by Agent 86 » Tue Nov 28, 2023 9:47 am
Article from the Athletic after last week's game for your reading pleasure. Some ugly stats in here. As most of us have said, there is no comparison between these 2 teams the last 2 years, we are nowhere close to being a legit contender and will have to wait out the Frisco run here and keep on building with draft picks and eventually find that QB. With what I have seen recently with the QB play from guys coming from college, that might prove to be more difficult than it looks.
Bullied by 49ers (again), Seahawks look like pretenders, and it might only get worse
By Michael-Shawn Dugar
Nov 24, 2023
SEATTLE — This time was supposed to be different.
After three consecutive uncompetitive showings last season against the rival San Francisco 49ers — including a season-ending shellacking in the wild-card round of the playoffs — the Seattle Seahawks were supposed to put up a better fight on Thanksgiving night.
They were supposed to be better up front to deal with San Francisco’s running game. A healthy, revamped secondary was supposed to befuddle Brock Purdy and the Niners’ proficient passing game. The offense, with a few new weapons at its disposal, was supposed to have more answers for one of the toughest defenses in the league. All of Seattle’s offseason additions, scheme tweaking and overall improvement on both sides of the ball were expected to make for a more compelling contest.
Instead, what unfolded Thursday night between the Seahawks and 49ers at Lumen Field was just as bad as the three beatdowns last year.
Considering the big-picture ramifications, it might have been worse.
“They beat us, it’s as simple as that,” quarterback Geno Smith said. “You can’t really make any excuse for it. It’s football. It’s sports. Sometimes a team comes and beat you. But, you know, the good thing about it is we got another chance to go against these guys in a few weeks. I think everyone has to take that personal. I know I am.
“We all gotta take it personal, man. We can’t keep coming out here and letting them beat us like that.”
The Seahawks (6-5) have a rematch scheduled for Week 14 on San Francisco’s home field, but there’s little to no evidence left to suggest that the fifth meeting between these two since the start of the 2022 season will be any different from the first four.
The final score of 31-13 says that the 49ers were 18 points better than Seattle on Thursday. Viewed in a vacuum, that’s not completely deflating. But in the context of what has happened in the past, and what Seattle did in the offseason to prevent this from happening, this loss is particularly damning because it suggests that the Seahawks are still far, far behind their divisional rival, which continues to look like a championship contender.
Seattle, meanwhile, looks like a team in need of wholesale changes from the top down. The 49ers are tougher in the trenches, evidenced by their consistent ability to win both sides of the line of scrimmage. Purdy was sacked only once, whereas Smith was dropped six times. Christian McCaffrey ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.0 yards per carry, while Seattle’s two running backs combined for just 57 yards on 16 attempts.
Seattle and San Francisco have comparable talent at the skill positions on offense, but it is Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle who consistently shine in these bouts, while DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Seattle’s tight end room are routinely held in check. Samuel and Aiyuk combined for 129 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions. Metcalf and Lockett had 62 yards on six receptions.
“They just had our number today, man,” said rookie receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a newcomer to this matchup who had two catches (including a terrific one-handed grab) for a team-high 41 yards. “That’s just how it goes. They had a good game plan, they schemed and they played better than us today.”
After the game, Seahawks players lamented starting slowly on both sides of the ball. San Francisco scored in nine plays to start the game. The Seahawks got a 66-yard kickoff return from Dee Eksridge and then moved the ball just 1 yard. Seattle had zero net yards in the first quarter. The 49ers began three of their seven first-half drives in Seattle territory because of a bad punt, a muffed punt and an interception by Smith. Those short fields, coupled with San Francisco’s high-powered offense, put the defense holes it couldn’t overcome.
“We started the game real slow on defense. We can’t do that,” rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon said. “That just gives the other team confidence. We gotta shut that down and come out and be more aggressive.”
San Francisco led 24-3 at halftime. Seattle threatened to make it a one-score game, facing third-and-goal from the 7 in the third quarter, but Smith was sacked, and Seattle settled for a field goal. He was sacked again on third-and-8 the following possession — Seattle finished 3-for-11 on third d0wn — and San Francisco countered with a fourth-quarter touchdown drive to halt any last-ditch comeback effort.
Coach Pete Carroll and a few of his players took some solace in the fact that the Seahawks competed harder in the second half. They tackled better. They moved the ball better. They outscored the 49ers 10-7 and outgained them 164-152. That’s part of the reason Lockett dismissed the notion there’s a gap between the two clubs despite the repeatedly lopsided results.
“When you look at how we did on offense in the second half, we were able to move the ball,” Lockett said. “I think we’ve just got to get out of our own way.”
The statistics and the on-field product tell a different story. One of a massive gap between Seattle and San Francisco. One that existed last season and still exists despite the Seahawks committing significant resources toward bridging that gap.
In the last four meetings with San Francisco, Seattle has scored four offensive touchdowns, and two of those came when the game was all but over. Seattle has a minus-7 turnover differential in those games; Jordyn Brooks’ interception for a touchdown Thursday is the lone turnover the team forced. The defense has recorded only four sacks in those games. Smith, on the other hand, has been sacked 14 times.
Seattle will enter Week 13 in position for one of the three NFC wild-card spots, but with games at Dallas (8-3), at San Francisco (8-3) and hosting Philadelphia (9-1) up next, it’s hard to see envision a scenario where the Seahawks play more than one meaningful game in the postseason — if they even make it, which is no sure thing even in a weak wild-card race. They’ve lost three of their last four games, and the offense has only three touchdowns in that span. They rank 30th in third-down conversion rate.
Smith once again called for players to look themselves in the mirror and vow to work harder and be better — himself included — but he has sung a similar tune for weeks and the results haven’t changed.
“Just got to work harder,” Smith said. “It feels like I’ve been putting in 20-hour days lately, but maybe I got to put in 24-hour days to get this thing right.”
The defense has a tackling problem so severe that it got cornerback Riq Woolen benched in the first half Thursday. The pass rush has been absent for the last two division games. A group that prides itself on toughness and physicality came out sluggish in a prime-time game with first place in the division on the line.
“We didn’t come out ready to go,” Brooks said. “The first drive, they were running the ball, throwing the ball. I don’t think we were all the way there mentally.”
Thursday night was the first of a four-game stretch in which the Seahawks were going to learn a lot about themselves, their ability to match wits with the best in the league and whether they’re worthy of calling themselves a contender. Attempt No. 1 was a nightmare. If they aren’t all the way there mentally in any of the next three, the outcomes will not change.
“This is playoff time every week,” Carroll said. “We got plenty of chances with the teams we’ll play in the next month that will show us where we are and where we fit with all that.”