49ers’ Deebo Samuel: Trash Talk with James Bradberry, Eagles Is ‘All Fun and Games’
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After scoring three touchdowns Sunday, San Francisco 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel says he hopes the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t take his trash talk “to heart.”
The 49ers won 42-19 in a rematch of last year’s NFC championship game.
“I was in that zone all week long,” Samuels said after Sunday’s win. “Talking trash is part of the game. Hopefully nobody took it to heart, because this is all fun and games at the end of the day.”
Earlier this week, Samuel doubled down on calling Philadelphia cornerback James Bradberry “trash” following the Niners’ 31-7 playoff loss to the Eagles last year.
“I don’t regret nothing I said,” Samuel said Monday when asked about the Bradberry comment.
The question was referring to Samuel’s appearance on the “I Am Athlete” podcast in February. When asked by former Eagles star LeSean McCoy about Bradberry, Samuel called the cornerback “trash.”
Samuel referred back to that comment after a defensive holding penalty called on Bradberry with minutes left in a tied Super Bowl contributed to the Kansas City Chiefs’ championship victory.
Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown said earlier this week that Samuel was “just having fun” with his comments heading into the game.
“I don’t think Deebo means any harm,” Brown said (h/t NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark.) “That’s just him. He’s just having fun, and I don’t think it’s a shot at Bradberry personally. He’s just talking. That’s just how he talks, all the time. He’s a big kid.”
Bradberry himself did not seem overly concerned about the exchange.
“Of course, I don’t necessarily like what he said,” Bradberry said earlier this week, per NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Dave Zangaro. “I wish he would have used a better word to describe my play. But it is what it is. At the end of the day, all I can do is control my work ethic and what I do day to day.”
Samuel’s comments might sting a little more now that he has backed them up with a 49ers victory. The loss slowed the 10-2 Eagles’ attempt to pull away in the standings from the 9-3 Dallas Cowboys, who are threatening to overtake Philadelphia’s position atop the NFC East.