Today was not exactly the outcome Richard Sherman and the 49ers were hoping for in his return to Century Link Field. Once again, the Seattle Seahawks owned the 49ers – who have lost 10 straight, and eight on the road, to their division rival – in a 43-16 victory.
“If you don’t play well, it doesn’t matter you’re playing or where you’re playing,” said Sherman. “If you don’t play well, people are going to take advantage of you. You turn the ball over, you drop punts, things like that…the games gonna not go the way you want it to.”
The Niners are now 2-10 and have officially been eliminated from the playoffs.
Missed tackles, blown coverages, turnovers, and missed opportunities continue to plague the red and gold and today was no exception.
“We gave them too many opportunities with our turnovers,” said head coach Kyle Shanahan. “…I think they had 13 points off turnovers…They returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter [for a touchdown]. From what I saw on defense, I thought we missed a number of tackles theres, especially in the second half…Had a DPI…And the rest was a number of off-schedules by Russell [Wilson], which is what he does.”
They also had 13 penalties for 128 yards, including an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Shanahan.
“There were a number of things that added up, that were building up, and I made a dumb mistake and said something I shouldn’t have. It won’t happen again,” Shanahan said.
Let’s Talk Offense
Wilson finished the day 11-of-17 for 185 yards and four touchdowns. Although they said a brief hello before the game, there is no love lost between the QB and Sherman.
“I think he threw for 160 or 170,” Sherman said. “Their running game was really effective. They let him get to his spots and kept the game plain and simple.”
49ers’ quarterback Nick Mullens was 30-of-48 for 414 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. That interception was a Bobby Wagner pick-6 that he returned 98 yards for the touchdown.
The Niners were without running back Matt Breida most of the game, as he re-aggravated his ankle injury during warmups. Jeff Wilson, Jr. filled in nicely though with 15 carries for 61 yards and eight receptions for 73 yards.
However, he did fumble at the five-yard line on one of the 49ers’ more promising scoring drives. In fairness, it looked as if he was down but the review was not enough to overturn the call…so fumble.
Richard Sherman
After their first touchdown of the game, the Seahawks celebrated with a re-enactment of the Sherman tipped pass that led to the Malcolm Smith interception in the 2012 NFC Championship against the 49ers.
“I don’t think about it honestly,” said Sherman. “They’ve had a lot of fun celebrations.”
Before the game, Sherman played some catch with Doug Baldwin, which was a cool moment.
Just a friendly game of catch for Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin #SFvsSEA #Frenemies pic.twitter.com/RzucjgcZMq
— Tracy Sandler (@49ersfangirl) December 2, 2018
Some Good Defense
As poorly as the defense played, DeForest Bucker and Ronald Blair continued to be bright spots on the 49ers’ defense. Buckner had seven combined tackles and two sacks, which brings his season total to nine. Blair had a sack, a tackle for loss, and a quarterback hit.
But, it wasn’t enough, and for the second straight week, the 49ers were beat handily.
“Own their jobs, pay more attention, study a little more…including me,” said Buckner. “It goes for everybody, across the board…The past two weeks, we got a little lackadaisical, and we’ve just gotta go back to the drawing board.”
Dante Pettis
Wide receiver Dante Pettis is starting to look like the second-round pick with star potential. Returning to his college town, Pettis had receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Shanahan has a lot to do with that.
“I know that he expects more out of me,” said Pettis. “We’ve had a few talks about what he expects. I guess you could say that kind of sparked something. It’s nothing different than what I expect from myself, but when the head coach kind of calls you out, then it’s like, ok, I guess I’ve got to really go in.”
- Jimmy Garoppolo was on the sideline for the first time since he tore his ACL in week three.
- As of now, the 49ers own the #1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft with four games left to play.
