It was the Richard Sherman Bowl and the San Francisco 49ers came out on top. The 49ers improved to .500 and are 3-3 on the season. More importantly, they are in first place in the NFC West after a 36-24 convincing win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night to halt a two-game losing streak.
For the most part, the Niners had control of this crucial divisional showdown, however, Seattle was able to keep it close, remain competitive and make it a one-score game going into the fourth quarter. With under eight minutes to play in regulation, the turning point and back-breaking moment in the Seahawks’ valiant comeback attempt was an interception thrown by Geno Smith that led to a George Kittle touchdown, his second of the evening, to put the 49ers back up by two scores.
“He’s a baller,” Brock Purdy said of Kittle. “Obviously when you get the ball in his hands, he can do what he can. He can break tackles. Just explosive for a tight end.”
That was the overwhelming theme throughout the contest, with Seattle making horrific mistakes in the form of giveaways and the 49ers taking advantage of it and not wasting any time adding points to their lead. When all was said and done and the smoke cleared, the Seahawks turned the ball over three times in the losing effort, and the 49ers made them pay by scoring 12 points off of those errors.
The first was a Smith interception on the opening series, 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 was able to shake it off and redeem himself with a 97-yard kickoff return to the house that helped spark Seattle’s second-half surge, but the lack of protection of the pigskin proved to be their demise.
Embed from Getty ImagesSmith passed for 312 yards and a touchdown but was picked off twice, and the Seahawks came back down to earth losing their third straight after a 3-0 start under first-year coach Mike Macdonald.
“We’re just not doing the things that good football teams do to win football games, and so we’re going to attack it. We’re going to take a breather here and really go back and dissect the heck out of this thing,” Macdonald said.
Deebo Samuel did not mince words when he was asked what was working for the San Francisco 49ers.
“Brock Purdy,” Samuel said.
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, Tyler Lockett caught four of his eight targets for a team-high 65 yards and a score.
“When everyone’s on point and we’re doing our thing, we’re a hard team to beat,” Purdy said.
Everything was not perfect for the Niners in the W, however, as running back Jordan Mason, who had been carrying the lions’ share 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.
Seahawks safety Rayshawn Jenkins said he has not lost confidence and is not frustrated, yet.
“We have the right guys in the room to get the job done. We just really have to be real and accountable. And as long as we do that, we should be OK,” Jenkins said. “But it has to happen sooner than later.”
From here, the 49ers will head back home to Levi’s Stadium and prepare for a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. As for Seattle, they will go on the road and head down to Atlanta to face Kirk Cousins and the Falcons in Week 7.
