Takeaways from Seattle Seahawks 36-24 loss to 49ers
SEATTLE – It’s been a brutal 11 days for the Seattle Seahawks.
A 34-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night serves as the third straight loss for Seattle as they’ve fallen out of first place in the NFC West after a 3-0 start to the year. Brock Purdy threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns, and the 49ers rushed for 228 yards as a team as Seattle’s struggles continued.
“It stings to have lost three in a row, to lose it against your division rival at home, primetime, such a great environment. Guys fought their tails off down to the last minute. But we’re not playing well enough to beat the team we needed to beat,” head coach Mike Macdondald said. “Message to the team is we have the people in the building. Our players, our coaches, to become a really good football team. Right now, we’re just coming up short. That’s obvious based the off tape and what’s going on.
The Seahawks turned the ball over three times with Geno Smith throwing two interceptions that proved costly on the night.
It was another defeat at the hands of the 49ers where they clearly looked like the lesser team. Maybe not as decisive as some of the other recent meetings between the two teams, but the result never truly felt in doubt.
“I think it’s just playing clean ball,” safety Julian Love said of the struggles to beat the 49ers. “You’re not going to beat them going minus-3 in the turnover battle. I don’t know what the penalty numbers were, but they couldn’t have been good for us. That’s what it takes.”
Seattle’s defense allowed two plays of 76 yards alone, and five plays of at least 20 yards to San Francisco. Meanwhile, the Seahawks missed chances for their own big blows. Smith underthrew DK Metcalf on a deep ball in the first half that was broken up by George Odum, and a 52-yard touchdown strike to Metcalf with just under five minutes left to play was negated due to an illegal shift penalty.
“We did a lot of things that you don’t want to do when you talk about winning football games,” Smith said. “We didn’t control the ball, didn’t control the clock, turned the ball over, have penalties, you know, all the things that we talk about every week.”
The Seahawks will now get the weekend fully off to reset and recover as they try to get back on track with a road trip to Atlanta next week.
Here are the takeaways from the loss to the 49ers:
– Seahawks lose the turnover battle again.
After losing the turnover battle by a 3-0 margin on Thursday night, the Seahawks are now minus-6 in turnover differential for the season.
The Seahawks have forced just one turnover in their last five games combined. Rayshawn Jenkins’ 102-yard touchdown off Jerome Baker forced fumble against the New York Giants is their only forced turnover since the season-opening victory over the Denver Broncos.
“It’s probably the single handedly, biggest thing that hurt our football team. We have to take care of the ball better. Practice it better. You get what you emphasize and apparently we’re not emphasizing that enough. Shoot, that’s my responsibility,” Macdonald said.
The only season of Pete Carroll’s tenure as head coach where they didn’t finish with a positive turnover differential was his first in Seattle in 2010. That team was minus-9 in the turnover battle, but won the division with a 7-9 record before beating the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round.
While creating more turnovers defensively and cutting down on them offensively won’t fix the issues the team is facing by itself, it would go a long way to making sure the team isn’t constantly playing from behind.
– Defensive issues continue to show as losses pile up.
In addition to the inability to force turnovers, the Seahawks are just purely struggling to stop their opponents from moving the football as well.
Just as had happened last week against the New York Giants, the 49ers marched straight down the field on their opening possession against Seattle despite being backed up. A 13-play, 90-yard drive ended with only a field goal, but it was another instance of the Seahawks’ defense getting knocked around.
San Francisco had five drives in the game that covered at least 70 yards. Despite Christian McCaffrey being out of the lineup and Jordan Mason being sidelined by halftime with injuries, the 49ers still managed to gash Seattle for 228 yards on the ground. Isaac Guerendo followed in the footsteps of Tyrone Tracy last week as a third-string back that had a big day against the Seahawks. He finished with 99 yards on 10 carries, though his essentially game-clinching 76-yard romp late in the fourth quarter accounted for much of that total.
