Joe Staley with the catch!pic.twitter.com/Zz5aDtyZgj
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 9, 2018
49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley caught the third pass of his 12-year career in the second quarter of Sunday’s 20-14 win over the Broncos. Though Staley’s reception of a tipped Nick Mullens pass earned the 49ers a loss of five yards, Staley jubilantly celebrated the accomplishment on the field immediately afterwards.
After the game, Staley admitted that he shouldn’t have caught the ball, but that he just couldn’t help himself.
“The correct thing to do is bat it down,” Staley said. “But a lineman sees the ball in the air and you’re not not going to catch it, right? It’s like telling me ‘Hey, there’s pizza here, but don’t have slice.’”
Kyle Shanahan half-jokingly said Staley will be fined for the play.
“If not the NFL, his room better fine him,” Shanahan said shaking his head. “We show that stuff every week. When balls get tipped we always tell the o-linemen to knock it down. The reaction is to catch it so we always show what happens when they do catch it, they usually get their legs taken out and it’s not fun for them.
“But Joe refuses to fully believe he’s an o-lineman, he’s always trying to show us how athletic he is, and that was his time so he got excited but he hurt us — we lost five yards. So it was not a smart play.”