November 28, 2023
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Deebo Samuel had 6 rushes for -9 yards and a lost fumble in the NFC Championship Game against the Eagles last January.
In the leadup to Sunday's much-anticipated rematch between the Eagles and 49ers, unsurprisingly, a lot of the San Francisco players' comments from the fallout of that 31-7 thrashing in the NFC title game are being brought back up.
In particular Deebo Samuel, who had a lot to say in the months since about how that game could've been different and how he felt the Niners were actually the better team to just about any platform that would have him – even at the Super Bowl, when he went on the "I AM ATHLETE" podcast to call James Bradberry "trash" a mere hours before Bradberry and the Eagles were about to play for a world title with the wound still very much fresh.
Shady McCoy: "What about James Bradberry?"
— I AM ATHLETE (@IAMATHLETEpod) February 12, 2023
Deebo Samuel: "Trash!"
@19problemz had A LOT to say ahead of #SuperBowl LVII 😲 #FlyEaglesFly
Watch & Subscribe for the full interview: https://t.co/fSQVphh4ME pic.twitter.com/NLXTApwmU4
But now the Eagles are on deck, and with none of what was said forgotten, Samuel said Monday after Niners practice that he isn't taking anything back.
“I don’t regret nothing I said," he said (via NBC Sports Bay Area).
Deebo doesn't regret any of his comments about the Eagles 👀 pic.twitter.com/JyfnPihm3b
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) November 27, 2023
“I don’t have any feelings right now, just see how it goes,” Samuel continued. “It’s not about revenge. It’s another game on the schedule and we’re going to treat it like any other game.”
Sure.
The Eagles are entering Sunday at an NFL-best 10-1 off the heels of a thrilling, but messy, overtime win against Buffalo – the fourth straight game where they've trailed at the half, yet their fourth straight win under those circumstances all the same, and against some fierce competition.
The 49ers, meanwhile, are trailing for the one seed in the conference at 8-3, but are favored as the road team with heavy statistical advantages in many categories, along with more frequent showings of outright dominance on both sides of the ball.
It's a matchup of a powerhouse team that keeps finding new ways to win against another that has rarely had to think about how it does.
And likely with little love lost between either.
"Talk is cheap," Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick, who knocked Niners QB Brock Purdy out of the title game last year with a strip sack, told KYW's Dave Uram following the win over the Bills. "They get to come back in the Linc. It was a lot of boo hoos last year, a lot of crying a lot of 'what if?', a lot of this, a lot of that.
"They get a chance to come back in here, line that s*** up, and prove it again."
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