Thursday Night Football: Winners and Losers for 49ers 36, Seahawks 24

Did you expect something different?

I'll praise the Seattle Seahawks for their 23-3 defeat of the San Francisco 49ers, but there's not much else to praise. If the 49ers were a serious team in the red zone, as usual, this would be over by halftime. Six straight losses to their biggest division rivals, and they weren't close. Your guess is as good as mine as to when they'll ever be around.

Winner and loser time after a 36-24 loss to bring Seattle to 3-3. Once again, light on the winners.

winner

Laviska Shenault Jr

Statistically, Shenault Jr. was a +4 tonight as he lost a fumble on a kick return but recovered a fumble for a 97-yard touchdown. He started the comeback attempt and is clearly the best returner on the team. That dynamic kickoff only produced two total touchdowns and he got one of them, so congratulations to him and I hope his illness is gone.

Stone Forsythe

Nick Bosa had a lot of pressure and no sacks. Forsythe probably did a better job of not allowing himself to be overwhelmed than Charles Cross. As far as we know, Forsythe will be back on the bench when George Fant returns next week, but I think he did as well at right tackle as he could have as a third option. No, that doesn't mean I think he performed well, but he wasn't a game-damaging liability.

Leonard Williams

“Big Cat” had two of the four QB hits and was one of the few to pressure Brock Purdy with a half hit. He also had a tackle for loss against the run. One of the few defensive players who had a notable performance tonight.

Tyler Lockett

We got to see Lockett on the go ball again and he caught his first touchdown of the season. Enjoy these moments as this could be Tyler's last year on the team, if not in the league. Lockett finished the game with four catches for 65 yards.

loser

Geno Smith

It was an unfortunate birthday for Geno. His performance will no doubt ensure the “Start Sam Howell” cries get louder, even if this was his first clearly bad game of the season. It won't happen unless he's injured or has a few more games like that in quick succession. At the very least, it would certainly end any debate about contract extensions. He was strangely vague, panicked and out of it most of the night. It seems no coincidence that this passing game struggled to hold up against defenses that were far more content to rush the four and not blitz, as Geno was one of the most blitzed QBs in the NFL.

Ultimately, Smith played a somewhat decent game against the 49ers, finishing 41-23 in the playoffs, and even that ended after the third quarter. I hate to make the Russell Wilson comparison because there were also some years where Wilson beat some terrible 49ers teams, but Wilson at his best also went up against some elite 49ers defenses. Wilson also had elite defense during the LOB years, so he could catch a break and the defense could still stop the 49ers' offense. The Seahawks don’t have that luxury.

What separates Smith from the NFL's elite quarterbacks is the fact that when he's off-kilter and a little unsettled, he can't consistently get out of bad situations like the best in the business. We've seen this story too many times specifically against the 49ers, and this time the OL did better than expected in Pass Pro. Geno couldn't be a scorer for the Seahawks to have a chance, and he couldn't.

The good news is that #DomeGeno is back next week. At this point, he's better on the road than he is at home.

Offensive line (run blocking)

That was dark. The 49ers haven't been a strong run defense this year, and even with the loss of Jordan Elliott and Javon Hargrave, there were few holes for Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet, who combined for 19 carries for 52 yards and a touchdown by mWalker. The interior of this OL can't block and the additional blocking from the tight ends and receivers isn't good enough.

There is no improvement here either. Trade? Above-average OLs are not distributed regularly in the off-season. This Seahawks OL was fully healthy outside of right tackle, which is what makes this performance so shocking.

Ryan Grubb

Well, he ran the ball. He did it the one way I didn't want, which was the 2018 Brian Schottenheimer approach of putting a square peg in a round hole. It's clear why they refuse to run the ball (they suck at it), but playing third for any length of time won't get you anywhere.

The only thing I would praise Grubb for is that the middle screen works and the Seahawks have a screen game that works.

Run defense

Presented without additional comment.

Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker

Dodson is a good blitzer and can be a valuable player in the short-range area. Baker is fine in one-on-one pass coverage against running backs.

These two were most to blame for poor running passing and atrocious play-action defense. When Mike Macdonald talks about the “second level” and the need to better defend the run, he’s not talking about Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed.

