Seahawks look to snap skid against rival 49ers
San Francisco 49ers (2-3) at Seattle (3-2)
Thursday, 8:15 p.m. EDT, Amazon Prime Video
BetMGM NFL Odds: 49ers by 3 1/2
Against the spread: 49ers 2-3, Seahawks 1-3-1
Series record: Seahawks lead 30-22
Last meeting: 49ers beat Seahawks 28-16 on Dec. 10, 2023.
Last week: 49ers lost to the Cardinals 24-23; Seahawks lost to the Giants 29-20
49ers offense: overall (2), rush (7), pass (4), scoring (10)
49ers defense: overall (10), rush (9), pass (12), scoring (13)
Seahawks offense : overall (7), rush (22), pass (3), scoring (11)
Seahawks defense: overall (11), rush (20), pass (7), scoring (18)
Turnover differential: 49ers: even, Seahawks minus-3
49ers player to watch
WR Brandon Aiyuk. After being held to 13 catches for 167 yards in the first four games, Aiyuk broke through in a big way last week with eight catches for 147 yards. Aiyuk has had fewer than 75 yards receiving in six of his past seven games against the Seahawks.
Seahawks player to watch
QB Geno Smith has been the biggest offensive bright spot for the Seahawks so far this season, with a league-high 1,466 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and an NFL-best 293.2 yards per game through the air.
While he has taken a lot of hits behind his offensive line, with his 18 sacks the second most in the league, Smith has been poised and accurate, tying for third among NFL starters with a 71.9 percent completion rate. Whatever other problems the Seahawks are dealing with on offense or defense, Smith has been as steady as they come.
Key matchup
49ers running game vs. Seahawks run defense. The Seahawks have struggled to stop the run over the past two weeks, while the 49ers run game doesn’t seem to have skipped a beat with All-Pro Christian McCaffrey out, as third-year running back Jordan Mason has taken the starting job and run with it.
Mason is averaging 107 rushing yards per game and has three rushing touchdowns. The 49ers also feature one of the best passing games in the league led by QB Brock Purdy, and coach Kyle Shanahan, so no matter what, Seattle will have its hands full.
If the Seahawks want to keep the 49ers in check, they’ll need to contain Mason at the line of scrimmage, and keep him from breaking off big runs. Mason has 536 rushing yards this season on 105 attempts, for an average of 5.1 yards per carry.
Key injuries
Seattle LB Uchenna Nwosu could be placed on IR, and would miss at least the next four games after sustaining a thigh injury on Sunday. … DT Byron Murphy II (hamstring) has missed the past two games and will be out Thursday. … CB Riq Woolen (ankle) is out against the 49ers. … LB Derick Hall (foot), LB Boye Mafe (knee) and S Julian Love (hamstring) are all questionable. … San Francisco K Jake Moody is sidelined by a high right ankle sprain and will be replaced by newly signed Matthew Wright. … S Talanoa Hufanga (wrist), LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (calf) and DT Jordan Elliott (knee) are also out for the 49ers. … CB Charvarius Ward (knee) and WR Chris Conley (oblique) are questionable.
Series notes
The 49ers have won five consecutive matchups against the Seahawks going back to 2021, the longest 49ers win streak in series history. … Prior to their current skid, Seattle had won four consecutive games over San Francisco. … This will be the 51st regular-season meeting between the two teams, with the first coming in the Seahawks inaugural year on Sept. 26, 1976. The 49ers won that game, 37-21. … The 49ers and Seahawks have played each other twice in the postseason. The first was the NFC championship game on Jan. 19, 2014, when Seattle beat the 49ers 23-17 at home to advance to Super Bowl 48. … The second postseason meeting was a 41-23 49ers victory in the NFC wild-card game on Jan. 14, 2023.
Stats and stuff
The Seahawks are 24-7 in prime-time home games since 2010 … WR DK Metcalf needs 289 receiving yards to pass Steve Largent for the most in a player’s first six seasons in franchise history with 6,042. …. Metcalf also needs three touchdowns to pass Darrell Jackson for fourth place on Seattle’s career receiving touchdowns list with 48. … Smith is ranked fifth in franchise history in completions (934), passing yards (10,107) and passing touchdowns (60). … Smith rushed for a career-high 72 yards on Sunday against the Giants. … WR Tyler Lockett recently became the second player in franchise history behind Steve Largent and 113th player in NFL history with 8,000 receiving yards. … Lockett needs one 100-yard game to tie Jackson for second most in franchise history with 19, and needs four touchdowns to pass Marshawn Lynch for third place on Seattle’s total touchdowns list with 67. … RB Kenneth Walker III has 21 rushing touchdowns. His next will tie Ricky Watters for eighth place in franchise history with 22. … S Rayshawn Jenkins’ 102-yard fumble recovery touchdown last week was the longest by a defensive player in Seahawks history, surpassing LB Bobby Wagner’s 98-yard interception return in 2018. It was also the second-longest touchdown of any kind in team history behind Tyler Lockett’s 105-yard kick return in 2015, and longest play in the NFL this season. … The Seahawks have sold out 175 consecutive games at Lumen Field. … San Francisco went 11-1 against NFC West teams the past two seasons on the way to winning division titles, losing only a Week 18 game last season when several starters rested. The 49ers have lost their first two games in the division this season. … San Francisco blew 10-point leads in the fourth quarter of those losses, giving the Niners an NFL-high 18 blown double-digit leads in the regular season or playoffs since coach Kyle Shanahan was hired in 2017. … Brock Purdy threw his 50th TD pass last week in his 30th game, becoming the fastest 49ers player ever to the mark. Jeff Garcia did it in his first 34 games. … Jordan Mason’s 536 yards rushing are the most ever for a 49ers player in the first five games of a season. … San Francisco scored one TD on six red zone drives last week and rank 29th on the season with TDs on 40.9% of red zone drives, down from an NFL-best 67.2% last season. … The 49ers were held scoreless in the second half last week for the sixth time in eight seasons under Shanahan.
Fantasy tip
Mason has been a more than capable fill-in for McCaffrey, and with Seattle’s run defense allowing an average of 128 rushing yards per game, Mason could be in for yet another big game on the ground.
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