Electromagnetic Field goals? Don't blame injuries for Niners power outage
Which players will suit up or sit out in Seahawks-49ers?
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Chip Mac: Injury update for both teams and who will be affected the most by injuries?
The Seahawks hope to get back Elijah Arroyo this week.
Quiet first season by Arroyo but he obviously changes the math for Klint Kubiak when he’s available. Arroyo was out-snapping Eric Saubert before he got injured. What does Robert Saleh do if he has to account for a receiver who brings a much different set of skills than Eric Saubert?
Charles Cross expected to return, his first game after signing the extension. Coby Bryant—no extension yet—also expected to return after missing two games.
49ers lost George Kittle for the rest of the playoffs and probably some of next season, at least. I know people are having fun with the “EMF theory” causing San Francisco’s rash of ligament injuries:
Well, I don’t know…maybe. I want fans to consider something: The Niners injuries are high-profile, but they aren’t the most injured team. Actually, San Francisco put 20 players on reserve lists this season, which is only the 12th-most in the league in 2025.
The interesting thing about the 49ers injuries isn’t the number of them, but the amount of cap space that those injured players account for: 25% of San Francisco’s 2025 cap, per OvertheCap. That is the most in the league.
But look just below them: The Cardinals put 32 players on reserve lists!
Is Glendale under power lines too?
Before Kittle’s injury, the reasons Kyle Shanahan was called a genius for getting the Niners to the playoffs were Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and a short-term IR stint for Brock Purdy. Also Brandon Aiyuk, but he hasn’t really been in the plan for over a year.
Sure, kudos to the 49ers for winning 12 games without Bosa and Warner but it’s not as though San Francisco has been just as good on defense without them. They’ve been much worse on defense without them!
How much heavy lifting did A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley and the Eagles OC/OL do on Sunday to make the Niners defense look acceptable?
Losing Kittle to a gruesome leg injury in the wild card game exacerbates the perception that the 49ers must be cursed by radio waves (I’m sure Shanahan and the Niners strength and conditioning staff will only fan the flames there as to get the smoke off of themselves) but it doesn’t change the fact that…
Actually a lot of the players you will see on Saturday were the ones that the 49ers wanted to have when the season started. It’s just not a good defense and it never was…it just wasn’t going to be as bad with Bosa and Warner.
Or did we forget that Shanahan fired his defensive coordinator from 2024? Or that the Niners were 30th in points per drive allowed last season? With Bosa and Warner.
This answer to your question about injuries really went off the rails, but I found it important to highlight for everybody that in between the literal static that is “if the 49ers lose, it’s because of electricity-related injuries” actually let’s remember that they won six games last year and the last place schedule (giving them Giants, Browns, and Bears) is partially the reason for them even winning 12 games and making it this far.
So yeah….Kittle is out.
I’m pretty sure that everyone else important to the 49ers offense is healthy, including Trent Williams and Purdy. Well maybe Ricky Pearsall will miss another game but I’m not sure if he’s actually important. The reason that the Niners top two receivers are Jauan Jennings and Demarcus Robinson is merely the fact that GM John Lynch didn’t get anyone better in the offseason.
Fred Warner isn’t expected to return this week. Dee Winters, who is also a LB and led the Niners with 101 tackles, is probably going to be questionable. But some people think that veteran Eric Kendricks, called up from the practice squad last weekend, is an upgrade over Winters anyway.
Essentially the Niners division round injury situation boils down to:
Maybe Pearsall will return, but probably not and he’s not a game-changer
Maybe Winters will return, but he’s not a game-changer
Kittle is out and that changes a lot
Backup tight end Jake Tonges came from nowhere to score his first career touchdown to beat the Seahawks in Week 1 when he replaced an injured Kittle. But as soon as Kittle was healthy, Tonges went back to barely ranking above a healthy scratch on gamedays. After Kittle’s injury on Sunday, Tonges had three targets and caught one pass for 14 yards.
Veteran Luke Ferrell would be TE2 and San Francisco has someone named Brayden Willis on the practice squad.
