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Eric Edholm’s takeaways:
- 49ers dominate early, weather Seahawks’ surge. Kyle Shanahan seemed to smell a Seattle comeback when he told NBC’s Melissa Stark at halftime that “this one is coming down to the wire.” It was 24-3 Niners at that point. The Seahawks started manifesting Shanahan’s prediction, turning the tide with a pick-six and field goal in the third quarter. Suddenly, the game was interesting. But the Seahawks’ defense — as tough as it was for spurts — needed the offense to score a touchdown there. Brock Purdy shook off a slow start to the second half by hitting Brandon Aiyuk on a terrific TD strike to put the game away at 31-13, San Fran. The 49ers took their foot off the gas after halftime, but they were dominant early. The 49ers had the first 12 first downs of the game. Purdy didn’t hit a lot of big passes, but the 49ers’ offense hummed on three TD drives led by Christian McCaffrey (114 yards, two TDs) and Deebo Samuel (79 yards, rushing TD), who shredded Seattle all night.
- Geno Smith looked rusty early, couldn’t rally Seahawks. Smith was listed as questionable with an elbow injury he suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Rams. He was able to practice part of the week, but Smith struggled to find any rhythm early against the 49ers’ early pressure, tripping for a sack (and near safety) and telegraphing a pick. Seattle had negative pass yards entering the final minute of the first half. The 49ers’ first-half time-of-possession edge was more than a 3:1 ratio. Smith started getting in a groove late in the first half and carried it through on a field-goal drive in the third quarter, spurred by an incredible 34-yard catch from Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Smith also rallied the Seahawks with a few quality scrambles, but he took a sack on third and goal, keeping it a two-score game, and the 49ers scored a touchdown three minutes later. Smith showed some real toughness battling back after the tough start. It couldn’t have been fun trying to get loose with a badly swollen elbow — and six 49ers sacks likely didn’t help.
- 49ers make big plays early on defense, special teams. After allowing a 66-yard kickoff return by Dee Eskridge, the 49ers’ special teams settled in nicely with a few big plays early. Their first two punts buried the Seahawks inside their own 10-yard line twice, including once at the Seattle 1-yard line. That punt came after the 49ers’ Ambry Thomas picked off Smith, reading his eyes the whole way. The 49ers also were able to tack on three bonus points before halftime after Seattle’s DeeJay Dallas muffed a punt, and Jason Myers missed a try at the end of the half, resulting in a six-point swing. That would have helped later when the Seahawks found some third-quarter life, but San Francisco’s defense finished the job. They looked to jump on Smith’s passes early, and Thomas and Charvarius Ward (who was banged up late) combined for five passes defended. The pass rush racked up six sacks on only 33 dropbacks, with four of them coming on third downs and one knocking the Seahawks out of field-goal range.
NFL Research: Brandon Aiyuk’s fourth-quarter receiving touchdown was his fifth of the season, which gives him five or more in each of his first four NFL seasons — the first 49ers WR to achieve that. Aiyuk joins Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens as the only 49ers wide receivers in the past 40 seasons to have five or more receiving TDs in four straight seasons.
Next Gen stat of the game: Christian McCaffrey generated +45 rushing yards over expected against the Seahawks in Week 12, his second-most in a game this season. McCaffrey exceeded his expected rushing yards on 61.1% of his carries and had a 52.6% rush success rate against the Seahawks. McCaffrey has now generated +158 rushing yards over expected on the season, the third-most in the NFL.
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