He\u2019s off to a historic start<\/a> and there\u2019s every indication that there\u2019ll be a long and epic rivalry between the quarterback\u2019s offenses and Seattle coach Mike Macdonald\u2019s defenses. If the 49ers are to go into the belly of the beast and emerge victorious, Purdy will have to be on point \u2014 like he was in a game-winning drive at Seattle to open last season. <\/p>\nDefensive star of the game<\/p>\n
Kawakami: Dre Greenlaw. The 49ers\u2019 only victory over the Seahawks last season came when they created two takeaways in Week 1; they got zero combined in the two later losses. Can Greenlaw, who hasn\u2019t played the Seahawks since December 2023 and has a personal five-game winning streak against them, create something himself?<\/p>\n
Lombardi: Fred Warner. Both he and Nick Bosa played in that Week 1 game, which the 49ers won against the Seahawks. They won\u2019t have Bosa, who sealed that win, this week. But they will have Warner, who\u2019s arguably the best defensive player in football. And that\u2019s a huge deal when it comes to stopping the run and \u2014 because Warner can blanket tight ends and pass-catching backs \u2014\u00a0forcing Seattle to be one-dimensional in its reliance on receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. <\/p>\n
The 49ers\u2019 potential X factor<\/p>\n
Kawakami: Who plays fullback for the 49ers? They will miss Kyle Juszczyk for every game that he\u2019s out, but especially when they\u2019re looking for somebody to get a lead block on DeMarcus Lawrence or Nick Emmanwori or release deep down field for a huge pass. I\u2019m guessing Brayden Willis will get a lot of these snaps and no, I don\u2019t expect the same kind of impact.<\/p>\n
Lombardi: 11 personnel. That means one back, one tight end, and three wide receivers. That might be the answer to Tim\u2019s question: The 49ers can avoid going heavy without Juszczyk because that\u2019s what Seattle wants with its nickel-heavy defense that can still stop the run (Emmanwori is a cheat code). Instead, the 49ers can spread the Seahawks out and rely on Purdy to loosen the defense to set up the run. Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, and a combination of Jordan Watkins and Brandin Cooks could give the 49ers surprising adaptability on the perimeter.<\/p>\n
Remember this: Defensive backs do not enjoy trying to tackle Samuel, and the 49ers didn\u2019t have him for their three games against Seattle last season. <\/p>\n
The key stat to track <\/p>\n
Kawakami: Purdy TD passes. The 49ers will need to do a lot of other things to stay competitive in this game, but for them to win it, Purdy likely will have to put multiple TDs on the board. Fortunately for the 49ers, Purdy is tied for the NFL lead with 11 TD passes \u2014 on pace to get into the mid-40s. His current career high is 31, set back in 2023. Get ready for a lot of Purdy Discourse either way on this one.<\/p>\n
Lombardi: Seattle\u2019s rushing output. The Seahawks, who lost running back Kenneth Walker III in free agency and also won\u2019t have Zach Charbonnet or Jadarian Price in this game, rank No. 26 in rushing EPA. That leaves them at risk of being one-dimensional in the pass game, where Smith-Njigba has already been targeted 44 times while all other receivers have only been targeted 15 times.<\/p>\n
Long story short: The 49ers can stalk Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold for interceptions if the Seahawks can\u2019t establish rushing balance and become too predictable through the air. They\u2019re in that danger zone entering this game. <\/p>\n
Game prediction<\/p>\n
Kawakami: Seahawks 20, 49ers 17. The 49ers are fully capable of winning at Lumen Field and have, in fact, done it several times in the Shanahan\/Purdy era. But they have to be at their absolute best \u2014 and usually need Bosa doing Bosa stuff to close it. They won\u2019t have Bosa plus a few others in this one. The 49ers will probably get two more shots against the Seahawks this season. Presumably with Bosa in those games.<\/p>\n
Lombardi: 49ers 20, Seahawks 19. The 49ers are off to a historically good start (opens in new tab)<\/a>and their defensive line actually generated pressure without Bosa last week. Having a healthy No. 1 receiver tilted the Seattle rivalry in the 49ers\u2019 favor last season (Pearsall in Week 1). Evans is that man. <\/p>\nSecond prediction: This will be the first of three 49ers-Seahawks games this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 41-6 playoff loss to the Seahawks in January left a lasting impression on the 49ers. Immediately after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[879,8757,299,752,101,296,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":["post-490681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-brock-purdy","tag-george-kittle","tag-kyle-shanahan","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}