So yeah, nothing much to monitor this week other than Arroyo (who seems likely to return) and Pearsall (who doesn’t) and Winters (who might) but none of them are necessarily changing the formula of the outcome that much. Prior to his injury, Arroyo had only caught 2 passes for 10 yards over his last five games.
In unrelated news, the Seahawks launched a satellite pointed directly at Santa Clara, California for no reason at all:
Bret: You’re stringing together some PUNishing article titles lately. I’m curious how much you believe this game is about McDonald versus Shanahan from an Xs and Os standpoint. I understand players need to make plays and execute game plans, but I wonder how much you believe that this may boil down to a chess match between two masterful play callers on opposite sides of the ball.
It occurred to me to also mention the match-up between Klint Kubiak, a future first-time head coach, and Robert Saleh, a retread DC after a predictably disastrous stint as head coach of the Jets. Is this at all relevant or intriguing to you?
Thanks, but I can hardly take any credit for it because punny newsletter titles are just an e-seaside gig.
I’m just a fan like any of you, not an expert, but my two cents is that a lot of this work to give Seattle a defensive advantage was done in the past three years by John Schneider:
Leonard Williams (trade/re-sign)
Byron Murphy (draft)
Ernest Jones (trade/extend)
Nick Emmanwori (draft/trade up)
DeMarcus Lawrence (sign)
Devon Witherspoon (draft)
Julian Love (sign/extend)
Drafting players, signing players, trading for players, extending players, trading up for players to draft, trading for players who they extend, and trading away players who they signed. How about trading DK Metcalf and drafting Emmanwori? Not bad.
Of course, scouting players who aren’t draft picks like Drake Thomas and Ty Okada, maybe the most impressive work of all. And then how do you marry that to a particular coaching staff?
The scheme only works if you have the players. What Mike Macdonald wants to do on defense simply looks idiotic if Seattle isn’t able to stop the run without a numbers advantage. They can get that done because of guys like Murphy and Jones and Lawrence and Emmanwori, etc. So that’s what I am most impressed with and what I think works the most.
On top of a schematics conversation, we can’t overlook that first and foremost Seattle’s coaches are teachers and their greatest asset is being able to get players to understand the playbook and then executive it … in harmony … as the offensive play is being unveiled in real time … and react fast.
And what about continuity and experience? The Seahawks brought back almost their entire defense from 2025 with the only totally new players (who got over 15% of the snaps this year) were Emmanwori and Lawrence. That’s something Macdonald stressed would be important in meetings he had last year:
“This is a Jim Harbaughism,” he said. “’You get good at football by playing football.’ So we’re going to get reps, we’re going to maximize the time and be efficient.”
Later, Macdonald added, “This is a John Harbaughism: ‘Guys are allowed to get better.’ You do that by getting direct reps and coaching them up the right way and positive reinforcement, and if guys don’t love football, then you’re not going to be out there. I believe in our ability to develop players, and it’s fun to work with the guys who love it.”
The Seahawks were a good defense in 2024, but not great. Did they change the scheme? Only up to the level that the players maybe weren’t totally ready for the tasks until they got the experience going into 2025.
So yeah, I believe in the players, the scouting, and the teaching more than I believe in the scheme.
As far as the “chess match” aspect, well I have to imagine that on Shanahan’s end when you lose to a team and score 3 points with 9 first downs and then you play them again two weeks later that you don’t repeat what you did. Shanahan has to try some new moves, right? Well, if I know that then certainly Macdonald knows that. So how do the Seahawks counter-act what they expect the Niners to do to counter-act everything that they sucked at in Week 18?
That’s the big question.
As far as Saleh vs. Kubiak…
I don’t necessarily believe yet that either of them have a huge advantage as play callers because they’re both dealing with deficiencies in the trenches this season. It’s an improved Seattle o-line against arguably the worst d-line in the entire league.
We saw how the Seahawks were able to run all over Saleh’s defense in Week 18 and I don’t have any good reasons yet why we should expect it to be any different on Saturday. I think Seattle will be able to run against the Niners again.
