The 49ers' regular-season dominance over the Los Angeles Rams reached nine straight games in Week 2 on Sunday, but that doesn't mean Sean McVay and Co. are Deebo Samuel's favorite NFL team to beat.
San Francisco's dynamic wide receiver made an appearance on the "Up & Adams" show Tuesday, where he explained why Los Angeles doesn't hold that title in his mind -- and revealed the team that does.
"I wouldn’t say [the Rams are] my favorite team to beat," Samuel said. "To me, I feel like we play them four or five times a year. That’s just how many times we play them. It’s crazy. You said we’ve beat them nine times in the regular season -- I feel like that’s a lot. They’re really familiar with us; we’re really familiar with them.
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"It doesn’t matter what their record says, it doesn’t matter what our record says. It’s always going to be a hard-fought game between the two."
So, which team is Samuel's favorite to defeat? His answer likely won't surprise the 49ers Faithful, as San Francisco's long-standing rivalry with the Seattle Seahawks has stood the test of time.
"We’ve kind of got this little back-and-forth thing with Seattle, so it’d be good to beat Seattle," Samuel told Adams. "With the Rams, they know us, we know them, and we get their best and they get our best. Between the two teams, it’s always hard-fought games, and it always comes down to the end."
San Francisco 49ers
As Samuel said, the Rams always will be a tough matchup for the 49ers -- but that rivalry has been a little bit one-sided since 2019. In the 49ers' nine consecutive regular-season wins over the Rams, San Francisco has outscored its NFC West adversary 244-154 and claimed two division titles during that span.
Of course, San Francisco failed to defeat Los Angeles when it mattered most during the 2021 NFC Championship Game. But that's in the past.
The Seahawks rivalry isn't as lopsided, with plenty of memorable playoff battles to look back on and regular-season drama along the way. San Francisco dealt Seattle a wild-card loss in the playoffs last season after sweeping the Geno Smith-led team in the regular season. But in 2021, it was the Seahawks who beat the 49ers twice.
Samuel and the 49ers won't face the Seahawks until Week 12, when they head to Lumen Field on Nov. 23, then again in Week 14 at Levi's Stadium. And should San Francisco win, the taste of victory certainly will be sweet for Samuel.