Seahawks @ 49ers
Final Score: 49ers 27, Seahawks 7
Writer: Matthew Theodosopoulos (@FreeMattyTee on Twitter)
The Seahawks fell flat on their trip to Santa Clara this weekend. Unfortunately, the game was overshadowed by a devastating injury, as 49ers starting quarterback Trey Lance broke his ankle in the first quarter. After taking the 49ers offense down the field twice, Lance would break his ankle being tackled on a designed QB run. He will miss the rest of the season. The 49ers didn’t let the Seahawks get much of anything today, holding Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith to under 200 yards. The Seahawks did block a field goal and return it for a touchdown, but this game never truly felt close as Jimmy Garoppolo got the job done 27-7.
Seattle Seahawks
Quarterback
Geno Smith: 24/30, 197 Yards, 1 Int | 2 Carries, 2 Yards
The thing about Geno Smith is that we, for the most part, know who he is as a professional quarterback at this point. He’s not really going to do anything crazy special, but he is capable of executing a gameplan. Which is really all he’s being asked to do. The Seahawks are scheming Geno a lot of shorter and intermediate routes; trying to give him a chance and make things easier on him. The 49ers have a good defense, so while it may not have been as pretty of a result as last week against Denver, Geno had a relatively safe game, passing for nearly 200 yards and 1 interception. After the emotional week 1 win, the Seahawks won’t be making a change at quarterback any time soon.
Running Back
Kenneth Walker III: 4 Carries, 10 Yards | 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 5 Yards
Travis Homer: 2 Carries, 9 Yards | 4 Targets, 4 Receptions, 33 Yards
Rashaad Penny: 6 Carries, 15 Yards
DeeJay Dallas: 0/1, 0 Yards, 1 Int | 0 Carries, 0 Yards
It was a tough week to be a Seattle running back. Rashaad Penny saw the most carries of the running back room, carrying the ball 6 times for 15 yards. Second-round rookie running back Ken Walker made his debut today, logging 4 carries for 10 yards on top of 2 catches for 5 yards. The Seahawks were losing for the entirety of the game Sunday, so the game script almost immediately became unfavorable for Seattle running backs. Walker was used in multiple wildcat formations, an interesting wrinkle for the rookie RB that we haven’t seen yet with Penny.
With a constant lead to overcome, third-down running back Travis Homer would see some decent action as well, carrying the ball twice and catching 4 passes for 33 yards. Additionally, in one of the more bizarre stat lines you’ll ever see, Deejay Dallas would see no action outside of a trick play in which he would throw an interception in the redzone. With the Seahawks not being the strongest team out there, they may see a lot of games this year where they are forced to lean more heavily on the passing game (hopefully with their QBs).
DeeJay Dallas throws an INT https://t.co/bRtXQH3zNw
— alex (@highlightheaven) September 18, 2022
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Tyler Lockett: 11 Targets, 9 Receptions, 107 Yards
DK Metcalf: 6 Targets, 4 Receptions, 35 Yards
Noah Fant: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 11 Yards
Dee Eskridge: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 6 Yards
Will Dissly: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 0 Yards
Marquise Goodwin: 1 Target, 0 Receptions, 0 Yards
Talk about a bounce-back game from Tyler Lockett. Geno seemed to have eyes primarily for Lockett today, targeting him on 11 of his 30 dropbacks. And Tyler would make the most of them, turning the targets into nine catches for 107 yards. Lockett seemed to have no problem finding space against this 49ers defense all day, a testament to his quick feet and good burst. He has always been a dangerous player with the ball in his hands and is elite at getting open, so it’s no surprise that Geno relied heavily on him for this matchup with the 49ers.
While DK Metcalf did see some attention, he only turned in four catches for 35 yards. That’s two straight weeks with yardage totals below 40 for the talented wide receiver. Metcalf was involved in a play where the defender would be penalized for pass interference, but this was. nonetheless a disappointing outcome from Metcalf. He ran plenty of routes, but with the 49ers keeping pressure on Geno it was difficult for enough time to pass to allow Metcalf to get down field, where he’s better at working his magic. It would be nice for things to improve, but that may prove difficult with Seattle’s quarterback room.
