Seattle's offense had its worst game of the season, and still scored 29

Seattle's offense had its worst game of the season, and still scored 29

Seattle's offense turned in its worst game of the season Sunday. Its -0.328 EPA per play and 32.7% success rate were both season lows, well off the -0.126 and 38.2% it posted the week before against the Chargers. The Seahawks still scored 29 points, helped by a short field off a muffed punt and a short field off a San Francisco fumble.

Seattle kicked five field goals, 15 of the 29 points. Every kick came from between the San Francisco 22 and 32, and two of those drives included sacks in San Francisco territory.

nflverse play-by-play

nflverse play-by-play

Darnold faced pressure on 48.6% of his 35 dropbacks. Seattle's offense had allowed pressure on 46.5% of its dropbacks over its first four games, a little under Sunday's rate, and was sacked five times against the 49ers, a 14.3% rate, above the 4.7% it had allowed over those four games. Its average depth of target was 6.3 yards and its EPA per dropback was -0.347, both below its marks from those four games.

Sumer charting

The run game was worse. Seattle carried the ball 25 times for 84 yards, a 3.4-yard average, and lost EPA on 72% of those carries. Emanuel Wilson led the way with 20 carries for 61 yards but averaged -0.416 EPA per carry. George Holani gained 7 yards on 4 carries and averaged -1.953. San Francisco's run defense ranked 31st in the league in rush success rate allowed entering the game. Seattle's offense still couldn't get its ground game going.

nflverse play-by-play

Seattle also changed how it ran the ball. Thirteen of its 25 designed runs were gap runs, 52.0% of them. Gap runs use man, power, counter, trap or pull-lead blocking. That's up from 30.9% over its first four games and 25.3% in last season's three meetings with the 49ers. Gap runs have been Seattle's better scheme all year: a 41.2% success rate and 4.3 yards per carry over the first four games, against 36.2% and 4.0 on outside zone.

Seattle lost a fumble on each scheme Sunday. Leave those two runs out and gap runs still came out ahead: 12 runs at 4.7 yards and 0.012 EPA, against nine outside-zone runs at 2.8 yards and -0.222 EPA. Seattle's first five runs of the third quarter were all outside zone, and San Francisco had nine men in the box for three of them.

Sumer charting. Gap runs are man, power, counter, trap and pull-lead. Seattle lost a fumble on one gap run and one outside-zone run Sunday.

San Francisco went back to man coverage, and Seattle still hasn't solved it

San Francisco didn't play Seattle the way it played its first four opponents. It played man coverage on 31.4% of Darnold's dropbacks, up from 11.9%. Cover 1, one deep safety with man coverage underneath, rose from 11.0% to 28.6%. Cover 3, the 49ers' usual call, fell from 46.8% to 17.1%.

The 49ers leaned on man against Seattle last season too: 26.8% man and 24.7% Cover 1 across the three 2025 meetings, the playoff game included. Seattle handled it then, at 0.068 EPA per dropback against man. This year man coverage has been Seattle's weak spot. Over its first four games it averaged -0.402 EPA per dropback against man, with a 25.0% success rate and pressure on 58.3% of those dropbacks. Against zone it averaged 0.273. Sunday it was -0.502 against man. Drew Lock started two of those four games, and 24 dropbacks against man is a small sample, but it points one way.

Sumer charting. Drew Lock started two of the first four games. Small samples, especially against man.

The 49ers also got home without sending extra rushers. They blitzed on 25.7% of Darnold's dropbacks, about their usual 26.3%. Their pressure rate was 48.6%, higher than the 35.3% they managed over their first four games and the 25.7% in the 2025 meetings. They did it without Nick Bosa, out with a knee injury.

San Francisco also played lighter fronts against the run. It put eight or more men in the box on 23.1% of Seattle's runs, after doing it on 51.4% of runs over its first four games. Seattle's first four opponents had done it on 44.6%. Seattle still averaged 3.4 yards a carry.

Sumer charting. Three 2025 meetings, including the Divisional round.

Seattle's defense played better than the scoreboard said

San Francisco scored 32 points, but most of that isn't on Seattle's defense. It's the team's best unit, 2nd in the NFL in EPA allowed per play this season, and Sunday backed that up. Three of San Francisco's four touchdowns followed Seattle turnovers. Darnold's interception gave the 49ers the ball at the Seattle 18, and Wilson's fumble gave it to them at the Seattle 11. Holani's fumble at the goal line was recovered in the end zone, so the defense never took the field for that one. San Francisco's only touchdown drive that started on its own side of the field began at its 26.

nflverse play-by-play

Sumer charting

Seattle pressured Brock Purdy on 38.2% of his 34 dropbacks, below the 43.6% rate it had forced over its first four games, but still held him to -0.188 EPA per dropback, below its -0.123 mark over those four games. Seattle blitzed 20.6% of the time and played man coverage on 20.6% of those snaps, more than double its 9.4% man rate over its first four games.

Sumer charting

San Francisco converted 4 of 12 third downs, 33.3%, after converting 57.5% over its first four games. Purdy ran for 6 yards after averaging 30.5 a game. George Kittle had 24 receiving yards against his 61.0-yard average. Mike Evans was the exception, with 113, more than double his average.

nflverse play-by-play. First four games are per-game averages, except third-down rate.

Without fullback Kyle Juszczyk, out with a knee injury, the 49ers never lined up with two backs. They had used two backs on 47.8% of their plays over the first four games. They used two tight ends on 41.1% of plays instead, against 14.9% before.

Sumer charting

San Francisco ran the ball 22 times for 88 yards. Seattle allowed -0.132 EPA per carry, above its -0.246 season mark against the run, third-best in the league, though the 49ers converted half those carries into a successful play. Christian McCaffrey's 11-yard touchdown run came on the first play after Wilson's fumble.

nflverse play-by-play

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