The San Francisco 49ers are 3-3 on the season and, more importantly, in first place in the NFC West after a 36-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night.
Overall, the Niners had control of this divisional matchup, but Seattle was able to make it a one-score game entering the fourth quarter. Under eight minutes to play in regulation, the back-breaking moment in the Seahawks' comeback attempt was an interception by Geno Smith that set up a George Kittle touchdown -- his second of the night -- to put San Francisco back up by two scores.
That was a theme throughout the contest, with Seattle making mistakes in the form of turnovers and San Francisco turning around and immediately adding points to its lead. Overall, the Seahawks gave the ball up three times in the losing effort, and the Niners made them pay by scoring 12 points off of those giveaways.
The first was a Smith interception on the opening drive, which the 49ers turned into a field goal drive. Then, a fumble by Laviska Shenault Jr. on a kickoff return was followed up with Kittle's first touchdown of the contest to begin the second half. Shenault did somewhat redeem himself with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that helped spark Seattle's second-half surge, but the lack of protection of the football proved to be their demise.
Brock Purdy completed 18 of his 28 passes for 255 yards and three touchdowns on the night. Deebo Samuel finished with 102 yards receiving and a touchdown, while Kittle hauled in the two other passing scores. On the Seattle side, Smith had 312 yards through the air with a touchdown, and two interceptions. Tyler Lockett caught four of his eight targets for a team-high 65 yards and a score.
It wasn't all rosy for the Niners in the win, however, as running back Jordan Mason, who had been carrying the majority of the load with Christian McCaffrey sidelined, suffered a shoulder injury and was held out for the majority of the second half because of it.
From here, the 49ers will head back to Levi's Stadium and prepare for a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. As for Seattle, they'll go on the road and head down to Atlanta to face the Falcons in Week 7.
A dynamite game from Brock Purdy, big plays from the pass-catching stars and a secondary that stepped up. Purdy went 18 of 28 for 255 yards and three scores -- one to Deebo Samuel and two to George Kittle. The pair of throws to Kittle were absolute lasers into tight coverage, and Kittle made a fantastic toe-tapping grab on the first and a terrific catch in heavy traffic on the second. The toss to Samuel up the left sideline was a nice throw, but the play finishing in the end zone was more about Deebo doing his thing. A pair of rookie defensive backs ended up with picks off Geno Smith, and the rest of the secondary generally kept DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Tyler Lockett at bay throughout the game. All of this allowed the Niners to overcome the fact that Jordan Mason left the game with a shoulder injury, forcing them to roll with Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor in the backfield. (Guerendo, by the way, essentially sealed the game with a 76-yard scamper before sliding feet away from reaching the end zone.)
An uncharacteristically poor performance from Geno Smith, an ineffective run game and a defense that both bent and broke a little too much. Really, were it not for the kickoff return touchdown from Shenault, the Seahawks wouldn't have been in this game to begin with. Smith was off from the first drive of the night, when he was picked off by Niners rookie Malik Mustapha (see below). His connection with DK Metcalf was offline, and it resulted in Smith's second interception of the game. The league's leader in passing yards coming into Thursday night, Smith ended with 312 against a San Francisco defense missing Charvarius Ward and Talanoa Hufanga, but it took him 52 attempts to get there. The Seahawks tried a little bit too hard to get their rushing attack going early in the game, and Kenneth Walker simply could not find any room. He ended with 14 carries for just 32 yards. (He did get in the end zone from 1 yard out.) The defense got stops on the Niners' first two red-zone trips of the night but then allowed touchdowns to Kittle on the next two, and another to Kyle Juszczyk late in the game. And that was that.
Even though the game ended up being a close one, I think we have to go with Geno Smith's opening-drive interception. Seattle was moving the ball pretty well and had third-and-5 at the San Francisco 25-yard line. And then Geno missed pretty badly on a pass intended for Tyler Lockett, getting it picked off by rookie safety Malik Mustapha.
The Niners drove down the field for a field goal on their opening possession, and never trailed in the game.
