SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco receiver Jauan Jennings responded to a cheap shot from Carolina safety Tre'Von Moehrig late in Monday night's game by throwing a punch after the final whistle.
Television cameras caught Moehrig delivering a punch to Jennings' groin area late in the 49ers' 20-9 victory over the Panthers. Jennings responded by walking over to Moehrig after the game and hitting him in the helmet before giving him a shove.
Jennings then needed to be held back before the teams left the field.
“I was just responding to some childish behavior,” Jennings said.
Moehrig said his shot at Jennings was in response to physical play after the whistle and trash talking throughout the game. He acknowledged that he likely will be fined for his actions.
“He was pushing me in the back and stuff, so, you know. That’s really all it was,” Moehrig said. “There really isn’t much to it. It was just that, you know what I’m saying? Like I said, I’ll take that one. He wanted to do a little dirty stuff, so. ... It is what it is man.”
Jennings has a history of physical play with his aggressive blocking and running style. That led to him getting ejected after a scuffle with Arizona cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting in last season's finale and now the run-in with Moehrig.
But Jennings said he was surprised with how Moehrig reacted, with the blow to a sensitive area.
“It was just out of nowhere," Jennings said. “It’s probably just the history of me playing ball. I play hard. I’m physically stronger than a lot of DBs out there. A lot of things happen in between the whistle with me at least.”
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan called Moehrig's actions a “cheap shot” and was glad that Jennings didn't have an even bigger reaction.
“I was real proud of Jauan for not losing his mind out there and getting to the sideline,” Shanahan said.
Carolina coach Dave Canales said he wants to talk to Moehrig about what took place.
“I’ll get to the bottom of that,” he said. “I want to see what exactly happened. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Tre about that yet. That will be a conversation that I’ll dig into. ... I’ll have a chance right now to look at the film and see what happened.”
The NFL is likely to issue fines and possibly more punishment to both 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.
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