It might have been the highest-scoring defensive struggle in football history, but the San Francisco 49ers came out of Seattle with a 5-0 record.
The 49ers outlasted the Seattle Seahawks to win 32-29. It was a true battle of field position, with 31 of the combined 61 points coming off turnovers, and the two teams combined for a season-high seven turnovers.
But as they did last week against Denver, San Francisco survived to stay undefeated and, most importantly, finished the first leg of their NFC West
schedule 3-0.
With plenty of players to choose from, these are the three stars from the win on Sunday:
3rd star: CB Renardo Green
Entering Week 5, Green was the only 49ers player to have an interception. After Sunday, he’s still the only 49er with an interception, but now with three interceptions on the season.
Not even a third into the season, and Green has set a new career-high in interceptions. He actually set it with his first pick of Sam Darnold on Sunday.
After the 49ers offense opened the game with a three-and-out, Seattle was faced with the same fate on its opening drive. Facing a third-and-10, Darnold looked to get Jaxon Smith-Njigba going early while converting the third down. Green, however, read it the whole way, and the corner jumped the route, making the interception and abruptly ending the Seattle drive.
Four plays later, the 49ers offense opened the scoring, jumping out to a 7-0 lead.
With the 49ers scoring right before the half (more on that in a second), Seattle looked to close the eight-point gap to open the second half. This time, it took Green only two plays to strike. Trying to push the ball downfield, Darnold forced a pass to Elijah Arroyo on a route that Green practically ran with him. Green snagged the pass and was given an extra 15 yards after an Arroyo stray peanut-punch attempt caught Green.
San Francisco couldn’t capitalize on the second pick, as Eddy Pineiro missed a field goal attempt to push the lead to 11.
And to add to his game, when matched up against Smith-Njigba, Green was targeted three times, allowing one catch for four yards, plus an interception and a pass breakup—just a quality game from the third-year corner.
2nd star: WR Mike Evans
Just a reminder: Evans is doing all of this despite fracturing his ribs a couple of weeks ago. And despite it, he continues to go up and make some of the most physical catches you have ever seen.
All it took was one drive for Evans to make his presence felt on Sunday. Entering the 3:02 mark in the third quarter, when the 49ers took the ball following a field goal to give Seattle a five-point lead, Evans had three receptions for 38 yards with a touchdown.
An opening-play offensive pass interference hindered the drive, but Evans wiped it out with a 15-yard reception on the first-and-20. The 49ers would get a new set of downs a few plays later before going back to Evans for a gain of nine.
And that’s where Evans turned it on.
Facing a third-and-10, Purdy fired a laser over the middle to Evans. Evans got Josh Jobe to lose his balance, then went up to catch the ball in front of Julian Love for a 23-yard gain. The 49ers would lose the following first down on a bogus intentional grounding call, setting up a second-and-21. Again, Evans pressed the button.
Purdy gave Evans the perfect back-shoulder throw with Jobe in one-on-one coverage, and Evans went up and got it, with Jobe standing no chance, for a 28-yard gain that put the ball inside the Seattle 10-yard line.
The 49ers would score two plays later to go up one and opted to go for two to extend the lead to three. Purdy would roll to his left and find nothing before cutting back to his right. The pressure finally closed in and forced a tight-window pass to Evans, and the receiver caught it to give the 49ers a three-point lead.
Evans finished the 74-yard drive with 75 receiving yards (not a typo) to close his day out with seven receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown.
1st star: DT Gracen Halton
It felt like the rookie defensive tackle was nearing a breakout game in recent weeks and that breakout came on Sunday.
Halton started his day innocently enough, stopping Emanuel Wilson for a run for no gain. He followed with his first-career sack, getting to Darnold late in the second quarter for a loss of eight yards. But it was Halton’s play at the end of the second quarter that earned him Sunday’s No. 1 star.
With a Corliss Waitman punt nailing Seattle inside its own 5-yard line with 18 seconds left, Mike MacDonald faced a predicament. San Francisco had all three of its timeouts, so three kneels might not have been enough to get to halftime without having to kick the ball back to the 49ers.
Instead of taking the risk of a punt to expire the first half, Macdonald opted to play with some aggression, running the ball out of Seattle’s own endzone. George Holani took the carry, and Halton was instantly there, knocking the ball free. Halton had the wherewithal to stay with the play, jumping on the ball in the end zone for the touchdown.
Instead of taking things into the half down one, Macdonald’s play-calling blunder led to Halton’s score, giving the 49ers an eight-point lead. And while Seattle was able to wipe that lead by the end of the third quarter, you’d have to wonder how different the outcome would have been without Halton’s play to close the first half.
Throughout the season, we will track the three stars of the season by tallying points for each star award using a complex scoring system: three points for being the first star, two for the second, and one for the third. Through Week 5, the standings are:
- QB Brock Purdy – 7 points
- WR Mike Evans – 5 points
- LB Fred Warner – 3 points
