SEATTLE – Geno Smith must have thought he was getting drowned in a downpour.
Smith recovered the ball at his own 13-yard line early in the fourth quarter after the Seattle Seahawks battled the pace of the San Francisco 49ers and threatened to bite deep into San Francisco’s lead. The drive was highly anticipated by Seahawks fans who could have witnessed a comeback for the ages, but it ended as most of Smith’s drives did on Thursday — a third-down sack in a white uniform.
The 49ers’ defense was so impressive in a 31-13 victory that the 49ers’ press box announcer twice declared the sack a “team sack” instead of trying to figure out on the fly what brought Smith on the field.
“It’s funny,” Nick Bosa said afterward. “After the game, nobody knows what the stats are. It’s a good problem to have,” he said.
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For the record, Bosa and Arik Armstead each accounted for half a sack in the fourth quarter, as the 49ers’ offense sputtered and the Seahawks twisted their way back into the contest. San Francisco’s defensive stops, however, seem to calm the entire team down. After the Seahawks were flagged, the 49ers’ offense was just like it was earlier in the game, and Brock Purdy put the final stake in the Seahawks’ heart with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Ayuck.
For the second time in a week, the 49ers failed to score an offensive touchdown. And the sacks, which seemed to have stalled in a three-game skid, were flowing freely. The 49ers had six on Thursday and hit Smith, who is questionable for the game with an elbow injury, six more times.
“The way the defense played tonight was unbelievable,” Kyle Shanahan said. “Just getting them out of the end zone, I thought the play, the six sacks, our corners played outside. A truly amazing game. I am very glad to see you. “
“They beat us – simple as that,” Smith said. “I can’t make excuses. It’s football, it’s a sport. Sometimes a team goes out and wins. But the good thing is we’ve got another chance in a few weeks to go against these guys. I think everybody has to take that personally. I know I am. We all have to take it personally. They cannot be allowed to beat.”
Bosa was one of the standouts of the game and led the team with two sacks. But the renewed pass rush was perhaps more of a team effort than in the past, as highlighted by the number of sacks during the contest. The list includes Bosa, Armstead, Javon Hargrave, Kevin Givens and Tashaun Gipson Sr.
The defensive linemen also forced the quarterbacks to handle the ball more than last season.
As seen in last year’s game in Seattle, cornerback Charvarius Ward was given an even bigger job: shadowing the Seahawks’ big, dangerous receiver, DK Metcalfe, everywhere he lined up.
Ward’s last chance at primetime, Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, went badly for him, and he was booed in the visitors’ locker room afterward. He had an interception in the first quarter of that game, but when he got a second chance before halftime, the ball went in his hands and instead turned into a long Minnesota touchdown that was discussed for the next several weeks. .
“I was obviously mad at myself that the ball was in my hands and I let them take the ball out of my hands,” he said Thursday. “I wasn’t mad at the play calling, the coaches, at all. It was like, ‘Damn, I had a terrible game.’
Ward said he was mentally having the worst season of his life and admitted he was hurt by his team-high 10 penalties, many of which came during the 49ers’ three-game losing streak.
He said the offenses caused him to play cautiously and not be the aggressive, combative cornerback he always wanted to be. Before Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he actually had one of the officials approach him during warmups and warn him to watch out for overly physical play.
“And I said, ‘Damn. Why me?” said Ward. “It kind of slowed me down to the point where I had my hands on the receiver last week. I feel like I can be one of the best corners in the league if they let me play my game and be myself. I hate flags. The coaches have been telling me they don’t care about the flags – just keep being me. But obviously it’s in my head.
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But against Metcalf, the authorities let him play to his strengths. Ward had two passes on the Seahawks’ first series. He looked comfortable knocking down one of two deep ball attempts from Metcalfe to Metcalfe. He also broke up a pass in the end zone. And even though he was targeted nine times, Metcalf came out of the game with just three catches for a season-low 32 yards.
Afterward, Ward joined several of his high-profile teammates — Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and Bosa — as one of the 49ers tapped to enjoy a Thanksgiving turkey on national television.
“It’s my first time playing on Thanksgiving, so I’m excited to be one of the players in the game and get a turkey leg,” he said.
He said he had a strong matchup with Metcalf during the regular season last year, and Metcalf came back and caught 10 balls for 136 yards in the teams’ playoff game.
“We’ve got another rematch in two weeks,” Ward said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Thursday’s win over the Seahawks means it has now been 663 days since the 49ers lost to a division rival, with the most recent loss coming to the Los Angeles Rams in the 2021 NFC Championship Game. The 49ers have beaten Seattle four straight and every year the Seahawks have had it on them — especially in Seattle’s once seemingly impregnable home stadium — it fades a little further.
Now the 49ers have turned their attention to another bird of a feather, the Philadelphia Eagles. The feeling after their loss to Philadelphia in January was that it wasn’t a fair fight and they were desperate for a comeback when they were at their best, especially in the quarterback position.
On Thursday, however, most 49ers said they couldn’t focus on that game yet and summon any emotions they might have when the 2022 season ends.
“I didn’t think about it because we had to take care of business here,” Fred Warner said. But we will be ready when the time comes.
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(Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
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