Purdy, Niners Survive Seven-Turnover Slugfest in Seattle, 32-29
SEATTLE - It came down to a ball carrier's outstretched arm and maybe a single yard of turf.
Cooper Kupp dove toward the line to gain on fourth down in the closing minutes Sunday, trying to keep Seattle's last drive alive. Safety Malik Mustapha met him about a yard short. That turnover on downs let San Francisco run out the clock on a 32-29 win at Lumen Field. The 49ers are 5-0, and they finally got a bit of revenge for last season.
The 49ers lost both late-season games to Seattle last year, including a 41-6 rout in the divisional round on the Seahawks' way to a Super Bowl LX title. This game was nothing like those. The two teams combined for seven turnovers, the most in any NFL game this season, according to the Associated Press. There was an ejection, a 2-point conversion and a fourth quarter where the lead changed hands three times.
Purdy delivers when it counts
San Francisco got the ball late in the third quarter trailing 26-21, and to that point neither team had put together a touchdown drive longer than 25 yards. Brock Purdy changed that. An intentional grounding penalty left the Niners facing second-and-21, but Purdy hit Mike Evans for 28 yards to keep the drive going. He finished it with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks, then found Evans on the 2-point try for a 29-26 lead.
Sam Darnold answered with a drive that ended in a game-tying field goal. Purdy then moved the 49ers 43 yards, and Eddy Pineiro made a 43-yard field goal with 1:56 left for the final margin.
Seattle had one more chance. On third down from midfield, Jaxon Smith-Njigba dropped a pass at the San Francisco 25. Then came Kupp's fourth-down dive, and Mustapha's stop ended it.
Purdy finished 19 of 29 for 189 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Evans was the best player on the field for the 49ers, with seven catches for a game-high 113 yards and a touchdown, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.
A first half full of giveaways
The early scoring mostly came off Seattle mistakes. Darnold was intercepted on the Seahawks' first possession for the second straight week, this time by Renardo Green, and Purdy hit Evans for a 2-yard touchdown. Later, Mustapha recovered an Emanuel Wilson fumble at the Seattle 11, and Christian McCaffrey ran it in from there on the very next play.
The worst one came just before halftime. Seattle chose to run from its own 4-yard line with 18 seconds left, and Gracen Halton stripped George Holani and fell on the ball in the end zone. That touchdown made it 21-13 at the break. Seahawks.com counted 21 San Francisco points off Seattle turnovers, all of them in the first half.
Seattle's special teams kept the Seahawks close. Nehemiah Pritchett's well-timed hit on an early punt helped jar the ball loose from returner Jacob Cowing. Eric Saubert recovered, and Wilson scored a short touchdown run a few plays later.
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Seattle rallies, then comes up short
Darnold threw his second interception two plays into the third quarter, but Pineiro missed the field goal that followed. After that, San Francisco started giving the ball away too. Jason Myers hit a 43-yarder to make it 21-16. Pritchett intercepted Purdy, only the second pick Purdy had thrown all season, and that set up Darnold's 16-yard touchdown pass to Smith-Njigba for a 23-21 lead. Deebo Samuel then lost a fumble on the play where he hurt his hamstring, and Myers kicked another field goal to make it 26-21.
Myers went 5 for 5 on field goals, and every one was from 40 yards or longer. Seattle just couldn't get close enough for him to try a sixth.
Seattle's defense deserved better than the final score. The 49ers had only 269 total yards, 14 first downs and went 4 of 12 on third down, according to Seahawks.com. Defensive tackle Byron Murphy II sacked Purdy twice and had three tackles for loss. Ernest Jones IV added a third sack. Before Sunday, Purdy hadn't been sacked at all this season.
Greenlaw ejected
The ugliest moment came in the second quarter. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw hit Darnold late after he scrambled out of bounds on the Seattle sideline, and when Seahawks players confronted him, Greenlaw head-butted Jones, who wasn't wearing a helmet. Jones was left bleeding and Greenlaw was ejected. The AP noted it's at least the third ejection of his career.
What's next
San Francisco hosts Washington on Monday, Oct. 19. Seattle (3-2) has a short week before playing at Denver on Thursday night. The Seahawks have now given up 45 points off turnovers over their last three games, and they'll need to fix that quickly.
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Photo: Philip Robertson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (49ers at Seahawks, 2013)
Sources: Associated Press (via FOX Sports), Seahawks.com, NBC Sports Bay Area, Pro-Football-Reference.
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