Coming out flat in all phases for a third straight game, the Seattle Seahawks turned the ball over twice and the San Francisco 49ers scored on three of their first four possessions to build a 16-3 halftime advantage on Thursday Night Football at Lumen Field.
Initially, the game started off promising for coach Mike Macdonald’s squad, as a 30-yard completion from Geno Smith to DK Metcalf pushed Seattle deep into San Francisco territory on the opening possession and at least a field goal seemed like a guarantee. But two plays later, the quarterback overthrew Tyler Lockett and the ball landed in the hands of San Francisco safety Malik Mustapha for a back-breaking interception, setting the visitors up for a 13-play, 90-yard drive that ended with a Matthew Wright field goal.
From there, the Seahawks couldn’t muster much on offense with Smith uncharacteristically inaccurate, including misfiring over Jaxon Smith-Njigba on an out route on 3rd and 3 in the second quarter to lead to a Michael Dickson punt. Over their next three possessions, they moved the ball 30 net yards, punting all three times without getting past midfield. They also lost a possession when receiver Laviska Shenault fumbled on a kickoff and the 49ers recovered, turning the turnover into another Wright field goal.
Salvaging an otherwise dreadful half on offense, Smith did engineer a late field goal drive inside two minutes to play, but the Seahawks weren’t able to take advantage of three plays from the 49ers two-yard line, including DK Metcalf being a few inches away from a touchdown on third and goal.
Sandwiched in between those turnovers, Seattle’s defense made plenty of miscues as well, giving up a 37-yard run to Jordan Mason on the first drive to set up by Wright’s opening field goal. Two drives later, safety Julian Love appeared to be fooled by an underthrown pass by Brock Purdy and took a poor angle in coverage on a deep ball to Deebo Samuel, whiffing on the tackle attempt and leading to a 77-yard touchdown pass.
Overall, the 49ers outgained the Seahawks 244 to 133 in the half, doubling them up with both teams converting just three third downs. If there’s a silver lining, most of that extra yardage came on Samuel’s long touchdown and otherwise, the defense has limited the opposition to three field goals and stopped them from reaching the end zone on two red zone trips to keep them within striking distance with two quarters remaining.
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