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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two things are true when the Seattle Seahawks play the San Francisco 49ers.
Truth No. 1: The two NFC West rivals hate each other.
Truth No. 2: The 49ers are much better at turning that disdain into dominance.
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The first truth manifests in post-play chirping back and forth, face mask shoves and penalties for unnecessary roughness. The second shows up on the scoreboard, which on Sunday afternoon displayed a final score of 28-16 in favor of San Francisco, winners of five straight over the Seahawks including the postseason. This loss at Levi’s Stadium sunk the Seahawks to 6-7 and marked the first four-game losing streak of the Pete Carroll era.
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“Losing to the 49ers — we don’t like that,” tight end Noah Fant said. “They don’t like us; we don’t like them. We’ve gotta win these games. It’s just frustrating, for sure.”
Consider the scene in the final moments Sunday: Middle linebacker Fred Warner intercepted Drew Lock and was subsequently body slammed by DK Metcalf, who suplexed the defender as he pitched the ball to a teammate. Warner then pushed Metcalf in the back of the head, prompting the receiver to grab Warner’s face mask, mush his helmet and ignite a bench-clearing brouhaha that ended with Metcalf and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir being disqualified (Lenoir hit Metcalf in the face during the skirmish).
Don't mess with @fred_warner 😤#SEAvsSF on FOX #ProBowlVote https://t.co/bosbZYD8Xi pic.twitter.com/vfzRki9fNq
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 10, 2023
As Metcalf and Lenoir trotted to the locker room, Deebo Samuel sprinted across the field imploring the crowd to make noise. Warner stood on the bench and did the same. Meanwhile, the Seahawks could do nothing but watch San Francisco bleed the clock and clinch another victory.
“He hit me in the back of the head,” said Metcalf, insisting he wasn’t acting out of frustration. “I just retaliated from that.”
“I told him he tackles really well, and for some reason, he didn’t like that,” Warner told reporters after the game. “It’s unfortunate. He’s got to learn how to keep his composure.”
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More important than who was at fault, though, is that when the dust settled, San Francisco had the last laugh. All Seattle had was another reason to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to avoid a fifth straight loss when the Philadelphia Eagles come to town on Dec. 18.
“We gotta get back on track,” Carroll said. “This losing thing sucks.”
Seattle had to start Lock at quarterback because of a groin injury suffered by Geno Smith in Thursday’s practice, but it’s hard to use that as the sole justification for another loss to the 49ers. Making his first start as a Seahawk, Lock completed 22 of 31 passes for 269 yards and threw two touchdowns along with two interceptions, both in the second half. Lock’s yards per attempt (8.7), passing yardage, passer rating (92.0) and expected points added per dropback (-0.08) were all better than Smith’s averages in four games against San Francisco. Lock didn’t play well enough to win — but Seattle’s starting quarterback hasn’t exactly done that, either.
This game was lost for other reasons. Seattle’s defense surrendered 12 explosive plays: eight through the air and four on the ground, including a 72-yard run by Christian McCaffrey on the first play of the game. He finished with 145 yards on 16 carries and three more explosives in addition to his first run. Two of those three explosives came on drives that ended in touchdowns.
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Brock Purdy threw for a career-high 368 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-27 passing. He was sacked three times and intercepted by safety Julian Love on a dropped pass by Brandon Aiyuk, but the quarterback largely had no issue slicing through Seattle’s secondary. Purdy hit Samuel in stride for a 54-yard touchdown in the second quarter after the receiver blew by safety Jamal Adams in coverage. Purdy connected with George Kittle on a 44-yard touchdown up the sideline, as the tight end beat Love then juked safety Quandre Diggs to put San Francisco ahead 28-16 in the fourth quarter.
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Seattle forced a couple of turnovers — the second one was Love stripping Aiyuk in the second half — but still allowed the 49ers to convert 6 of 11 third downs and rack up 527 yards.
“We need consistency, bro,” Diggs said. “You can play good spurts of ball, but it’s just the consistency. That’s where we struggle: consistency. It’s frustrating.”
There’s that word again — frustrating. That’s been a theme in Seattle’s locker room lately, on both sides of the ball. For the defense, it’s particularly disappointing to be so inconsistent when the front office has dedicated significant resources to acquiring talented players — six Seattle defenders have made at least one Pro Bowl — and the coaching staff has tweaked the scheme to, theoretically, fix the issues that doomed them in the past.
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And yet, the results this year have been no different.
“You can have the talent, (but) I’ve been on less-talented defenses that’s been more technique-sound and more in tune to what’s going on,” Diggs said. “It’s cool to be talented, but I’ve played this game a long time, not by being talented; I’ve played this game by being consistent in my approach and what I do each and every week. At some point, we gotta learn from mistakes and go from there.”
On offense, the frustration also stems from inconsistency, and the inability to do the one thing on which Carroll’s clubs have long prided themselves: run the ball.
On the opening possession, Lock led Seattle on an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended with Metcalf winning a one-on-one down the sideline against cornerback Ambry Thomas, in for the injured Charvarius Ward, who usually shadows Seattle’s star receiver. Ward’s ability to cover Metcalf allows San Francisco to play a single-high safety defense and a lot of man coverage, two things the Seahawks planned to exploit. Ward’s injury on the opening series caused them to play more split-safety, zone coverage and cloud Metcalf’s side with a safety over the top. Metcalf didn’t catch a ball the rest of the game, and both of Lock’s interceptions came on throws his way.
We'll take that‼️ @_Tiig2#SEAvsSF on FOX #ProBowlVote 🗳 https://t.co/bosbZYCB7K pic.twitter.com/7AzO4QBVps
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 10, 2023
The counter to the 49ers’ scheme change, Lock said, was to use the play-action game and attack San Francisco’s safeties, but that didn’t come to fruition outside of a three-play, 78-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter. The other counterpunch would have been to run the ball. But Seattle couldn’t do that, either. Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet combined for 65 yards on 17 carries and had only one first-down run between them in the second half.
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The lack of a run game made Seattle inefficient on early downs, which set up long third downs that are hard to convert against any defense, let alone one as good as San Francisco’s. Basically, the same problem Seattle always has against the 49ers.
“We play off the run game, so if we really don’t have a run game, then the play-action or the deep passes or the intermediate passes don’t really work,” Metcalf said.
As usual, the Seahawks weren’t flush with solutions after the game. Defensive players lamented penalties and the inability to prevent explosives. Offensive players bemoaned another afternoon of failing to run the ball, execute and convert third downs. Even Carroll said the explosive plays they allowed came on concepts Seattle had seen before and practiced during the week.
These are not new problems, so it’s understandable the players didn’t have new answers. For that reason, it’s hard to see Seattle climbing out of ninth place and sneaking into the postseason. According to the model of The Athletic’s Austin Mock, the Seahawks’ chances have dwindled to 19 percent.
The Seahawks also don’t know who their quarterback will be next week — Smith “couldn’t go in one direction with any confidence” during his pregame workout, Carroll said. But what happened Sunday strongly suggests that the answer to that question will prove to be inconsequential if the same issues with the supporting cast persist.
“You can fall victim to your circumstances, or you can rally,” Love said. “We have four more opportunities in the regular season, and we have to capture them. Everything we can get is in front of us still, thankfully. There are two ways to go. Each person in that locker room needs to decide what they’re going to do.”
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(Photo of DK Metcalf, 14, and Ji’Ayir Brown: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
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