Deebo cheers on Pearsall after two costly penalties in 49ers loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The 49ers couldn’t get out of their way in a 29-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
Among the costly mistakes were two illegal formation penalties against rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall.
Wide receivers coach Leonard Hankerson got into a heated one-sided conversation with the rookie after both fouls were committed within four plays.
“Both of those are for me,” Pearsall said after the match. “I just need to communicate better with my teammate and with the referee. They were definitely both mine. I have to fix it and just get better at it.”
When the 49ers drafted Pearsall in April, Deebo Samuel took the rookie under his wing and has grown close to the Florida product.
Pearsall has slowly been integrated into the offense after missing much of the offseason program and training camp due to shoulder and hamstring injuries and a gunshot wound suffered in an attempted robbery on Aug. 31 in San Francisco.
Samuel explained that as a young player in Kyle Shanahan’s offense, mistakes are inevitable.
“It’s just mental mistakes,” Samuel said. “Eventually it happens. I have all the respect in the world for Ricky, all the hard work he put in. Those are the simple things. I’ve been there before on this offense. With so much terminology and knowing what to listen to and what not to listen to, and it just happened quickly. It’s part of growing into the offense.”
The 49ers ultimately couldn’t overcome their mistakes, including Brock Purdy’s late interception, but Samuel said he gave Pearsall words of encouragement after the two penalties.
“I had to wait, as you could see, Hank was good at following,” Samuel said. “I was a little frustrated at the time. It’s part of the game. I went to him, “Next play bro. I’m not mad at you. We’re fine, we’re going to be fine. Don’t dwell on it, just move on.’ “
Although frustrated and angry by his mistakes, Pearsall tried to maintain an optimistic attitude and finished the game with four catches for 37 yards.
“He’s the driving force in the group,” Samuel said. “You may think so, but Ricky got all the energy in the world during training. Dancing, moving, providing good energy on the sidelines, that’s just him.”
Pearsall has two games remaining in his rookie season to better acclimatize to the intricacies of Shanahan’s offense.
As Samuel can attest, every rep is valuable.
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