Almost everything went the 49ers way on Thanksgiving when they visited the Seahawks in Seattle.
San Francisco jumped out to a 7-0 lead on its first drive and never looked back en route to a 31-13 win and their second-largest margin of victory ever in the Pacific Northwest.
We went back through Thursday night’s game to find the good and bad from a terrific 49ers performance.
Good: CB Ambry Thomas
Thomas has been really good since rejoining the 49ers starting lineup, but Thursday might’ve been his best performance. He held Seattle’s receivers to two catches and 16 yards on four targets. He also snagged his first interception of the year in the second quarter when he jumped an out route to WR Tyler Lockett.
Good: Pass rush
Whether Thomas’ play has sparked he pass rush or vice versa can be debated, but the 49ers pass rush was stellar Thursday. They racked up six sacks, 12 QB hits and 25 pressures. Perhaps more impressively is how well-distributed the stats were. Five different players tallied at least 0.5 sacks, 10 players had at least one pressure per Pro Football Focus, and six players had at least one QB hit.
Bad: 2 Brock Purdy plays
49ers QB Brock Purdy was mostly good Thursday night, save for two plays in the third quarter. On a first-and-10 from the 49ers 4 in the third quarter, Purdy dropped to throw and badly missed WR Deebo Samuel on a toss that might’ve been intercepted had Samuel not gotten a hand on the throw. He followed that up with another throw that might’ve gotten tipped at the line. It sailed behind RB Christian McCaffrey, off his hand and into the arms of Seahawks LB Jordyn Brooks who returned it for the home team’s only touchdown of the night. In a game without many bad things for San Francisco, these two poor throws stick out more than they usually might.
Good: RB Christian McCaffrey
McCaffrey rushed for 114 yards to notch his second 100-yard rushing game in Seattle with the 49ers. Most impressive about those 114 yards though is how many he generated for himself. On the 49ers first drive he found a small crease to wriggle through on a cutback for 27 yards. In the second quarter he grabbed his second TD when he ran into a wall of bodies to the left, then cut it back right before plowing through two defenders on his way to the end zone. McCaffrey also caught five of his six targets for 25 yards to give him 139 scrimmage yards for the game and an NFL best 1,328 for the season.
Bad: Special teams
The 49ers had a couple of special teams mishaps. The first was on San Francisco’s first kickoff when Seattle returner Dee Eskridge took the kick back 66 to the 49ers 33. Then late in the game they allowed a 30-yard return that set Seattle up with good field position at their own 37. The last one wasn’t a huge deal with the game in hand, but poor special teams coverage could be the difference in winning and losing a playoff game.
Good: CB Charvarius Ward
Ward was assigned Seahawks WR DK Metcalf for the second consecutive year and once again turned in a tremendous outing. He allowed one catch for 14 yards on six targets and tallied a pair of pass breakups when guarding Metcalf. He nearly had an interception early in the game that might have gone for a touchdown. The 49ers are at their best when Ward is playing well and he’s dialed up a couple of excellent showings in Seattle the last couple seasons.