But when it’s time to dial up some passes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba — which you’d think you definitely have to do sometimes when you have the NFL’s leading receiver — can you trust Sam Darnold to be smart with the football if the heat’s coming around the corner or his first read is covered?
My thing with Saleh is that I don’t have much reason yet to believe he’s a good head coach. Sure I wouldn’t want to coach the Jets either but a head coach has to be responsible for how his team performs IN ALL ASPECTS not just on “his side of the ball” and the Jets were terrible on offense all four seasons under Saleh. TERRIBLE. That is HIS responsibility.
Macdonald’s offense was mediocre for only one season before the Seahawks found a fix. And I mean, the Ryan Grubb/Geno Smith offense was significantly better than anything the Jets ever did under Saleh. You have to be responsible for the whole team and you can’t blame…”the Jets”.
Maybe Saleh will be great at his next stop, I don’t know. I can only go off of the evidence that we have so far and Saleh’s tenure in New York looked more like a good coordinator, not a good head coach. Kubiak’s offense ain’t bad, but he’ll face the same litmus test wherever he goes.
read Tuesday’s BONUS article for even more Seahawks playoff coverage: Why the Niners are FRAUDS
The thing I really like about MM is his emphasis on process. He's not emphasizing the results. I think for many people that way of approach is counter intuitive. We all look at what we want to happen with things in life. We try to manifest whatever it is we are trying to attain through action, imagination, and will. We think about the end result in the minds eye and strive to bring it into existence. It's not as if he's not wanting successful results. Certainly there are goals and intentions at all times. MM has stated that it is about the process and whatever happens as a result will happen. Let the chips fall where they may. The process is about attention to details and to do everything within one's control of the situation. If the team is doing everything it can possibly do in the preparation with no stone left unturned, then that's it.
Latlely, I've been thinking about why certain teams and franchises are in a perpetual state of dysfunction. These are the Cardinals, Browns, Jets, Cowboys, and some others. Guys like the owners of the Cardinals and Browns are at press conferences front and center. I saw the Browns owner after this season speak to the press making declarative statements about winning and success. He was saying they were gonna be this and not gonna do that. He was speaking with the will of making it all happen. I chuckle seeing that because he's not actually coaching the team. He's not able to actually call the plays or install schemes and coach players themselves. He's just doing everything he can to project his business success upon a football team he owns. This is a prime example of a results oriented model. These owners get so involved that they interfere with the process by injecting themselves into it against the very football minds that know better. Case in point being the homeless guy who convinced the owner to draft Johnny Manziel.
I remember during the Ken Behring years, during games he would be on the sidelines parading himself with the cheerleaders. He was a bit of fat slob. For those that lived through that era, you know what I'm talking about. The Seahawks were a dysfunctional team during that time. He bought the team from the Nordstroms and right at the end of the Chuck Knox era. Thus began a decade of futility. He attempted to move the team to Anaheim his place of residence. The moving vans were on the road. That didn't work and within a year or two after that the team was acquired by Paul Allen. We went from dysfunctional to functional. I think this was really the start of the golden age of Seahawks football.
The primary owners of NFL franchises have to be successful billionaire business owners. It's an exclusive club but it's not their bread and butter. This is more or less a hobby to them. When I see these dysfunctional franchises the owners seem to be determined to make the team in the image of their business success. It must be a huge ego trip. So when when the owner is making statements of pretty much guaranteeing success, it is the end result they are locked into. Perhaps their sheer willpower and determination was what got them their fortune. They should be able to replicate it with football, yes? Well, even if they can't win they aren't losing money at all. Every team is profitable no matter what. This isn't a fledgling start up league fighting for financial survival of a hundred years ago. This is a multi-billion dollar behemoth of sports entertainment.
