Five 49ers to watch in huge Thursday night game vs. Seahawks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The season is young, but this is getting old for the 49ers.
The 49ers blew double-digit second-half leads against two NFC West opponents. And, now, they face the division-leading Seattle Seahawks in a game that could prove pivotal.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa said. “It’s not a must-win because technically your season’s over if it’s a must-win, but it definitely feels like it. We’re treating it that way.”
The 49ers are 2-3 on the season, including 0-3 in the NFC. They are not setting themselves up well for any tie-breakers.
But, first things first, they just have to win games.
Here are five 49ers to watch in their key NFC West matchup at Lumen Field in Seattle:
Safety Malik Mustapha
The 49ers turn to rookie Malik Mustapha, a fourth-round draft pick from Wake Forest, with Talanoa Hufanga out of action for at least four weeks due to torn ligaments in his right wrist. San Francisco placed Hufanga on injured reserve on Wednesday.
Mustapha has risen above veteran George Odum on the depth chart after Odum started the first two games of the season when Hufanga was still recovering from the ACL injury that ended his season last November.
“I think his strides have come just because he has played a lot,” 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said. “We’ve had a lot of guys play and I think it’s good that guys gain knowledge through getting their snaps.”
Kicker Matthew Wright
The 49ers are not running away and winning games handily, so every point counts. And that figures to be the case on Thursday against the Seahawks.
Kicker Jake Moody is expected to miss approximately a month of action due to a high right ankle sprain. He was injured while trying to make a tackle in the 49ers’ Week 5 game against the Cardinals.
The 49ers need a fill-in, and Matthew Wright gets the call after winning a tryout inside Levi’s Stadium.
Wright, who will wear No. 35, has made 40 of his 47 NFL field-goal attempts. The 49ers are counting on him to keep things afloat until Moody is able to return to action.
Defensive end Leonard Floyd
Defensive end Leonard Floyd broke a bit of an early season slump last week with three pressures and a sack against the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray.
He will continue to get opportunities to beat one-on-one blocking with Bosa attracting a lot of attention on the other side.
Floyd must build on his game last week, and it should be a little easier to get to the quarterback this week, as Geno Smith is not as elusive in and out of the pocket as Murray.
The 49ers are counting on Floyd to raise his game to the level of double-digit sacks for the season.
Quarterback Brock Purdy
The roughest game of Brock Purdy’s career came on Christmas night last year when he threw four interceptions against the Baltimore Ravens.
The architect of that defense, Mike Macdonald, now is in charge of calling the shots for Seattle. Macdonald replaced Pete Carroll as head coach in the offseason. The Seahawks advanced to the playoffs in 10 of Carroll’s 14 seasons.
Seattle might not have the players on defense that Purdy faced last year against the Ravens, but he certainly recognizes the scheme.
“We’ve watched it a bunch just in terms of what we’re trying to do, what their scheme was against our offense and our scheme,” Purdy said. “And so watching it, obviously, I’m watching how the game went and the decisions that I made and obviously learning from it.”
Purdy and the 49ers’ offense are not enjoying the same amount of success as last season as defenses have done a good job of limiting some of San Francisco’s strengths.
Now, it’s up to coach Kyle Shanahan and Purdy to make the adjustments to find yards and points in other areas.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel got off to a solid start this season at a time when Brandon Aiyuk was still finding his way and before Jauan Jennings strung together huge back-to-back games.
The 49ers are in crisis mode after losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals dropped them to 0-3 in NFC play.
It’s times like this that the 49ers have always turned to Samuel to get the team going through sheer determination and big-play ability.
Samuel needs to find a way to get the 49ers going, whether through racking up huge YAC numbers after catching short crossing routes or taking handoffs from Purdy to provide a spark for the offense.
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