Drew Lock 2 TDs, 2 INTs, DK Metcalf ejected, Seahawks smacked by 49ers yet again 28-16
The Seahawks lost Geno Smith, the leader of their offense.
Then they lost Devon Witherspoon, their best rookie and best defensive player, also to injury.
They lost their nerve to go seize this most unlikely win at first-place San Francisco.
They — specifically DK Metcalf — lost their cool at the end.
And ultimately, with Drew Lock making his first Seattle start, the Seahawks lost again. For the fourth consecutive time. It’s five in a row they’ve dropped to the 49ers.
And they’ve lost the NFC West for this season.
A key decision on fourth down by coach Pete Carroll while Seattle had the ball on San Francisco’s side of the field was the Seahawks’ last, best chance to pull off a massive upset. Brock Purdy and the 49ers did the seemingly inevitable from there, rolling past the Seahawks 28-16 at Levi’s Stadium Sunday for their fifth consecutive win in the series.
After it, Tyler Lockett stood up in front of the entire team in the visiting locker room here. The veteran wide receiver’s message: Don’t quit.
“I’ve been here long enough that miracles can happen,” Lockett said.
It may take one for Seattle (6-7) to make the playoffs now.
“Everybody’s frustrated,” captain Bobby Wagner said in yet another quiet Seahawks locker room.
Metcalf got ejected along with 49ers defensive back Deommodore Lenior following Lock’s fourth-down interception by Fred Warner with just over 2 minutes left. The Seahawks’ wide receiver rodeo-slammed Warner to the ground, after Warner lateraled the ball following the interception. They woofed. Metcalf grabbed Warner’s face mask. Both benches emptied.
Carroll talked with Metcalf on the sideline before he jogged to the Seahawks locker room, with boos raining onto him from 49ers fans.
It was Metcalf’s second ejection from a game in three seasons.
“If you want to call it frustration, yeah, it was frustration,” Metcalf said. “From my side, he hit me in the back of the head. I just retaliated.”
This is the first four-game losing streak of Carroll’s coaching tenure in Seattle. That began in 2010.
Reminded this is unchartered territory for him with the Seahawks, Carroll said: “You’ve got that right.”
In his first NFL start since 2021 with Denver because of Geno Smith’s groin injury from practice Thursday, Lock completed 22 of 31 passes for 269 yards. He had touchdowns to Metcalf and Colby Parkinson, and two interceptions in the fourth quarter.
He had a bad interception well underthrown to Metcalf and couldn’t sustain drives in the portions of the game Seattle’s defense was keeping the Seahawks in it.
The defense got repeated stops of Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense to keep Seattle in the game down only 14-10. But Lock and the Seahawks offense kept getting in third and longs, and converted only two of their first eight third downs.
Then Seattle’s defense broke, especially at safety, and San Francisco (10-3) sent the Seahawks to the brink of playoff elimination in the NFC with four games remaining.
Next: The Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) come to Lumen Field.
“We have to win,” defensive tackle Jarran Reed said. “We HAVE to.
“We put ourselves in this situation. We’ve got to dig ourselves out of it.”
The 49ers repeatedly attacked and scored on Seattle’s safeties, the team’s most expensive position group with Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs and Julian Love.
Christian McCaffrey ran 72 yards past Adams on the game’s first play. Brock Purdy threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel easily past Adams. Purdy completed a 13-yard pass to Samuel past off-balance Diggs on a third and 6 at the Seattle 14, when holding San Francisco to a field goal would have kept Seattle within one score at 17-10. On the next play, the 49ers scored a touchdown to make it 21-10 instead.
And tight end George Kittle bulled through a holding penalty on Love for a catch and 38-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
That made it 28-16.
At kickoff, after the team announced Smith wouldn’t play, Las Vegas oddsmakers pegged Seattle as a 15-point underdog. That was the largest underdog spread for the Seahawks since at least 1992.
Geno Smith had been questionable to play because of the groin injury he got “stumbling” over a teammate in practice Thursday, Carroll said. The coach said Smith tested the leg in pregame drills Sunday morning and couldn’t move in one direction.
The decision was to hold Smith out in hopes he can play next week against Philadelphia.
What was the effect of losing Smith so late in the preparation for San Francisco?
“It was like a jolt,” Carroll said. “We got jolted by that.”
The coach said it’s unknown if Smith will be able to play against the Eagles Dec. 18. He has an extra day with a Monday night game to heal.
Jamal Adams’ day
With Seattle surprisingly leading 10-7 in the second quarter, Adams did a double-biceps flex after he combined with Bobby Wagner for a stop of Samuel, following a 7-yard gain on a second and 18.
