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Game Recap
Seattle Handed the 49ers Four Gifts and Lost by a Yard
Seattle lost 32-29 to the 49ers at Lumen Field on Sunday, and San Francisco only had to do about half the work. The Seahawks turned it over four times: two Sam Darnold interceptions plus lost fumbles from Emanuel Wilson and George Holani. Both of the Darnold interceptions went to Renardo Green, and three of the four giveaways became 49ers touchdowns. Seattle is 3-2, two games behind an unbeaten team in its own division.
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Seattle’s turnovers Sunday. It’s the team’s first four-giveaway game since a 21-19 loss to the Rams last November.
Darnold’s first throw was picked off for the second straight week, and San Francisco needed four plays to turn it into a 7-0 lead. He finished 18 of 29 for 195 yards and took a season-high five sacks. That makes five interceptions in three games since he came back. I don’t need Darnold to be a hero in the first quarter. I need the scripted opening play to go to somebody in our colors.
The Holani fumble is the one I’ll be replaying at 3 a.m. With 13 seconds left in the half he lost it near the goal line, and rookie Gracen Halton recovered it in the end zone for a San Francisco touchdown. Seattle was about to score. Then it wasn’t, and the other team was.
And they still almost stole it. Nehemiah Pritchett’s interception set up the touchdown that made it 23-21 Seattle, and Jason Myers tied it at 29 with 6:55 left. After Purdy drove for the go-ahead field goal, JSN opened the last drive with a 35-yard catch to midfield. Three incompletions followed, one of them a JSN drop, and that left fourth-and-10 with 54 seconds to go. Cooper Kupp caught it, slipped a tackle and dove for the marker. Ruled short, upheld on replay. “They said he was short, so we’ve got to live with it,” Mike Macdonald said.
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Seattle was about to score. Then it wasn’t, and the other team was.
Macdonald’s diagnosis was simpler than any replay angle: “Way too many giveaways at this point in the season.” He’s right. You cannot hand the unbeaten team three touchdowns and expect the replay booth to make up the difference. Thursday is Denver, at altitude, on a short week.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Brock Purdy came to Lumen without a sack on his record. Byron Murphy II took him down twice in the first 20 minutes, both times working past left guard Connor Colby. We spent all week waiting for Big Cat to break the streak. Murphy didn’t feel like waiting. Yahoo Sports
Zach Charbonnet isn’t expected to come off PUP for Thursday at Denver, per Macdonald. Drake Thomas hurt his ankle but returned to finish the game. So a backfield that lost two fumbles Sunday gets four days to learn how to hold a football. Seahawks.com
Despite the loss, Seattle opened as a 2.5-point road favorite at Denver on Thursday night. Denver’s pass rush sacked Justin Herbert five times Sunday, which matches Darnold’s sack count exactly. The bookmakers believe in this team more than its ball carriers do right now. Covers
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
NINERS
Last week we invited Dre Greenlaw to bring his act to Lumen, and he accepted. In the second quarter he drilled Sam Darnold out of bounds, drew the flag, waded into Seattle’s bench and headbutted a helmetless Ernest Jones IV in the face with his facemask, per the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s the third ejection of his career. San Francisco won anyway, which hurts. But one of their best defenders spent the second half in a locker room, and that’s the calmest anyone has seen him all month.
CARDINALS
Arizona scored on its first drive against Detroit and led 7-0. The Lions answered with 31 straight points and won 45-21. After three opening three-and-outs, Detroit scored on seven straight possessions, six of them touchdowns, per PFT. Last week Mike LaFleur told everyone it’s the Lions’ offense, not his old coordinator’s. Whoever owns it, it just put 45 on him. Jacoby Brissett threw for 292 yards, and PFT notes a lot of that came after the game was out of reach. Garbage time still counts as time.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
In the NFC Championship Game after the 2014 season, Seattle’s first points against Green Bay came on a 19-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal, caught by offensive tackle Garry Gilliam. Who threw it?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Jon Ryan, the punter, throwing from the holder’s spot. That pass sparked the comeback that ended in Seattle’s overtime win and a trip to Super Bowl XLIX.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
2003
October 12, 2003
A One-Point Night Against the Niners
On this date in 2003, Seattle beat San Francisco 20-19 at Seahawks Stadium. Josh Brown’s 37-yard field goal with 3:03 to play was the difference, and the win moved the Seahawks to 4-1. Twenty-three years later, the one-point games against this team have started breaking the other way. Different 49ers, same nerve endings.
THE GOLDEN EGG
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Seattle lost, and Nehemiah Pritchett still played the best game of anyone in navy. In the first quarter, working as a gunner, he slowed up just enough not to arrive early, then hit returner Jacob Cowing the moment the punt arrived. The ball came loose, Eric Saubert recovered at the San Francisco 24, and Emanuel Wilson scored six plays later. In the third quarter Pritchett jumped a Brock Purdy out route for his first regular-season interception and returned it 20 yards. Seattle scored three plays later.
Two years ago he was mostly a special-teamer. Now he’s the third corner and still running down punts, the kind of double duty that keeps a roster spot safe. “He’s earned a role on our defense,” Macdonald said. He also earned the egg.
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Interception (first of his career)
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INT Return Yards
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Touchdowns Set Up
Yell at The Rooster
Got a question about the turnovers, the Kupp spot, or whether Thursday night games should be illegal? Send it in. The best ones get answered, and the angriest ones get read aloud.
Two hands on everything this week. — The Rooster