Enemy Confidential: Seattle Seahawks Look to Cool Down Surging San Francisco 49ers in Week 13
When Russell Wilson and the Seahawks defeated Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers at Levis Stadium 28:21 in Week 4, the two rivals seemed to be going in opposite directions and the road team aggressively found their move to post halftime for 21 points explode .
But since then the script has been turned upside down. After a tough loss to an understaffed Arizona squad in Week 9, San Francisco climbed to sixth place in the NFC thanks to a three-game winning streak, while Seattle fell to the bottom of the league, losing six of the last seven competitions and eliminating them almost got out of the playoff competition.
What has changed for the 49ers since the first match? Over the past three weeks, coach Kyle Shanahan’s side has aggressively returned to their bread and butter, relying on rookie running back Elijah Mitchell and Swiss Army Knife Deebo Samuel to storm nearly 175 yards per game. With the ground play to compliment him, Garoppolo was extremely efficient under the middle, getting a pass rating of 117.0 while completing 71 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and one interception.
“They play the ball a lot more than they have and, especially in the last three weeks, as much as anyone else in football,” said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll on Wednesday. “They’ve found tremendous success at that. They’re a good perimeter team, they’re basically a zone running team, but with their dedication, they have man-block schemes, gap-block schemes, and they go along with a variety of things.” their perimeter people too, so they’re really committed. “
Meanwhile, San Francisco has given up 15 points per game defensively as it defeated the Los Angeles Rams, Jacksonville and Minnesota in consecutive weeks. Victory in the sales battle was critical to that success as the team intercepted three passes and won back a trio of fumbles and had a plus-five advantage in sales margin.
As the two bitter rivals prepare to meet again at Lumen Field, here’s a closer look at the Seahawks’ upcoming Week 13 opponent, including series history, additions / departures, key metrics, and Carroll’s rating of the 49ers.
Series history
46th meeting of the season. The Seahawks have dominated the series, winning 28 of the previous 45 regular season matchups while beating the 49ers in the 2013 NFC Championship Game.
Since that playoff game seven years ago, Seattle has won 13 of the last 15 games between the two rivals, including last season’s streak of home and away wins against San Francisco. The 49ers’ last win in the series came in December 2019 when they defeated the Seahawks at Lumen Field 26-21, keeping tight end Jacob Hollister out of the end zone in the final seconds to claim an NFC West title. San Francisco’s longest streak in the series was four games from 2010 to 2012, while Seattle won 10 straight from 2014 to 2018.
What’s new
Departures: San Francisco’s biggest loss came to the coaching staff when announced defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was hired as the new head coach of the New York Jets, taking on several assistants. Defensively, the team underwent significant changes in secondary school, allowing seasoned cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Akhello Witherspoon to go free. Along the defensive line, former first-round pick Solomon Thomas moved to the Raiders, while Kerry Hyder moved teams within the division to sign with the Seahawks. On the offensive, receiver Michael Bourne raced to New England and running back Tevin Coleman followed Saleh to New York.
additions: The 49ers’ biggest splash came weeks before draft weekend, when General Manager John Lynch packed up several first rounds to trade with the Dolphins in third place overall. While speculation raged about the team’s interest in Alabama quarterback Mac Jones, they instead selected Trey Lance, the South Dakota state star quarterback, as a possible heir to Garoppolo. San Francisco upgraded the inside of its offensive line to protect anyone below the center and signed Pro Bowl center Alex Mack. To replace Sherman and Witherspoon, former all-pro Josh Norman was signed before the start of the regular season, while former Rams linebacker Samson Ebukam has signed a two-year deal. Before the trading deadline, the team acquired the defensive end Charles Omenihu from the Texans for a sixth round draft in 2023.
Injury report
While San Francisco has plenty of momentum on its side en route to Seattle, the team will forego several key players in Sunday’s rematch. Top receiver Deebo Samuel, who has already overshadowed 1,000 yards this year, was dismissed with a groin injury, while all-pro linebacker Fred Warner was listed as doubtful playing with an Achilles tendon strain. Another key linebacker, Dre Greenlaw, won’t play on Sunday with his own groin problem either.
Within the scheme
With Kyle Juszczyk one of the few remaining real full-backs in the NFL, the 49ers deployed more double-back staffing than any other team in the NFL, and that trend has continued in 2021. So far, they have 21 and 22 employees used 43 percent of their offensive snapshots, second only to the Ravens. While a large part of the league mainly uses 11 employees, the 49ers with these groups only occupy 45 percent of their offensive games in 26th place.
Hailing from his father Mike Shanahan’s coaching tree, Kyle Shanahan still invokes more than any other running concept outside of the zone. But during his four seasons at the top he slowly mixed in more strength and counterattack concepts to further diversify the hectic attack. In fact, they ranked in the top 10 for performance and counter-run rate in 2020 according to Pro Football Focus, and the Seahawks should expect a steady dose of both in this upcoming rematch.
With Saleh in the lead, the 49ers heavily preferred Cover 3 and Quarters Coverage looks out of their base defense on early downs and didn’t flash much in those situations. But in obvious passing situations when they were playing nickel or dime packages, they put in more cover 1 looks with man underneath and were also much more aggressive with the lightning, putting five or more defenders on the third highest rate after the quarterback third place sent. They ended up in the EPA’s top 10 on all downs.
In 11 games under Demeco Ryans, who replaced Saleh, the 49ers haven’t changed much in terms of coverage systems. They still use cover-3 single highs (39.9 percent) and quarters (19.8 percent) mostly on early downs, and remain one of the least aggressive blitz teams as they only have 21.5 percent of their additional defenders Snaps per Pro Football have sent reference. Unlike in the last two years, however, they could not generate such constant pressure with four man storms and, according to PFF, have the second least total pressure in the league.
In numbers
31.6: 49ers points per game since week 10, third best in the NFL
3.84: Yards after contact per rush by rookie Elijah Mitchell, second best among the qualified runners
530: Yards of contact from Deebo Samuel, third most popular among NFL receivers
38.3: Third down conversion rate, 20th among NFL teams
6th: Sacks allowed percentage on the offensive line of the 49ers, 19th in the league.
10.4: Yards allowed per reception, ninth lowest in the league
2.96: Yards after contact by opposing runners, 27th in the NFL
1.36: Passing touchdowns per game allowed, tied for the seventh-fewest in the league
62: Touchdown percentage in the red zone for opponents, 19th in the league
100: Quarterback pressure, the second least among 32 NFL teams
Carroll’s thoughts
–On the advent of rookie running back Elijah Mitchell: “Well, they were really effective. The signing to the Rams a couple of weeks ago was really obvious that they are really looking for the running game, they are making great strides in the past three weeks, they are getting more yards every week and he was right in the middle of it. It’s tough and has really good speed. Everyone who runs for them looks great and that’s because they have a real commitment to it. They show and run the ball a lot and he is currently the leading ball carrier. “
– On Nick Bosa’s return to form in his third NFL season: “He’s as active as ever. You move him around more. You play him on the other side. We saw him a little above the center. You’re really trying to position it effectively. He’s a really good player and has a great engine. His power to fortify things he has, he just adds it to his rushs, along with the speed, makes him really very difficult. We have to take care of him. We have to make sure we know where he is and include him in our protective recordings. “
