This is a guest post by Curtis Allen…

Now comes the true test.

The first of four games against their division rivals is sure to be one to watch.

The Niners come into the game undefeated, clearly getting a boost from a signature win against the Rams in Australia to open the season.  Despite losing a staggering number of personnel to injuries once again, they have been able to play effective football.

The Seahawks at 3-1 are not yet fully formed but are progressing.  A Super Bowl hangover is not evident.  Yet they need to keep establishing the run to balance their team play on both sides more at this point.

The last two matchups with these teams were decidedly in favor of Seattle.  They were able to bottle up the Niner’s rushing game and force Brock Purdy to hold the ball in the pocket more than he likes to.

How consistent have they been?  On designed run plays, the Seahawk defense held the Niners to 3.2 yards per rush in each of the three games last year.

Mike Macdonald has been able to contain Kyle Shanahan’s offense.  How?

Let’s let Shanahan explain it:

This is the infamous Kyle Shanahan quote from #SB60 last season: “I know you guys want my expert opinion, but I haven’t scored a touchdown the last two times we’ve played them…” The last #49ers TD vs. #seahawks was the winner in week one in Seattle from Purdy to Tounges on 9/7/25 or 397 days ago. 1:21:34 of game time.

— John Lund (@JohnLundRadio) October 9, 2026

With a lighter defense that is still tough against the run, the Seahawks are set up very well to contain this offense.  Throwing deep or outside the numbers is just not Brock Purdy’s strong suit.  He is superb about getting the ball out quickly and using his feet to buy time.  He also relies heavily on receivers gaining yards after the catch.

The Seahawks are able to stack the box and the middle of the field with defenders.  They trust their corners to work with Julian Love to keep a lid on deep throws and San Francisco just does not have a real scary deep threat to give their underneath game some breathing room to work with.

It is not for lack of trying.  Stribling and Pearsall are currently on Injured Reserve.  Mike Evans is a great player but a bit of an odd fit in this offense.  Speed is not his top weapon and he is not a dynamic ‘yards after the catch’ player.  He can make contested catches with the best of them, but the offense has to really be working to get into position to use that skill regularly.

With versatile, quick and intelligent defenders populating the middle of the field, they are regularly able to take away Brock Purdy’s bread and butter pass:  the in-breaking route.

Look at what the Seahawks did against him in Week 18 last year:

One incomplete pass over the deeper middle of the field.  One!  You take away a player’s best play and you have him beat.

Left to his own devices, Purdy’s timing gets disrupted and he either has to check down to get ball out quickly, or he has to wait for his second or third option to open up and by then the pass rush has caught up to him.

Notice the stark difference in effectiveness when he has to wait:

Taking away his early reads with tight coverage and zone placing that makes him think twice about angles can be very effective.  Even more so when you have effectively shut the running game down and put him in a position where he has to make regular gains to carry the offense.

His average time to throw in the pocket is a league-low 2.3 seconds and his pressure rate is a miniscule 13%.  You can’t pressure the quarterback if he is regularly getting the ball out before you can even engage your blocker.  Therefore, blitzing may actually be a ‘medicine has a worse effect than the disease’ type situation.

Again, we are talking about a strong area here for Seattle.  They get 25% pressure on average with only 17% blitzing.  And Purdy is susceptible to interior pressure more than edge pressure.  He is able to tap dance away from edge rushers and get in space to buy a moment to square up and throw.  But when the pressure comes from the middle, he is not your classic tall, strong-armed quarterback that can stand there all day and throw bullets while getting manhandled.

Having Kyle Juszczyk out can really be a challenge.  He picks up blitzers, runs routes and clears the way for McCaffrey.  All very key things for this offense.

Some Other Things of Note

— Sort of a good news/bad news situation with Sam Darnold.  He has been dreadful under pressure so far this year in a smaller sample size than the other Quarterbacks.  The good news is the Niners are league-average in pressures and Nick Bosa will not play.  That is not to say Darnold will have all day in the pocket, but a mix of a good run game, adequate blocking from the Offensive Line and effective playcalling could produce a ‘signature’ game for Darnold.

— What will help?  Targeting the Linebackers in the passing game.  Fred Warner is giving up 8.7 yards per completion but is only being targeted 2.9 yards deep.  That means he is giving up almost six yards after the catch.  That is a wide disparity for a player of his caliber.  He is 30 and coming off a major injury.  It is possible he is a half-step slow.  Dre Greenlaw meanwhile does not have a pass defended and throwing it him in coverage is a pretty sure proposition (87.5% completion rate).  At any rate, it gets those two moving away from the line of scrimmage rather than towards it.  I think we can agree that is always beneficial.

— I am certain Jaxon Smith-Njigba will have his typical good game against San Francisco but with those defenders vulnerable in the pass game, it feels like if Brian Fleury can get A.J. Barner, Elijah Arroyo or even Cooper Kupp matched on them, that could really be productive.

— The Niners have been good at defending the run (conceding only 3.7 yards per attempt, a top-10 number) however the team strategy concept has been working to great effect so far this season.  The defense in four games has only had 19 snaps where they were behind on the scoreboard.  That naturally leans teams toward passing.  A real test would be if the Seahawks could get a lead and then lean on the run game, even if we do not expect explosive runs from a unit that is currently battered a bit.