Who else but Deebo Samuel would you expect here? We got a classic Deebo touchdown in the second quarter, with Purdy hitting him up the left sideline on a delayed rail route and then Deebo evading a tackle and sprinting to the house for a 76-yard score.
That quick-strike score put the 49ers up 10-0, and only briefly looked back from there.
The Niners are now 3-3 and technically in first place in the NFC West, thanks to their owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle by virtue of this win. They have a mini-bye to get ready for a Super Bowl rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7.
The Seahawks are also 3-3 but behind the Niners in the standings thanks to the tiebreaker, as previously mentioned. They'll travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons next week.
The game ended up being a heck of a lot closer than it looked like it would be at point, because the Niners led 23-3 but eventually let the Seahawks cut their margin to one score on two different occasions. The Seattle defense just could not quite get enough stops, and Geno Smith's uncharacteristic inaccuracy, combined with the run game's inefficiency held the Seahawks offense back.
Oh boy JSN alligator-armed that one. If he makes that grab he might be in the end zone right now because it looked like the San Francisco safety was over-running the play.
Kyle Juszczyk gets into the end zone on a play where it looked like the Seahawks let him score so they could get the ball back. He and Kittle both celebrated their touchdowns in this end zone by jumping into the stands and giving the ball to their wives, who were seated in the first row just behind the end zone.
Hoo-leeeeeeee cowwwwww. Perfectly-blocked by the left side of the offensive line. Huge hole for the rookie to run through. And he just took off up the right sideline for 76 yards. Oh, and he slides down inbounds, inside the 5-yard line.
Lockett made up for the first-down drop by beating Renardo Green for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal. Geno hung in the pocket until the last second and delivered a strike to Lockett over the middle right in front of the rookie. Great route by Lockett.
Huge missed opportunity with Lockett not catching that ball in the back of the end zone. It was a beautiful throw. And now the Seahawks are facing fourth-and-goal after more two incomplete passes in the back of the end zone.
Geno and DK have been off all night, but they finally connected on a deep ball for a touchdown... and it was taken off the board due to an illegal shift penalty because Tyler Lockett and Kenneth Walker were in motion at the same time and Walker never got set before the snap. Brutal.
Well, that didn't take long. After a quick trip to the locker room, Kittle catches an absolute laser from Purdy on an angle route to extend San Francisco's lead back to two scores. It's his second touchdown of the night and fifth of the season despite the fact that he missed a game due to injury.
Renardo Green came up with arguably the biggest play of the night. And this is just a missed throw from Geno Smith. DK Metcalf was open and Smith just threw it late over the middle and Green stepped right in front of the pass. It looked like there was some miscommunication between Geno and DK about the route.
Not sure what's up here but the Amazon broadcast showed Kittle very quickly jogging back into the locker room. He sat out a couple plays on that last Niners drive but came back in.
After the Niners drove into Seahawks territory, San Francisco stalled out at the 40-yard line. A fullback screen got blown up for the second time time tonight, and then Purdy missed Jauan Jennings by a lot on third down. Luckily for the Niners, Mitch Wishnowski's punt got downed at the 3-yard line, so the Seahawks will have to go on another 90-plus-yard drive if they want to take the lead.
Deebo Samuel seems to have injured his shoulder or his arm. He's holding it down at his side and trying to shake it out. He came off to the sideline. Not sure how it happened. He got face-masked but it didn't look like anything happened on the play... and as I type this, Deebo is back next to the receiver coach and looks ready to come back in.
San Francisco probably should have gotten the ball back to start the quarter because a review that should have been overturned, wasn't. But the Niners quickly came up with a stop on the ensuing Seattle drive and will now get the ball back with a chance to kill some clock and extend their lead.
The Niners are gonna punt to open the fourth quarter after going three-and-out right after the Seahawks cut into their lead. The margin is only 6 points right now, so a touchdown would put Seattle in front for the first time tonight.
