ankle injury to a kicking leg.

Samuel, of course, was growing to draw the most attention for what went down on the sidelines in the second half.

"Frustrated in the heat of battle," Samuel said when asked about what caused him to act in such a way. "Really close game, and I kind of got out of character a little bit."

Samuel, a team captain, does bear the responsibility of holding his teammates accountable while also not crossing the line over into the unacceptable. And players can thrive off different means of motivation, too, even though some may look unacceptable to the casual viewer.

Judging by Samuel's comments, however, there's a little bit of remorse, even though he also pointed out the "little motivation" to make the game-winning field goal.

"I'll talk to Moody, and we'll get past it," Samuel concluded.

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