Mike Macdonald's start as defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens was rocky, then Roquan Smith was taken over. He's not a linebacker whisperer; He just got an All-Pro that changed his defense.

The linebackers' play was subpar during this losing streak. Tyrice Knight gets a reprieve as a rookie, but Dodson and Baker's PFF grades better not shine on Friday.

Rayshawn Jenkins

Julian Love had a big, big mistake that led to a touchdown, but he also had a few pass breakups and I can't really blame him for the George Kittle touchdown – good coverage, better throwing, etc. Jenkins misses tackles, he takes terrible ones Pursuit angle and the 49ers attacked him in coverage.

Dee Williams

I've seen enough. He should have had another botched punt and was lucky the officials didn't have access to the Prime Video recording that showed him touching the ball in the collision with Chris Conley (who was pushed into Williams by Devon Witherspoon). It should have been another turnover for Williams, who lost a fumble in his debut and almost fumbled again last week, as well as ridiculously taking a kickoff out of the end zone when a kneedown is a touchback at the 20. Seattle finally started on its 10th.

The only reason the Seahawks had as many kick returns as they did is because Matthew Wright obviously doesn't have a very strong leg. These dynamic kickoffs no longer produce enough returns to justify Williams' roster spot.

Mike MacDonald

It didn't seem like a well-coached team out there, so even new head coaches have to take criticism. I'm much more annoyed about the end of the first half and how they took their time and practically limited themselves to passes at the goal line without even calling a timeout. How does this happen? It took the Seahawks about 40 seconds to gain a yard on a Kenneth Walker checkdown during the two-minute drill. This was presumably done to prevent the 49ers from getting the ball back in time to do anything, but you have to worry about scoring first. Last week he had to sit out his timeouts on defense and as a result the Seahawks had virtually no chance of a touchdown and ultimately settled for a field goal.

As for his decision between a field goal and a touchdown, statistically it was better to go with the TD, but I was okay with the decision. It would have been terrible to not convert and come away powerless in the first half, and there was no benefit to supporting the 49ers if they didn't get a touchdown. The chance of scoring a field goal was high and at least it would bring points. Either way it would have been understandable. Players simply have to execute and Grubb has to determine plays where a low throw in the end zone is better than throwing it into the back of the end zone over and over again.

Final remarks

• In my opinion, the cornerbacks held up reasonably well and the explosive plays were either big schemers or aimed at the safeties and linebackers. I'm not sure if Devon Witherspoon was targeted and Artie Burns had some good performances before leaving with an injury. Tre Brown unfortunately left with an injury of his own, so the corner situation in Seattle is extremely dire.
• DK Metcalf had a completely inefficient 3 catches on 11 targets, albeit with a great 52-yard TD that was taken away due to Kenneth Walker's ridiculous illegal shift penalty. Some of those Metcalf targets were uncatchable, one target was a straight drop and another he couldn't reach with his second foot in the back of the end zone. At least he didn't fumble or commit a penalty for the first time this season.
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba was targeted further down the field but joined the fumble brigade after Fred Warner knocked the ball out. At least Anthony Bradford was there for the recovery. He finished the game with 5 catches for 53 yards.
• It didn't matter, but Noah Fant walking back on the field with no timeouts left was just a terrible decision. The situational football was so terrible in this game.
• Boye Mafe did everything he could to catch Deebo Samueland it was one of the best fast plays of the season.
• The only reason the Seahawks aren't the worst team in the NFC West is because the Los Angeles Rams quickly ran out of players otherwise they would be the better team. I'm not sure when the next win will come based on the look of this team. Hopefully the mini-bye is a much-needed fresh start to figure something out.
• Ultimately, I just think the Seahawks aren't as talented as we'd like them to be, which means John Schneider is in the spotlight. Unless you seriously believe that Pete Carroll just rejected all of those brilliant Schneider ideas, it was a partnership and now it's Schneider's show. This is the roster he created with Pete and then added to himself. Dodson and Baker are John signings. This also applies to Jenkins. They were three of the worst players on the field. The rest of the season, as I said in September, is more of a referendum on Schneider than Macdonald. If this season goes really badly and doesn't even come close to keeping up with 9-8 (which seems very likely given the remaining schedule), then things are going to heat up in 2025 and you'll almost certainly see a real, complete rebuild on the horizon .