Game Review: 49ers vs. Seahawks Week 1
The season opener is in the books, and the 49ers came out with a W! How did it come together?
This was an ugly win for the San Francisco 49ers. Capturing this early on against a divisional rival on the road will hopefully prove to be beneficial in hopes of securing a playoff spot later on in the season. There were some questionable decision-making by quarterback Brock Purdy as well as growing pains from in this game that will be addressed later. It's only Week 1, so there will be ups and downs, but there are problems the team will need to fix as the season rolls along.
The 49ers would start with a ball at their own five-yard line and drive down the field for almost eight and a half minutes when Purdy threw an out route to George Kittle for their first touchdown of the season. Things seem to get a bit rocky after this sequence.
The defense would proceed to allow the Seattle Seahawks to drive down the field on them. Rookie Upton Stout had a “Welcome to the NFL” kind of game as the Seahawks went for it on 4th and 3 at the 49ers 4-yard line when quarterback Sam Darnold threw a pass to wide receiver Cooper Kupp that would’ve been deemed as incomplete, but Stout held on to Kupp’s arm which led to a defensive pass interference call to set up the Seahawks with a fresh set of downs. The Seahawks would go ahead and score with running back Zach Charbonnet on the next play.
Late in the second quarter, the 49ers had an opportunity to take the lead with one minute left on the clock. Kicker Jake Moody attempted a 27-yard field goal which is commonly known as a chip shot since it’s so close to the target that it is very hard to miss. Moody’s kick hit the uprights of the field goal post and missed. The Seahawks would drive down the field in 55 seconds to attempt a 44-yard field goal and take the lead right before half.
On the first drive to start the third quarter, the 49ers offense were doing well in driving down the field before Purdy threw an interception intended for Jauan Jennnings. He was anticipating the throw but didn’t see the Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones in the area. Luckily the 49ers defense would cause a punt and the team would get the ball back.
The Seahawks defense certainly were giving the 49ers offense fits because nothing came easy on either side. The offense did happen to drive down the field again to the Seahawks 18-yard line before they had to settle for a field goal to tie the game. The kick would get blocked after one of the 49ers players got pushed back and a Seahawks player got their hands on the ball while it was in the air.
This game was getting a little crazy. Darnold threw a pass to his wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba and he would fumble the ball after edge rusher Sam Okuayinonu punched the ball out and was recovered by rookie safety Marquese Sigle.
The 49ers offense would finally be able to tie the game after Moody attempts and completes a 32-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter. The defense would again force the Seahawks defense to punt, but unfortunately that momentum didn’t last long. On the second play of the offensive drive, Purdy would throw the ball into triple coverage intended for wide receiver Ricky Pearsall and that would allow the Seahawks to retake a lead with another made field goal attempt.
Purdy would bounce back with a beautiful throw to Pearsall near the left sideline for 45-yards to get them near the red zone. A few plays later with only 1:34 left on the clock on 3rd and 3, Purdy scrambled around trying to find somebody open, ran to his right side, and threw it into the end zone. Initially it was thought to be an interception, but tight end Jake Tonges makes an incredible grab at the last second to steal the ball away from the Seahawks defender to give the 49ers the lead and his first career touchdown since being in the league in 2022.
The Seahawks offense wouldn’t give up as Darnold threw a 40-yard pass to JSN to put the Seahawks into the red zone with 1:13 on the clock. A couple of plays later, Darnold would drop back to pass, but Nick Bosa pushed the right tackle Abraham Lucas into Darnold as he was throwing the ball causing the ball to get loose and it was recovered by Bosa to seal the game.
Overall, it was a very sloppy win with a lot of work that needed to be done. Purdy needs to stop playing the hero on every down and forcing the ball. Stout’s missed pre-season snaps definitely caught up to him in this game, but the more reps he would get I think he’ll play better down the stretch. Jake Moody, well I don’t even know what to say anymore at this point.
George Kittle and Jauan Jennings both sustained injuries during the game and hopefully we’ll get an update on Tuesday and Wednesday to see what their timelines are like.
I don't think we were watching the same game. Firstly, I am looking at the macro, at the three phases of the game. In this regard there are three stories: the offense played well enough to win, the special teams could have tipped the game to the loss column, and the defense and a clutch play by Tonges were the keys to the win. In combination, the complementary football between the offense & defense overcame horrible play from special teams, that was far beyond just a poor performance from Moody.
From a unit perspective, the special teams gets an F grade with 55% effectiveness (12 of 22 plays). The offense was 82% effective (9 of 11 possessions), and the defense was 90% effective (9 of 10 opponent possessions).
From a position group perspective, there are two groups that stood out in a negative way, the aforementioned special teams, and the offensive line. The starting 5 on the OL didn't play as a group in the preseason, so this was pre-season mode for the OL. The weakest links, Trent Williams and Dominick Puni, should improve as each reverts to the norm. Had games 1 & 2 been reversed, I could imagine Puni might have been held out of the season opener due to his knee injury. The poor line play impacted the whole offense, especially CMC & Purdy. Running blocking was below average and Purdy played with a tiny pocket and high pressure rates all game long.
The defense as a unit and across every metric was excellent. Prior to the final offensive possession, the 49ers gave up 99 passing yards and less than 200 total yards. They gave up only 1 touchdown and 6 of 10 SEA possessions ended with a turnover (2) or a punt after 4 or fewer plays (4). After week 1 play concluded, the 49ers defense was ranked 6th in the NFL based on points allowed, 10th based on yards per play against, and 4th based on total yards allowed. Considering the poor defensive performance in 2024, the defense performance against SEA is the story of the game.
To understand Brock Purdy's performance in week 1, consider 1) he was under pressure on 47.2% of his dropbacks; 2) he attempted passes to only two WRs (Pearsall & Jennings); 3) he lost 2 of 4 of his top targets (Kittle & Jennings) prior to the come-from-behind drive; 4) Purdy targeted Tonges, Farrell, and Robinson for the first time in any game; 5) Purdy finished the games with two injuries that will sideline him for multiple weeks, most likely. With these facts in mind, Purdy was overall effective, efficient, and explosive. His Comp % (74.3%) was 4th best among all starting QBs, his 116 YAC was 7th best, his Y/C of 10.7 and ADoT of 7.65 both rank 14th, as only 20% of his passes targeted a WR. 35% (9/26) of his completions went for 10+ yards and his success rate of 61.1% ranks 2nd in the NFL after week 1. The only metric where Purdy ranks below average among all QB% is Int% (5.7%), which is relatively unimportant due to the small sample size as the majority of QBs threw no interceptions in week 1.
On Special Teams, Skyy Moore was a net positive and Chase Lucas prevented a kickoff return for touchdown. Otherwise it was a league worst performance and Moody's FG miss was just a small fraction of the poor execution. Moody also never figured out how to optimize for new kickoff rules and gave SEA touchbacks on 2 of 4 kickoffs. He is like a golfer with the yips.
Finally, the defense was great as a unit and got big plays from many players. Robert Saleh might be the most valuable addition since 2024. Dee Winters had a great game and new starters all over the defense we're making plays and shutting down SEA in all aspects. The only SEA player of note was Smith-Njigba, and yet his 8.1 yards per target was far from devastating. Welcome back to CMC, Pearsall is rising, Robinson Jr. is a floor raiser, and Tonges won the game with a single outstanding play. This was a game the 49ers would have lost in 2024. This was a win you see over the course of a season from winning teams -- something to build on.