In what was a nightmarish afternoon on special-teams for San Francisco, Trenton Cannon would need medical assistance after taking a knee to the head and neck area from a teammate while attempting to make a tackle on the opening-kick. Staying overnight at a nearby hospital with what doctors described as a concussion, the 49ers would have to continue without their return man and gunner. And of course, the loss of Cannon would serve as a bad omen that came back to haunt them later in the game. Once play resumed, the 49ers appeared to have Seattle right where they wanted them by forcing a three and out punt, but head coach Pete Carroll had a trick up his sleeve as the Seahawks special-teams dialed up a fake that was executed to perfection. Catching the Niners off-guard, running back Travis Homer took a direct-snap 73-yards to the house for an early touchdown. What ended up being the longest fake-punt rushing touchdown in the last 30 seasons, would be a tough break for the San Francisco defense as they suddenly found themselves trailing 7-0. From then on, you got the feeling that it was going to be one of those games for the visiting 49ers, and boy was it ever.
While the game wasn't anything to write home about for Seattle fans either and proved to be a game that general football fans would prefer to forget, San Francisco's inability to defeat the Seahawks in Seattle over the greater part of the last decade or so again reared its ugly head. Other than the 49ers' victory on the goal-line stand in Seattle during the final game of the 2019 regular season, Sunday's game was more of the same between these two teams in the pacific northwest. But San Francisco would have some fight in them, at least in the first half. After being held to a three and out punt on their first offensive possession, the 49ers would get their first of many gifts in the turnover department when Seattle tight-end Gerald Everett fumbled just two plays into Seattle's next drive. The Niners would turn that mistake into points as quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo found George Kittle in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown on the first next play, tying the game at 7. With another three and out forced by the 49er defense, Garoppolo followed up the good with the ugly as he was intercepted on the very first play of San Francisco's ensuing possession. Luckily, Seattle would be held to a field goal which they would miss.
San Francisco would take their first lead of the ballgame on their next drive as a big play by Kittle helped setup an easy touchdown run in by 49ers rookie running back Elijah Mitchell from 2-yards out. Logging their first quarterback sack of the day on Seattle's ensuing drive, the 49er defense again held the opposition to a three and out punt, this time marching down the field and adding to their lead with a Robbie Gould field goal from 50-yards out. Seattle would bite into that lead with a touchdown-scoring drive during their next possession as future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson trotted into the end zone from a yard out to make it a 17-14 game, and logging his 126th career touchdown, tying him with the great Jim Brown for 10th on the NFL's all-time touchdown list. Other than the touchdown, it would be a quiet day for Peterson who finished the game with only 16 yards on 11 carries while making his Seahawks debut. The 49ers would storm back with a 10-play, touchdown-scoring drive on another big play by George Kittle who this time tip-toed his way near the sidelines for a 48-yard score to again put his team ahead by double-digits. Unfortunately, the San Francisco defense was unable to keep their hand out of the cookie jar as they were penalized on a pair of roughing the passer calls, one of which was ticky-tack on the newest 49er Charles Omenihu, ultimately setting Seattle up inside the 10-yardline. Seahawks QB Russell Wilson would turn that gift into pay dirt one play later with a touchdown just before the half as 8-seconds remained.
With San Francisco clinging onto a 23-21 lead to start the third quarter, things would go from bad to worse as the game would be a tale of two halves. Following up their poor start to the first half on special-teams, the 49ers got off to another rough start when receiving the second half kickoff. Taking the place of the injured Trenton Cannon, San Francisco's Travis Benjamin fumbled the return that appeared to put Seattle within striking distance. But another gaffe by Gerald Everett would bailout the Niners near the goal line. Bobbling what appeared to be an easy touchdown pass from Wilson to his tight-end, Everett kicked the ball up into the air which allowed for an easy interception in the end zone by the 49ers' K'Waun Williams who didn't get far and was brought down at the 3-yardline. Of course, Jimmy Garoppolo and company would fall victim to the worse case scenario when pinned deep near your own end zone as the 49ers QB was brought down for a sack on third and long, resulting in a safety that tied the game at 23-23. Jimmy G's outing would again get worse as he was intercepted for a second time on San Francisco's next drive as a pass intended for Kittle was air-mailed up the middle and picked-off by the Seattle defense.
The Seahawks would use that turnover to take their first lead since the opening drive as Russell Wilson connected in the end zone with Tyler Lockett. From there on, the game would turn into a struggle fest as both teams failed to score and continued the theme of ugly football. After a series of punts, Seattle had a chance to take a two-score advantage, but their 13-play drive that lasted nearly seven minutes, went up in flames when Gerald Everett who had already suffered a game to forget, committed his third turnover of the day when he fumbled near the goal line. Giving San Francisco new life and a chance to tie the game, the Niners would need to travel 98 yards in just over 4-minutes on offense to find the end zone. They would end up traveling a total of 115 yards after a pair of costly penalties, and still failed to reach the end zone. Making it as far as the Seattle 3-yardline, a missed pass interference call in the end zone on an incomplete pass intended for receiver Trent Sherfield on third down, would setup a do or die 4th and goal attempt. Looking Sherfield's way again, Jimmy G cocked back to throw to his man who appeared to have a path to the end zone, but the ball was batted down at the line of scrimmage by Seattle's Carlos Dunlap for the game-saving stop. Falling 30-23, San Francisco dropped to 6-6 on the year and into the 7th and final playoff spot in the NFC Wild Card race, being eclipsed by Washington and landing just a game ahead of Philadelphia.
Other than San Francisco's George Kittle who had himself a monster day on Sunday, hauling in 9 receptions for 181 yards and a pair of touchdowns, nobody on either team really had a noteworthy day on offense. Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 299 yards and two scores on 20 of 30 passes, but also threw for two interceptions. Meanwhile, Russell Wilson threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns, but was also intercepted and sacked four times by the 49er defense. One player who was deeply missed on offense was San Francisco's Deebo Samuel (groin), as no 49ers receiver even came close to touching Kittle in either the receptions or receiving yards categories. As for absences on the defense, 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner was forced to miss the first game of his career with a hamstring injury after starting in each of his first 59 career games.
Week 14 Preview: Sunday's loss would spell more doom on the injury front for the 49ers (6-6), with this week's victim being cornerback Emmanuel Moseley who suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first quarter and is expected to miss the next few weeks according to head coach Kyle Shanahan. Unfortunate news considering the many weapons that the Niners will be up against in their next match-up. Continuing their road trip, the 49ers will make a trip to Ohio to face Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals (7-5). After back to back double-digit wins against the Raiders and Steelers, the Bengals were nearly doubled up at home against the visiting Los Angeles Chargers. If the 49ers register another lackluster game on special-teams and commit the same number of turnovers against Cincinnati that they did against Seattle, a team that has been putrid on offense prior to Week 13, the Niners could be in for a long day against a high-powered offense like that of the Bengals. If the lethal receiving corps of Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and rookie sensation Ja'Marr Chase isn't enough to worry about on defense for the 49ers, running back Joe Mixon who is having a career year for the Bengals offense, will also need to be accounted for.
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