NFL Playoff Game Marred by Dirty Move? Team Tears Up ‘Intent of the Play’ Saying ‘Anger Kinda Takes Over’

The 2023 NFL Playoffs began on Saturday with two games between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Chargers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Both games contained some notable events, but only one of them contained a game that left that to win Team furious, and this is the Seahawks-49ers tilt that opened the weekend’s football festivities.

To get straight to the point, the game between the Seahawks and the Niners was never particularly competitive. The Niners are the better team and the sheer talent gap between the two rosters easily explains the lopsided 41-23 record.

Yes, the Seahawks were competitive for about a half, but the Niners easily won the second half of the game 25-6.

Immediately prior to that second-half rush from San Francisco, however, was this game that barely registered in play-by-play but raised big eyebrows with the Niners:

Dirty game by the Seahawks. Can’t stop Deebo or Purdy #nfl #49er
pic.twitter.com/Byr4CS1LwM

— Mister Irrelevant (@EGSporting) January 14, 2023

On ESPN’s official game after game Of the game, the game showed up as just “(10:26 – 3rd) (shotgun) B. Purdy pass short middle to D. Samuel to SEA 16 for 21 yards (J. Abram). SF-D.Samuel was injured during the game. 18 YEARS.”

But to the Niners? This tackle by Seahawks safety Johnathan Abram stood out for all the wrong reasons.

“I think the anger kind of took over,” Star 49ers tight end George Kittle said after the game New York Post.

Kittle detailed how Abram’s play fueled the team, including All-Pro receiver Deebo Samuel and All-Pro offensive giant Trent Williams.

“I don’t know why you – excuse my language first – why you want to piss off Deebo. If you do that to him, you’ll only piss off Trent Williams, who’s one of the scariest people on the football field. You’ll cheer on our defense, you’ll cheer on our entire team. I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. In my opinion it should have been a flag but it is what it is. They gave us another reason to flip the switch even higher. I think we did. I don’t think we need an excuse to flip that switch. That definitely made us play a little angrier.”

“It sure hurt. In my mind I was about to lose it. I just calmed down,” Samuel said of Abram’s extracurricular leg tear.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan stopped calling the game dirty shortly after.

“I lost my mind a bit there,” coach Shanahan said, according to the Post. “I was really concerned that[Samuel]would get hurt in the process. I didn’t like how that looked. I thought it looked pretty bad, the intention of the piece. So, I think that upset a lot of people. I think that upset our team. I think you could feel how our team reacted to that afterwards.”

The Niners still won the game despite the complaints and will now be awaiting the higher of the two NFC seeds remaining after Sunday’s NFL games, which are underway at the time of this writing.

Saturday’s other game, the nightcap, was also marked by some wild events as the Jaguars came from a 27-0 deficit and defeated the Chargers 31-30 with a last-second field goal.

“They came back from 27-0 to win the game and move on!” – @Frank_Frangie

CHILLS#IWATJ | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/Qdq2HW2pba

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguar) January 15, 2023

The NFL playoffs divisional round resumes next weekend. The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the top two seeders in their respective conferences, are the only two playoff teams not to play wild card weekend due to a earned bye.