Getty Deebo Samuel and George Kittle greet Steve Young before the game.
While Deebo Samuel will undergo tests for a shoulder injury on Sunday according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver offered a promising update himself.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Samuel “told some members of the [49ers] organization that he was ‘OK’, per sources” after the 24-21 win over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday. Schefter also wrote that if Samuel “had a chance to play in next Sunday’s conference championship game, one source said, ‘yes I do'”.
Samuel injured his shoulder in the first half, and he didn’t return as he wore street clothes during the second half. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan compared it to the injury Samuel sustained in October against the Cleveland Browns.
“I don’t know yet,” Shanahan told reporters on Saturday. “I mean, he tried to come back, couldn’t do it. I know he did something similar versus Cleveland, so we’ll see tomorrow.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get Deebo back sooner than later,” Shanahan added.
Samuel sat out two more games after the Cleveland one due to the first shoulder injury in October. The 49ers went on a three-game slide during that span.
Niners Survived ‘Huge Challenge’ Without Deebo Samuel
49ers WR Deebo Samuel, who left Saturday night’s game with a shoulder injury, told some members of the organization that he was “OK”, per sources.
Kyle Shanahan compared Samuel’s injury to the one suffered at Cleveland earlier this season, when the WR missed the next two games.
San Francisco made due without Samuel this time around, unlike the rainy loss in Cleveland early this season. Niners quarterback Brock Purdy led his first career game-winning drive in the process versus the Packers.
“It’s always a huge challenge when you lose one of your best players, but Deebo is a little more unique just because of the way we do use him,” Shanahan told NBC Sports Bay Area on Saturday. “There’s not many more people who can do that stuff. When he is a big part of the game plan — which he always is — and he goes out that early, you’ve got to move a lot of people around, do a number of different things.”
“I thought we handled it better today than we did against Cleveland, but we still need to do it better than we did,” Shanahan added.
The winner between the Detroit Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the other NFC Divisional Round game could easily pose a more serious threat. Both teams come in red-hot for that contest.
Brock Purdy: ‘We Have Too Many Good Players on This Team’
Purdy didn’t have his best game again in Samuel’s absence amid 252 yards and a touchdown with a 59% completion rate and an 86.7 quarterback rating. That looked similar to the 0-3 stretch in the regular season for Purdy without Samuel — three touchdowns and quarterback ratings below 95.
“We have too many good players on this team,” Purdy told reporters after the game. “For us to not find a way, it’s not right. For us to finally have a game like this and pull through at the end was huge for all of us.”
It took passes from Purdy to running back Christian McCaffrey, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, and fellow receiver Jauan Jennings on the final drive to set up a game-winning touchdown run by McCaffrey. Purdy went to McCaffrey often as the star running back finished with seven catches and 17 carries on the ground for 128 total yards and three touchdowns.