San Francisco wide receiver Jauan Jennings said he hit Tre'von Moehrig late in Monday night's game after taking a “cheap hit” from the Carolina quarterback.
TV cameras caught Merig punching Jennings in the groin late at 49ers win 20–9. Jennings didn't immediately retaliate, but once the play ended, he walked up to Moehrig and hit him in the helmet and then pushed him. Jennings then had to be contained as the teams left the field.
“I was just reacting to some childish behavior,” Jennings said.
Moehrig said his hit on Jennings was in response to physical play after being whistled and cursed throughout the game. He acknowledged that he would likely be fined for his actions.
“He pushed me in the back and everything, that's it. That's it,” Moehrig said. “There's really nothing special about it. It was just, you know what I'm saying? Like I said, I'll take it. He wanted to do some dirty stuff, so… That's the way it is, man.”
Jennings is known for his aggressive blocking and running style. That led to him being ejected after a fight with Arizona defensive end Sean Murphy-Bunting last season. But Jennings said he was surprised that Moehrig hit him in a sensitive area.
“It just came out of nowhere,” Jennings said. “I guess that's just the story of my batting. I play hard. I'm physically stronger than a lot of DBs. At least I have a lot of things going on between whistles.”
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan called Moehrig's action a “cheap shot” and was glad Jennings didn't have a stronger reaction.
“I was really proud of Hauan for not losing his mind and going to the sideline,” Shanahan said.
Carolina coach Dave Canales said he would talk about the Moehrig incident.
“I’ll get to the bottom of it,” he said. “I want to see exactly what happened. I haven't had a chance to talk to Tre about it yet. That's going to be a conversation that I'm going to dive into… Right now I'm going to have a chance to watch the film and see what happened.”
NFL will likely impose fines and possibly suspensions on the players. Detroit's Brian Branch was suspended for one game earlier this season after punching Kansas City receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster after a game ended.
