49ers vs. Seahawks
All right, we can move on to the rest of these games, and we’ll do this a little bit more round-robin style, just some quick thoughts on each of the games.
49ers-Seahawks…the Seahawks won in every single phase. They took what they did a couple weeks ago in Week 18 and just doubled down, just kicked the ever-loving you-know-what out of the 49ers.
On the defensive side of the ball, they were able to pressure Brock Purdy a ton in that Week 18 game. They upped that significantly on Saturday night. They pressured Purdy on 60% of his dropbacks, and they really did it with their front four:
They blitzed on just 4 of 33 dropbacks and continued to play that coverage the way they’ve been playing it: keep everything in front of them, move after the snap, and they completely shut down the 49ers. Forced three turnovers, and that really was the story of the weekend, I think, in every single game.
Broncos won the turnover battle 5-1. Seahawks won the turnover battle 3-0. Patriots won the turnover battle 5-3. And then the Rams won the turnover battle 3-0 as well.
On the other side of the ball, the Seahawks didn’t have to do much through the air, which was probably good because Sam Darnold’s oblique. But really they were able to do anything they wanted to in the run game, just like they did in Week 18.
In particular, they attacked the edge of the 49ers’ defense. They were able to run the ball 21 times for 130 yards outside the tackles. And that was an issue that the 49ers have had for a while. And the Seahawks exploited it in Week 18 and exploited it again on Saturday night:
