A Week After Leaving on a Stretcher, Kendal Daniels Seals Falcons' Win Over the 49ers

Atlanta: A week earlier, Atlanta Falcons rookie linebacker Kendal Daniels had been stretchered off the field. A week later he was the hero of his team's win, as the Falcons beat the San Francisco 49ers 29-20 to hand them their first loss of the season.

In last week's game against the Chicago Bears, Daniels's neck appeared to snap back after he delivered a hit on tight end Colston Loveland and collided with his knee. Play stopped for roughly 10 minutes; he was conscious and moving his extremities, but he was placed on a stretcher as a precaution and taken off the field.

Days later Daniels was spotted at practice and cleared to play against the 49ers. In Sunday's (October 25) game in Atlanta he recorded a career-high 11 tackles, nine of them solo.

Daniels also came away with an interception, making a perfectly timed jump on a Brock Purdy pass in the middle of the field, tipping it and catching it himself; he tried to take it back for a pick-six but was run out of bounds before reaching the end zone.

The game-sealing moment came late in the fourth quarter. With the Falcons up nine and less than one minute left to play, Falcons safety Jessie Bates III tripped up tight end George Kittle after a wide-open pass from Purdy; as Kittle tried to regain his footing he lost the football, and Daniels dove on the loose ball to seal the win.

The Falcons forced four turnovers in the game. The win moved Atlanta to 3-5 on the season, while the previously undefeated 49ers suffered their first loss.

Daniels, a fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma, said after the game: "I scared a lot of people. It was a scary play."