What a drive from Seattle.13 plays, 94 yards in 5:38 to make it a one-score game. Kenneth Walker plows into the end zone from less than a yard out and all of a sudden it's 23-17 and some pressure is on the Niners. They blew a double-digit lead against the Cardinals last week.
Lockett was held catchless for the first 40-ish minutes of the game but he finally made his presence known with a huge 37-yard grab on third down to get the Seahawks into scoring territory. It came on a classic moon-ball deep throw that you saw him catch a million times from Russell Wilson over the years.
This game looked like it might be over soon when the Niners took a 23-3 lead. 3 minutes and 5 seconds later, Seattle has the ball with a chance to cut San Francisco's lead down to one score. The Seahawks will start at their own 6-yard line here, though.
As you could see by the end of that last Niners drive, Jordan Mason is no longer in the game. It was Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor in the backfield after the opening snap of the second half. Mason has headed back to the medical tent.
Laviska Shenault, ladies and gentlemen! He had a fumble on a kick return earlier in the game, but he made up for it here. 97 yards to the house, to give the Seahawks some life in a game where they desperately need it.
The 49ers finally got themselves a touchdown in the red zone. Just like last week, it's George Kittle making it happen. He had a 29-yard catch-and-run earlier in the drive, and he showed off some fancy footwork to make this grab in the front corner of the end zone and put San Francisco up 23-3.
Jordan Mason was back on the field to start the second half and Kyle Shanahan said he is good to go. However, he played the first snap of the half and it has been all Isaac Guerendo in the backfield since then.
The 49ers forced three straight incompletions on the goal line -- one to each of Seattle's receivers -- to hold the Seahawks to a field goal to end the half. Metcalf came within a few blades of grass of scoring a touchdown on third down, but his cleat was just over the white line in the back of the end zone. 49ers hold a 16-3 lead at the break.
Again, the Geno-to-DK connection is uncharacteristically off tonight. Metcalf has just one catch on five targets, and he has now had two catchable passes result in incompletions. He had a chance for a big play up the field that would've gone Seattle at least into the red zone but rather than going up and attacking the ball in the air, he tried to let it fall into his hands and allowed it to be broken up by George Odum.
San Francisco's red-zone struggles continue. The Niners walked down the field but again stalled inside the opponent's 20-yard line. They tried a fullback screen to Juszczyk on third-and-11, and it was stopped for a loss. Seattle held to a field goal and trails 16-0. The Seahawks really need a score before halftime because San Francisco gets the ball to begin the second half.
Per beat reporters on scene, Mason did not go into the blue tent but is headed to the locker room. On the Amazon broadcast, Kaylee Hartung reported that Mason is headed to get X-rays on his left shoulder. He is questionable to return.
Oh boy. This is not a good sign for the Niners. Already without Christian McCaffrey, they've now got Mason down on the turf after a nice run to pick up a first down. He appeared to be holding his ribs/chest when they first showed a shot of him. Looks like he may have landed on the ball. If he has to miss time, it'll be rookie Isaac Guerendo and veteran Patrick Taylor in the backfield, and likely Kyle Juszczyk taking the third-down snaps.
Geno is uncharacteristically off the mark tonight. He's missed several throws high and wide, and he's now just 4 of 9 for 53 yards and an interception. He had Jaxon Smith-Njigba wide open on third down and just flat missed the throw. For a guy who has been one of the most accurate QBs in the league so far this year, this is pretty surprising stuff.
Oof. Not the best sequence for Seattle. Immediately after the touchdown, Laviska Shenault fumbled on the kickoff return. The Niners are in business in scoring range starting this drive.
The Niners struck quickly right after getting the ball back from Seattle. Play-action pass on first down. Brandon Aiyuk on a crossing route to draw the safety out of the way, and then Purdy hit Deebo up the left sideline for a big gain. Julian Love overran the play (he probably should have just resigned himself to the reception and then tackled Deebo instead of trying to break up the pass) and then Deebo was off to the races from there. Niners lead is up to 10-0.
