Kendal Daniels seals Falcons' win with INT one week after trip to hospital

Why Kendal Daniels is trending

Kendal Daniels sealed the Falcons' win with an interception on Sunday, one week after he was carted off the field and rushed to Grady Hospital. The rookie linebacker picked off a pass with 2:42 left to protect Atlanta's lead in a 29-20 win over the previously undefeated 49ers. The turnaround, from a cart to a game-sealing play in one week, is why Daniels' name is trending now.

The Falcons were ahead 26-20 when Daniels stepped in front of the throw. Atlanta followed it with a Nick Folk field goal to go up two possessions. With 57 seconds left, Daniels also recovered a fumble that safety Jessie Bates III forced, closing the door on San Francisco's bid to stay unbeaten.

The scare against the Bears

Seven days earlier, in Week 6 against the Chicago Bears, Daniels took a knee to the head and stayed on the turf for nearly eight minutes before medical personnel strapped him down and carted him off. He walked out of the locker room under his own power that same night, and doctors found no structural damage and no concussion.

He was still hurting. Falcons defensive tackle Maason Smith said Daniels could not turn his neck either direction when the team got back to its facility that Monday. By Wednesday he was back at practice and listed as questionable on the injury report. He started Sunday anyway, and with regular green-dot linebacker Divine Deablo out with a forearm injury, Daniels wore the green dot himself and called the Falcons' defense against Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy.

What Daniels and his teammates said

"It's been the craziest week of my life," Daniels said after the game. He said he had never failed to get up and walk off the field after an injury before last week, and that the time since was spent making sure he was right mentally as much as physically.

Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski called the whole sequence "remarkable" and said he was "really proud of that kid" for making the play. Tight end Kyle Pitts called Daniels "a warrior," and fellow rookie linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. mobbed him in celebration, slapping the back of his head so hard Daniels said he could not breathe.

Falcons hand 49ers their first loss

Daniels finished with nine solo tackles to go with the fumble recovery and the interception. Michael Penix Jr. threw three touchdown passes for Atlanta, and the Falcons forced four turnovers total to beat a 49ers team that had been unbeaten coming into Sunday. The loss was San Francisco's first of the season, and Daniels had a hand in both of the Falcons' final two takeaways that sealed it.

Daniels said he was not thinking about the neck injury when the ball came his way. "I wasn't thinking of it," he said, smiling, after the celebration that followed his second big defensive play of the fourth quarter.

Facts per ESPN, ESPN box score. Opinion is the taproom's.