On the next play, the Seahawks blitzed inside linebackers Wagner and Jordyn Brooks and dropped edge rushers Boye Mafe and Darrell Taylor into coverage. The 49ers picked up the blitzes. Then wide receiver Samuel easily got well behind Adams, who was flat-footed as Samuel ran past him. Purdy’s pass to Samuel became an easy 54-yard touchdown.
Once again, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan out-schemed the Seahawks to get a mismatch. San Francisco led 14-10.
“I was sitting. I was waiting on the dig (route, a stop-and-comeback pattern), because I kept seeing the dig behind me,” Adams said. “And they went...Deebo over the top.
“I was too short. I was sitting flat-footed. And, you know, you kind of expect the ball to come out a little quicker. Obviously, it didn’t happen.
“Obviously, I take that heat. For sure.”
Yet the Seahawks trailed only 21-16 entering the fourth quarter, despite being out-gained by San Francisco 245 yards to 62 in quarters two and three.
Kenneth Walker, playing for the first time in three games following an oblique injury, took a screen pass from Lock, made two 49ers miss him, then ran to the other side of the field for a 27-yard gain.
“He had some fantastic plays,” Carroll said of Walker, pleased by his lead back’s return.
That set up a pretty play design by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, maligned often by Seahawks fans.
Lock faked a screen pass left and a screen right. Then he dumped a short pass to tight end Parkinson, who was wide open over the middle. Parkinson jogged free into the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown.
Lock got sacked on the ensuing two-point conversion try. Seattle trailed 21-16.
Not going for the lead
Down 14-10 with 5 minutes left in the first half, Carroll decided not to go for it on fourth and 2 at the San Francisco 48.
Lock lined up under center Evan Brown and tried to draw the 49ers offside. When that failed, Seattle took a delay-of-game penalty then punted.
The Seahawks didn’t get across midfield again until late in the third quarter.
San Francisco got to midfield on the ensuing possession before Purdy threw wide of Samuel in front of safety Julian Love on third down. The 49ers punted, then elected not to use any of their three times out on defense with Seattle possessing the ball against their own goal line.
So the half ended somewhat curiously, with Seattle still trailing only 14-10.
Carroll said he didn’t want the game decided right there in the second quarter. Had the Seahawks gone for it and not gotten the first down, the 49ers’ offense would have had a short field to turn it into a two-score game.
Big plays (again) hurt Seahawks
Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt said limiting “explosive” plays, big gains of more than 15 yards, is a key tenet of their system.
This season, that tenet has been a problem.
The Seahawks allowed six plays of 20 yards or more in the first 2 1/2 quarters Sunday.
The first play of the game, Christian McCaffrey ran untouched 72 yards inside over-pursuing Adams, to the Seattle 3-yard line. Adams’ route outside allowed McCaffrey a cut-back lane the size of the 101 freeway that neighbors Levi’s Stadium here.
McCaffrey had his latest big game against Seattle: 145 yards on 16 carries, more than 9 yards per rush.
“We have to close those gaps,” Adams said, “because one bad mistake can lead to several.”
The 49ers scored on the next play, the game’s second snap.
San Francisco had multiple three-and-out drives yet still rolled up 527 yards against Seattle’s defense. It’s the second time in 16 days the 49ers gained more than 500 yards on the Seahawks.
That’s how wide the gap between the Niners and Seahawks remains in the NFC West.
Devon Witherspoon injured
Devon Witherspoon had his 16th pass breakup of the season, second-most in the league. The NFL defensive rookie of the month in October dived in front of George Kittle to break up a pass from Brock Purdy in the first quarter.
Adams hit the 49ers tight end from behind as Witherspoon was breaking up the pass. Adams hit Kittle into the side of Witherspoon’s head and neck.
Before the next play, the NFL’s concussion-advisor spotter in the press box alerted referee Brad Rogers to remove Witherspoon from the game to get checked for a possible head injury. Witherspoon went into the blue medical tent. He spent several minutes in there, then came out and got a wrap put around his lower back and torso.
The Seahawks announced he was questionable to return with a lower back injury.
Carroll said Witherspoon has injured ribs. Those tend to take a while to heal.
With cornerback Tre Brown already out injured for the game beauase of a heel injury from this past week, Michael Jackson became the left cornerback for Witherspoon. And the Seahawks defense went far less nickel than normal.
With Witherspoon out, Seattle defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt used Adams nearer the line of scrimmage like an outsider linebacker with Love back at deep safety with Diggs.
Love intercepted a tipped pass in the second quarter.
Lock and the Seahawks got one first down on the ensuing possession, on an illegal-contact penalty against San Francisco when Lock overthrew Metcalf on third down. But Seattle then punted.
This story was originally published December 10, 2023 at 4:14 PM.
