The San Francisco 49ers' largely dull and uneven Monday Night Football victory against the Carolina Panthers didn't provide much in the way of on-field fireworks, but the players made sure the postgame exchanging of pleasantries was worth watching due to a fairly serious fight.
Panthers safety Tre'von Moehrig decided that if his defense couldn't stop Jennings through the area, the best course of action was to resort to the cheapest of cheap shots and punch him right in the place that announcers like to call the groin. Jennings returned the favor with a wallop to the face in the post-game handshake scrum.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan wasted no time in defending his starting wide receiver. "The guy took a cheap shot and hit him in the b----," Shanahan said after San Francisco's 20-9 victory. "I was real proud of Jauan for not losing his mind out there."
Kyle Shanahan defends Jauan Jennings after 49ers WR punched Panthers DB Tre'von Moehrig
Jennings caught five passes for 41 yards while finding the end zone. On a night where Brock Purdy was so off that he threw three interceptions, Jennings may have been this team's best offensive player not named Christian McCaffrey against Moehrig and the Carolina defense.
The worst part about this incident is the fact that Moehrig is having a tremendous debut season in Carolina and appears to be playing a huge role in their defensive turnaround. The image many fans watching the national game will remember, however, is him attacking Jennings' most sensitive spot with his fist.
Between incidents like this and the recent unwelcome trend of spitting on opposing players, tempers have really started to flare this season. San Francisco has avoided starting any of these big kerfuffles this season, while Carolina now has two post-game incidents on their ledger.
Punching someone in the gentleman's area, especially in the middle of a play when he didn't see it coming, is not exactly covering the Panthers' breakout star in glory. Time will tell if Moehrig or the Panthers offer an apology for something that would have provoked a physical reaction from just about anyone.