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The San Francisco 49ers (2-3) are visiting the Seattle Seahawks (3-3) at Lumen Field, in a battle for first place in the NFC West. You can find more injury and roster news here and here.
Here are some quick notes and observations from the first quarter of play.
Opening Drive - SF 0, SEA 0 at SEA 36 yd. line
- Two quick run stuffs, pressure from front four on third-and-6 can't get home before the quick hitter up the middle. Not gonna discourage Seattle from throwing it any.
- Seahawks QB Geno Smith overthrows and S Malik Mustapha finds it! Not great to step out of bounds at the 3 yard line there, but takeaways like that are huge for this team. DE Nick Bosa and gang are getting pressure quickly- if that keeps up, so will the negative plays.
SEA turnover (INT) - SF 0, SEA 0 at SF 3 yd. line
- Play action on third and short to convert. The fact that it took a juggle from WR Deebo Samuel to wrangle in feels emblematic of the disconnect on offense this year - the smoothness of the short/intermediate passes last year feels totally gone.
- And, of course, RB Jordan Mason is the second coming of Derrick Henry. Just like we all thought.
- Red zone woes continue. I suppose a 1-on-1 to Deebo Samuel in the end zone is the kind of pass you want to go for if you can get it, but right now there's just no feeling that those will convert. 49ers settle for a field goal - new kicker Matthew Wright knocked it through.
SF kickoff - SF 3, SEA 0 at SEA 10
- Hey, the Seahawks botch a kick return on a shorter kick! I really wonder why we don't see more teams try to pooch kick and force weird bounces on kickoffs, given the new rules.
- Massive props to Mustapha for single-handedly stopping a huge Kenneth Walker run. Delivered a huge thump.
- Terrific coverage early on by the 49ers secondary on deeper throws. Seattle WR DK Metcalf is drawing some big defense, and anything that's not a short pass is tough sledding for Seattle.
SEA punt - SF 3, SEA 0 at SF 24
- WR Jacob Cowing slipping for 10 yards on the punt return is so, so on brand for this year, too.
- Heck of a play design by Shanahan, but QB Brock Purdy can't force it through to Kittle on third and short. There really does seem to be a degree of discomfort operating in the short field for Purdy this year.
