SEATTLE (AP) — Brock Purdy engineered two scoring drives in the fourth quarter and the San Francisco 49ers rallied to beat the Seattle Seahawks 32-29 Sunday on a 43-yard field goal by Eddy Pineiro with 1:56 to play.
The win for 49ers (5-0) offered a small bit of payback for their two late-season losses to Seattle (3-2) last season, including a 41-6 defeat in the divisional round of the playoffs with a short-handed roster.
San Francisco was a bit healthier
for the first meeting this season and Purdy was able to deliver late as the Niners opened the season with five straight wins for the third time in the last eight seasons.
The game featured an NFL season-high seven combined turnovers, an ejection of 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw and no touchdown drives of more than 25 yards before San Francisco took over trailing 26-21 late in the third quarter.
Purdy responded with an impressive drive against the vaunted Seahawks' defense, including a 28-yard pass to Mike Evans after an intentional grounding penalty left the Niners in a precarious second-and-21 situation.
That helped set up Purdy's 7-yard touchdown pass to newcomer Brandin Cooks as San Francisco took a 29-26 lead following a 2-point conversion to Evans.
Sam Darnold responded by leading Seattle on a game-tying field goal drive before Purdy and the 49ers moved the ball 43 yards for Pineiro's go-ahead kick.
The Seahawks had one last chance, but Jaxon Smith-Njigba dropped a third-down pass from the 50 at the San Francisco 25, and Cooper Kupp was stopped 1 yard short of the first down by Malik Mustapaha on fourth down.
Purdy finished 19 of 29 for 189 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
The 49ers failed to score a touchdown in their final two games against Seattle's formidable defense last season. They got into the end zone three times in the first half to take a 21-13 lead but it was the defense that did much of the work.
Renardo Green's first of two interceptions set up an 18-yard drive capped by Purdy's 2-yard pass to Evans, and a fumble recovery by Malik Mustapha at the Seattle 11 led to a touchdown run by Christian McCaffrey on the next play.
San Francisco extended the lead to 21-13 when the Seahawks' decision to run from their own 4 with 18 seconds left in the half backfired. Gracen Halton stripped George Halani and recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.
Darnold then threw an interception on the opening drive of the second half for Seattle that led to a missed field goal by Pineiro before the turnover bug bit the Niners.
Jason Myers kicked a 43-yard field goal after Pineiro's miss to cut it to 21-16 before Purdy was intercepted by Nehemiah Pritchett on the next drive to set up a 23-yard drive capped by Darnold's 16-yard pass to Smith-Njigba that gave Seattle a 23-21 lead.
Deebo Samuel then lost a fumble on the next possession to set up another field goal for Myers to put Seattle up 26-21.
Greenlaw was ejected after head-butting Seattle’s Ernest Jones IV after he delivered a late hit on the Seahawks sideline. The infraction came in the second quarter when Darnold scrambled and was hit late by Greenlaw after going out of bounds. Greenlaw was flagged for a personal foul.
Several Seahawks defenders immediately confronted Greenlaw after the hit and Greenlaw responded by head-butting Jones, who wasn’t wearing a helmet. Jones was bleeding after the hit and Greenlaw was ejected. Greenlaw has been ejected at least two other times in his career.
49ers: Samuel injured his hamstring on the play where he fumbled and didn't return.
49ers: Host Washington on Monday, Oct. 19.
Seahawks: Visit Denver on Thursday night.
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