Streamlined Seahawks Collide With Kyle Shanahan’s Red-Hot 49ers in Winner-Takes-All Rematch
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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) makes a pass during the second half against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images [/caption]
RENTON, Wash. - In terms of familiarity, with a pair of head coaches who have sparred on several occasions even before taking their current gigs, few teams know each other better than the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.
But as Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan prepare their squads for the latest chapter in one of the NFL’s most storied rivalries with both an NFC West title and the No. 1 seed on the line on Saturday night at Levis Stadium, much of that familiarity has been turned upside down in the nearly four months since they last dueled on September 7 to kick off the season. While their respective schemes remain the same with a few new wrinkles, injuries and personnel changes have been aplenty for both teams, and it’s felt like an eternity since that afternoon when Ernest Jones and Josh Jobe each intercepted Brock Purdy in a low-scoring loss.
As Macdonald pointed out prior to practice on Wednesday, while there certainly were lessons to be learned for the Seahawks coming out of that 17-13 defeat in the opener, Seattle and San Francisco have evolved over the entirety of the schedule and aren’t close to the same teams they were in September, making the game planning process a bit more complex for each coaching staff than if they had met more recently.
“Man, it’s a long time ago,” Macdonald told reporters at the VMAC. “I think you're learning things after every game. Like that's the way you have to operate. You have to kind of keep tinkering, widdling away. Get rid of some things you feel are not your fastballs and I think it starts to really clear up and streamline as the year starts to go, especially with our run game. Feel like we narrowed it down a little bit as the season has gone on, which is good. That's the way it should be.”
Ravaged by injuries that easily could have been season-altering on defense, the 49ers lost All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner to year-ending injuries before the calendar turned to November. Bosa tore his ACL in a Week 3 win over the Cardinals, while Warner dislocated his ankle in Week 6, leaving defensive coordinator Robert Saleh without his two best players. In addition, San Francisco lost first round pick Mykel Williams when he tore his ACL in November, further depleting the team’s defensive line.
But even with all of those injuries, the 49ers have more than stayed afloat defensively, allowing 22.4 points per game to sit a respectable 13th in scoring defense without Bosa or Warner. That has been more than good enough with Shanahan’s offense humming on all cylinders during the team’s current six-game winning streak, which has featured four games scoring 37 or more points, including putting up 42 in a prime time win over the Bears in Week 17.
During the streak that started back in Week 11, San Francisco has averaged a league-best 34.5 points per game offensively while also ranking first in third down conversion rate (58.7%), second in average time of possession (32:53/game), and first in red zone efficiency rate (73.3%). That’s a testament to Shanahan’s innate ability to adapt and evolve how he schemes to attack opponents, creating the ultimate chess match against Macdonald’s second-ranked scoring defense.
“I think the great offensive play callers and designers in our league evolve consistently and he's done it with the best of them,” Macdonald said of Shanahan. “He's a great play caller, great play designer, great coach. You can tell that by how they execute and how they evolve as well. They are getting to the same concepts. It's hard to invent new plays all the time, but it's variations of similar concepts that they have run and are really good at and they've run for a long time. But the art behind it is getting to it before you realize on defense, and so they're really good at it.”
Helping Shanahan’s cause, after Mac Jones held down the fort for two months, having a healthy Purdy back under center has been a major game changer. Not surprisingly, San Francisco’s current win streak coincided with the quarterback’s return from a significant toe injury suffered in the aforementioned opener, and the fourth-year signal caller has been playing some of the best football of his career over the past month and change orchestrating the highest-scoring offense in the league.
In six games since coming back from a long layoff, only Matthew Stafford has thrown more touchdown passes than Purdy (16) and did so with one extra game, as the 49ers quarterback has averaged north of 2.5 touchdown passes per game in that stretch. Six of those touchdown tosses have gone to Jauan Jennings, who has emerged as the team’s No. 1 receiver with Brandon Aiyuk leaving the team, while tight end George Kittle has scored four times even while missing Week 17 with an ankle injury.
Coinciding with his impressive touchdown numbers, Purdy ranks second in completion rate (70.7%), fifth in yards per attempt (7.9), and first in passer rating (111.5), torching opponents in and out of the pocket. Posting the second-longest average time to throw (3.15 seconds), his ability to evade rushers and avoid getting dragged down always stands out as a significant issue for defenses, and that will be the case for Leonard Williams, Demarcus Lawrence, and the rest of Seattle’s defense on Saturday.
Superb at moving his launching point and extending plays with his legs to buy time for his receivers to get open, Purdy has been especially lethal on third down, leading the NFL with a 76.7% completion rate and six touchdowns on third down pass attempts. While the quarterback has been the star for San Francisco on money downs, Macdonald has been impressed by how the entire offense has executed in those situations, creating a dilemma in regard to how Seattle may try to rush him in those situations behind a rock solid offensive line and talented skill players all around him.
“It's just a different phase of the game,” Macdonald explained. “But when you look at it and you turn the tape on, ‘oh, well, maybe it's one thing.’ No, it's everything. They're protecting Brock well. He's making decisive decisions. He's been accurate and been able to extend plays as well and creating maybe when the first couple reads aren't there as well. Kind of like the whole package on third down right now.”
On top of Purdy playing at an elite level since his return, Christian McCaffrey has weathered the storm playing through multiple injuries to round back into All-Pro form himself. Aided by the quarterback’s comeback, he has rushed for 553 yards and six touchdowns during the 49ers’ win streak, ranking seventh and third in those categories respectively as a run game that struggled uncharacteristically early on has found its footing in the closing stretch.
As always, McCaffrey has continued to be a menace in the passing game as well, snagging 27 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns with Shanahan moving him all over the formation as he remains the NFL’s premier offensive chess piece in his ninth season. For the year, he eclipsed 2,000 all-purpose yards on offense, finishing behind only Falcons star Bijan Robinson.
When asked what the Seahawks will focus on first trying to keep McCaffrey under wraps in Saturday’s must-see rematch, Macdonald simply said “all the plays” and that his team has to know where the dual-threat weapon is on every snap.
“Terrible answer, but it's by situation again,” Macdonald replied. “Who do you have on the field? Who do they have on the field? Where is the ball? You know, are you trying to attack? Are you trying to kind of hedge? Those are the things you're thinking about. But he's definitely someone you have to account for at all times. And they do a great job moving him around. I mean, he can do everything, so you have to account for everything. It's a great challenge.”
As has been the case most of the season, the 49ers will have injury questions heading into Saturday, as standout left tackle Trent Williams and Kittle both received questionable designations on Thursday. But given the stakes with a division title and bye week hanging in the balance, it would be a stunner if both players are not in uniform ready to battle, and the Seahawks will surely plan accordingly for each of them to be suited up for a winner takes all rematch.
At the end of the day, Macdonald and his staff aren’t going to put too much focus into the injury situation. And they certainly won’t be putting all their chips on the table based on how things played out for Seattle 17 weeks ago at Lumen Field.
With one less day to prepare, the goal will be to construct a thorough, well-designed game plan to counter what Shanahan loves to do and how he has deployed his chess pieces as of late while also not overwhelming his players with too much information, something he admitted may have been at play giving up over 500 yards of offense to the Rams on Thursday Night Football two weeks ago. Set to either spend a week resting up at home or immediately hit the road to travel to Carolina or Tampa Bay in the wild card round, the end result coming out of Saturday will likely depend on how well the Seahawks execute that plan defensively above all else.