San Francisco 49ers
Quarterback
Trey Lance: 2/3, 30 Yards | 3 Carries, 13 Yards
Jimmy Garoppolo: 13/21, 154 Yards, TD | 4 Carries, 5 Yards, TD
You never want to see a player go down with a serious injury and that’s unfortunately exactly what we saw early on in this game. Shortly after a long Deebo run, Trey Lance would keep the ball on a quarterback run and would have his ankle broken.
Trey Lance is getting carted off now. Jimmy Garoppolo is in.
Here's what happened.https://t.co/9yfdxokUU8
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 18, 2022
The San Francisco training staff quickly applied the air cast, and Trey Lance had his season cut short before week 2 even got really got going for him. It’s an unfortunate ending for the young QB, and the drama that unfolds over the next 11 months in this QB room will be must-watch TV.
Jimmy Garoppolo replaced Lance and played a fine game against a rough Seahawks defense. With the 49ers leading for most of the game, Jimmy was right at home controlling a game and managing it in a favorable spot. It was almost as if the offense didn’t skip a beat switching from one QB to another. He was able to find a wide-open Ross Dwelley who would take the pass several more yards into the endzone for a touchdown. It was also classic Jimmy, making multiple passes off his back leg that nearly got intercepted after sailing over a receiver’s head. I think we all know what we get out of Jimmy G at this point, and that’s a solid QB who will peak once or twice every year but otherwise be a game manager on the way to plenty of victories. It appears Jimmy G will get one last year starting for the San Francisco 49ers.
#49ers Jimmy Garoppolo finds Ross Dwelley for SIX pic.twitter.com/8gjtjANSjS
— 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙎𝙁𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 (@TheSFNiners) September 18, 2022
#49ers Jimmy Garoppolo said he’s not a big me Guy, It’s about winning football games. pic.twitter.com/aY5ovWj1zc
— WayneBreezie (@thewaynebreezie) September 19, 2022
Running Back
Jeff Wilson Jr.: 18 Carries, 84 Yards | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 19 Yards
Tyrion Davis-Price: 14 Carries, 33 Yards
Kyle Juszczyk: 2 Carries, 1 Yards, 1 TD | 1 Targets, 0 Receptions, 0 Yards
After losing starter Elijah Mitchell to injury last week, most expected Jeff Wilson to be the immediate plug-and-play replacement as the “main guy” in this Shanahan system. And that’s really what we got, for the most part. Wilson ran the ball nearly 20 times for 84 yards. With the lead throughout, the 49ers were also afforded to get some run-in for rookie Tyrion Davis-Price. Davis-Price saw a decent amount of work himself, carrying the ball 14 times for a much less effective 33 yards, and those carries were sprinkled throughout the game with some even coming early in the red zone. While that isn’t necessarily a great day by any means, Sunday’s game was the first active game of Davis-Price’s career. Getting 14 carries in your debut is a great start and definitely a situation to watch going forward.
Kyle Juszczyk did what he does best, and that’s stealing goal-line touchdowns from other 49ers running backs.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Deebo Samuel: 4 Carries, 53 Yards | 6 Targets, 5 Receptions, 44 Yards
Brandon Aiyuk: 8 Targets, 5 Receptions, 63 Yards
Ross Dwelley: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 38 Yards, 1 TD, 2 Fumble (Recovered)
Ray-Ray McCloud III: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 16 Yards
Jauan Jennings: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 4 Yards
Danny Gray: 2 Targets, 0 Receptions, 0 Yards
Being that the 49ers held on to a decently significant lead throughout the game, there really wasn’t all that much to go around in the passing game. Deebo Samuel continues to show that he is an elite weapon in the NFL, rattling off a big run just before Trey Lance‘s injury. He would finish the game with 4 carries for 53 yards and 5 catches for 44 yards. With Deebo taking on more of a wide back role, Brandon Aiyuk will need to step up for the 49ers in the passing game. He had a fine game today, catching 5 passes for 63 yards. He saw 8 targets, which is something very encouraging to see. He seemed to have a bit of a connection going with Lance before the injury, and hopefully, the switch to Garoppolo won’t hinder things all too much. Ross Dwelley found himself wide open on a 38-yard play for a touchdown in incumbent George Kittle‘s absence.