Former Michigan State Spartans star Taybor Pepper is certainly not a household name, but in NFL circles, he is widely known as one of the best long snappers in the business.
So, when he feels someone disrespects his craft or infringes on his special teams friends, he takes it personally.
That’s what happened during the San Francisco 49ers’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday when Pepper intervened in what seemed to be a heated moment between kicker Jake Moody and wide receiver Deebo Samuel after Moody missed his third field goal.
Pepper defended Moody, resulting in Samuel actually putting his hands on Pepper during the confrontation.
Deebo Samuel grabbed the neck of long snapper Taybor Pepper and swiped at kicker Jake Moody after a third missed field goal pic.twitter.com/wFIK3p38DR
— Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly) November 10, 2024
Pepper and Samuel have been teammates since 2020, so these two players are very familiar with one another. Surely, they made things right after the game.
But could Pepper’s incident actually help spark a laboring 49ers squad?
San Francisco entered the season with clear Super Bowl aspirations. After all, the Niners had just lost a heartbreaker to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl last February.
Many felt that the 49ers boasted the most talented roster in the NFL going into 2024, and it was hard to argue with that sentiment.
However, things have certainly not gone according to plan in the Bay Area.
San Francisco is just 5-4 thus far this season and is a half-game behind the Arizona Cardinals for first place in the NFC West.
Trailing the Cardinals, a team that won just four games a year ago, is not what most expected for a Niners squad that has captured two straight division titles.
To be fair, the 49ers have been ravaged by injuries, but no one is going to feel sorry for them.
Anyway, perhaps Pepper’s little scuffle with Samuel was exactly what San Francisco needed. Maybe the Niners required a little kick in the backside to get going.
That was certainly an emotional win for the 49ers, and it was one they desperately needed, especially with a rather rough stretch of games on the horizon.
Pepper won’t be making any tackles or catching any touchdown passes the rest of the way, but the competitive fire he displayed on San Francisco’s sideline in Week 10 could be just what the doctor ordered for the Niners as they get deeper into the second half of the year.
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