It is a common strategy in professional sports to use your opponents emotions against them but it appears the 49ers planned to intentionally focus on it. As a team, San Francisco have established that they have a scrappy defense and aren’t a team to back down with their elite physicality. They planned ahead of time to utilize that against one of their chief rivals greatest weapons.
49ers to Focused their Efforts on Frustrating Seahawks Receiver
It has been reported that in a team meeting the previous night, San Francisco Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Shanahan challenged his players to try and get Seattle receiver DK Metcalf to lose his composure. Metcalf is one of the most emotional players in the league and has been criticized already this season for the quantity of personal fouls he has drawn.
“We will get ’14’ to lose his mind,” Shanahan told his players in the late night meeting on Saturday, as per the San Francisco Chronicle. “Christmas present for whoever gets him.”
It looks like All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner will be taking home the present because in the final minutes of the game, absolute chaos erupted as an interception from Warner erupted into a major incident. Metcalf suplexed Warner for the tackle which prompted a retaliatory shove from Warner. Metcalf went for Warner’s facemask and a brawl broke out involving players from both sides.
DK Metcalf got ejected for WHAT?!?! pic.twitter.com/Cefx5ViVSL
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 11, 2023
San Francisco was able to dominate the game up until the fourth quarter where Seattle was able to put on an insignificant comeback attempt. Clearly the emotional players from Seattle struggled with the frustration brought on by the season as they were easily enticed into a man-to-man showdown. San Francisco officially clinched entry into the NFL playoffs but Seattle will have a way to go as they are currently tied with Green Bay at 6-7 for the final wildcard spot. Green Bay holds the tie breaker over Seattle so as of now, Seattle does not have a way into the postseason.
Should this be legal?
While this is incredibly common, the publicized nature of this seems like this should be outlawed. An argument could be made that what Shanahan instructed his players to do was essentially a bounty and bounties have been highly illegal for years. The most notorious example of bounties resulted in the season long suspension of former Saints and current Broncos head coach Sean Payton. While it seems borderline, it is clear that Shanahan’s strategy was successful as emotion clearly boiled over for Metcalf.
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