McCaffrey, 49ers overpower Seahawks on Thanksgiving night
More Teams. More Games.
Christian McCaffrey crosses the goal line for his 11th rushing touchdown of the year, setting the 49ers’ single-season record. (0:29)
SEATTLE — The San Francisco 49ers jumped out to an early lead over the Seattle Seahawks and never looked back Thanksgiving night at Lumen Field. San Francisco handily defeated its NFC West foe 31-13 behind another stellar outing by running back Christian McCaffrey, who had two rushing touchdowns on the night.
Here’s a look at each team’s performance.
As the 49ers embarked on the biggest three-game stretch of their season this week, it would have been easy for them to look ahead to next week’s clash with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Which is why the Niners quickly turned their focus to Thursday night anytime the Eagles were mentioned during the week. After all, the 49ers believe they lost a bit of their one game at a time focus during their three-game losing streak.
That down turn in the season now seems like a distant memory. Behind McCaffrey, a run game that was firing on all cylinders and a dominant defensive performance in which the Niners allowed zero offensive touchdowns, San Francisco pushed its lead in the NFC West division to two full games over Seattle with the tiebreaker in hand.
It all sets up well for next week’s NFC championship game rematch with the Eagles, a game the Niners have been eagerly awaiting since the last one ended. What’s more, San Francisco will have a few extra days to heal up for what should be one of the most anticipated heavyweight fights of the season.
Describe the game in two words: Total dominance. Those words could also be attributed to the Niners’ run through the NFC West, where they’ve now won 10 division games in a row and four straight against the Seahawks. Whatever spell Seattle held over the Niners for much of the past decade-plus seems to be officially broken.
Promising trend: Since Week 7, the 49ers had struggled to finish drives in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on just 42% of their trips inside the opponent’s 20. That ranked 26th in the league during that stretch. Improvement in that regard was a point of emphasis this week as the Niners head into the heart of their schedule. They took a nice step forward against the Seahawks. San Francisco scored touchdowns on each of its first three red zone trips Thursday night and finished 3-of-4 on the way to another convincing victory.
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Eye-popping stat: With his second rushing score of the night, an 8-yard beauty that saw him either break a tackle or make a defender miss six times, McCaffrey set a franchise record for rushing touchdowns in a season. It was his 11th score in as many games this season and vaulted him past six former Niners who were tied at 10. McCaffrey leads the NFL with 16 touchdowns on the season, which is also tied for third most in a season in San Francisco history.
QB breakdown: Brock Purdy got off to a good start, had a rough two-play sequence in the third quarter and rebounded with his best throw of the night to put the Seahawks away. Seattle briefly climbed back into it with 11:23 left in the third quarter as Purdy threw his first career pick-six and his sixth interception of the season. Midway through the fourth quarter, Purdy atoned for that mistake, rolling left and throwing back right to receiver Brandon Aiyuk for a 28-yard touchdown that essentially buried Seattle. It wasn’t Purdy’s greatest statistical performance as he finished 21-of-30 for 209 yards with one touchdown and an interception, but it was more than enough to secure an important division win. — Nick Wagoner
Next game: at Philadelphia Eagles (4:25 p.m. ET, Sunday)
After getting dominated by the 49ers during a three-game sweep last season, the Seahawks retooled their roster in an effort to close the massive gap with their NFC West rivals.
They gave Dre’Mont Jones the biggest free agent contract of the Pete Carroll/John Schneider era, reunited with Jarran Reed and Bobby Wagner and spent the fifth overall pick on Devon Witherspoon before using another first-rounder on Jaxon Smith-Njigba. They continued the overhaul of their front seven by trading second- and fifth-round picks for Leonard Williams in October.
New year. New team. Same result.
In what was supposed to be a measuring stick game, the 49ers took that stick and beat the Thanksgiving stuffing out of the Seahawks, especially during the first half. With quarterback Geno Smith playing through a triceps contusion and Kenneth Walker III inactive because of an oblique strain, Seattle’s offense didn’t score a touchdown. The defense fought back in the second half, getting a pick-six from Jordyn Brooks, but looked as overmatched against all the 49ers’ playmakers as they were last season.
The Seahawks fell to 6-5 with no breaks in their schedule in sight, with games against the Cowboys and Eagles on either end of a rematch with the 49ers.
QB breakdown: In a repeat of last season’s games against the 49ers, Smith-Njigba was ineffective while going 18-of-27 for 180 yards and an interception. He got away with an early throw that was nearly picked and took six sacks, some of which were the result of holding onto the ball far too long. Smith-Njigba was playing four days after injuring his throwing arm, which certainly didn’t help.
Troubling trend: The Seahawks went 3-of-11 on third down. One of their conversions came via a highlight-reel catch by Smith-Njigba on third-and-9. They came into Week 12 ranked second-to-last in the NFL in third-down conversion rate.
Eye-popping stat: The Seahawks had the ball for only 7 minutes and 29 seconds in the first half. According to ESPN Stats & Information, that was the lowest by any team in a first half this season. It was just one measure of how one-sided the game was over the first two quarters. San Francisco had a 225-56 edge in total yards while the Seahawks had only one more first down (three) than turnovers (two). At 21 points, it was the Seahawks’ third-largest halftime deficit at home under Carroll. — Brady Henderson
Next game: at Dallas Cowboys (8:15 p.m. ET, Thursday, Nov. 30)