{"id":493555,"date":"2026-10-12T13:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T13:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/493555\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T13:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T13:48:13","slug":"49ers-report-card-vs-seahawks-defense-creates-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/493555\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers report card vs. Seahawks: Defense creates opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2013 Here is how the 49ers<\/a> (5-0) graded in Sunday\u2019s 32-29 win over the host Seattle Seahawks<\/a> (3-2):<\/p>\n

PASS OFFENSE: B<\/p>\n

Mike Evans<\/a> went up for the jump ball and got it. Again and again. It brought Brock Purdy<\/a> and the 49ers\u2019 offense into position for a go-ahead, fourth-quarter touchdown, which Brandin Cooks scored on a 7-yard pass before Evans, again, used his body to protect a 2-point conversion catch. Evans, two weeks after busting his ribs, finished with seven receptions for 113 yards, including a 2-yard grab that started Sunday\u2019s scoring spree. Purdy\u2019s response from a third-quarter interception, his first since the season opener: 11-of-12, with the lone incompletion being a throwaway for intentional grounding. He was finally sacked this season; three times, in fact \u2014 twice because rookie Connor Colby yielded to the imposing Byron Murphy II.<\/p>\n

RUN OFFENSE: B<\/p>\n

A day after announcing the birth of his son, Christian McCaffrey fathered the 49ers\u2019 game-winning drive that started with runs for 8 and 13 yards, then a 3-yard catch. Kaelon Black then cut up the middle for an 11-yard run, and after a 4-yard McCaffrey catch and 5-yard Black run, the 49ers were in position for a winning field goal. They had just 94 yards as a team, but McCaffrey had 68 yards on 11 carries, including his fifth touchdown run this season.<\/p>\n

PASS DEFENSE: A-<\/p>\n

Renardo Green intercepted Sam Darnold on the Seahawks\u2019 opening drives of each half. Even more impressive may have been the pass rush that produced five sacks \u2013 this season\u2019s single-game high and 25% of last season\u2019s sack total. Those sacks came from Gracen Halton, Osa Odighizuwa, Keion White and Sebastian Valdez. Eight different players had a hit on Darnold, not including Dre Greenlaw, who was ejected after a late hit on Darnold out of bounds and an ensuing Greenlaw headbutt to one of the several Seahawks who swarmed him.<\/p>\n

RUN DEFENSE: A-<\/p>\n

Halton\u2019s goal-line strip and fumble recovery for a touchdown was a mesmerizing way to end a wild first half. Earlier, Fred Warner forced a fumble at the 11-yard line, leading to McCaffrey\u2019s touchdown the next play. The Seahawks are sorely missing top-notch running backs and the 49ers made sure to hold them to 3.4 yards per carry. The lone gaffe was a 16-yard run by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, whose 102 receiving yards and a touchdown were expected.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL TEAMS: B-<\/p>\n

Corliss Waitman averaged 43.2 net yards on five punts, the best of which pinned the Seahawks at the 4 thanks to Siran Neal and Ashtyn Davis, with Halton\u2019s strip-fumble touchdown coming the next play. Eddy Pi\u00f1eiro made up for his wide 52-yarder by drilling the game-winner from 44 with 1:56 remaining. Jacob Cowing\u2019s muffed punt could cost him that job, so stay tuned on that.<\/p>\n

COACHING: A<\/p>\n

Coach Kyle Shanahan didn\u2019t necessarily avenge Mike Macdonald\u2019s defensive mastery in last season\u2019s final two meetings but to emerge with a win in Seattle can never be understated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2013 Here is how the 49ers (5-0) graded in Sunday\u2019s 32-29 win over the host Seattle Seahawks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[184,7,949,402,181,100,752,101,296,103,102,197,198,104,106,105,200,127],"class_list":["post-493555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-football","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-santa-clara","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-south-bay","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493555","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=493555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}