As fans of these current Seahawks, we are so fortunate to experience this ongoing golden age. Sure, it would have been great to have won SB49 and to have more playoff wins. But, we've not have had to go through the suffering that many other fanbases go through with total rebuilds or collapses. We're lucky. Nothing we did. It just is. Fortunate to have good ownership that is doing what good ownership does: being a good caretaker of the franchise and allowing the expert football minds to fully do their thing. We have a long standing experienced SB winning GM who has really flexed his chops now that he is in the primary driver seat without Pete. Getting MM is a score that is nearly miraculous. Had Pete left a year earlier we wouldn't have gotten MM. The timing was perfect. This is all purely fortuitous. They say luck follows those most prepared for it. I think there is also an intangible element that follows functional and dysfunctional teams. The teams such as the Browns, Cardinals, and Jets seems to have the worst of luck. Ill timing, bad coaching hires, key injuries, and just bad luck strike. The steady teams that are seemingly always in the mix, they have better fortune. I think it starts from the top down.
The MOB mentaility of mission over bullshit is a great cultural concept. It is the mission of process over all extraneous things that aren't relevant to the operation at hand. That means they are only focused upon everything that is necessary and omit anything that does not matter. That means not looking ahead to the next week, or by making statements during press conferences that are mind games to attempt to distract or bully an opponent. Their process is being hyper focused upon the details and minutia of every aspect they can control and drill. The team is connected together and have the same mindset. You can hear it in their language. They talk about process and stacking one good thing after another day in and day out. As Pete was somewhat radical in his open approach of new age coaching as opposed to old school military style coaching, MM is a continuation of this contemporary approach to achieving success that is not results oriented, but process driven. MM has his own distinct style different from Pete. His defense is relevant and modern. He is bringing to Seattle what he had done in Baltimore. The combination of owners, GM, and MM have stablized this franchise for hopefully years to come.
Because I know that they are solely focused upon the process for this upcoming game, I feel great as a fan. They are utterly professional. They are clinical in their apporach. There is no extraneous words or things said to rile up the team. There are no words spoken in an attempt to play mind games with the opponent. There are no one-upmanship and intimidation tactics that players feel they need to do in order to have an edge. They are disciplined and well coached. I see restraint with the linebackers not hitting a player out of bounds. There haven't been dumb penalties lately that kill a drive or keep the opponents on the field. These guys are seasoned and professional. The post Russ years and now post Pete have allowed JS to bring in the talent needed to bring MM's vision to fruition.
I have faith that they are working on everything they need to address. They are so focused upon the process. They just need to execute it on game day. Let's have fun. Let's enjoy it. Enjoy this process. Let's see where the chips fall. Go hawks!
I am starting to get the feeling that this is going to be a large win for the Seahawks.
Football starts with the trenches. Nothing else matters until that equation is solved. If its even then you can move onto skill positions. I don't see this as even. The Seahawks defensive line will shut down the run and leave Purdy to make plays. Maybe they make some here and there but I struggle to see consistency.
On offense, I don't see the Niners stopping the run. Even though the Eagles lost, they still ran on them. Now the Hawks are coming in rested (Cross a couple extra weeks) and at home in the playoffs where the juices will be flowing? Physical mismatch.
This game reminds me of a college football mismatch. Where an SEC school goes and plays a team that just doesn't have the strength in the trenches to make anything else matter.
So much of football talk is QB centric. And yet, the world still hasn't realized that the Seahawks don't care. I think SD will probably only get about 20-25 passing attempts this game. I don't think he has played well for months and yet he still can. If he has a good game on those limited attempts? This is a 20-point win. If he has an average game ... this is a 10+ point win. And I just don't see him or the Seahawks letting him have a bad game.
Someone talk me off the ledge here, but I am seeing a large win.
My head is thinking about one of the best played and executed football games I have ever seen outside of a Steve Smith punt return. Which of course, is the 2005 NFC Championship Game against the Jake Delhomme Carolina Panthers.
https://youtu.be/tLc46G_Dbv4?si=6p1xicw3V0ZT-8sk
Seahawks won that game 34-14 (and it wasn't even that close). It was a tidal wave of intensity, running the ball, and defense. SD can play like Hasselbeck except hopefully get back to throwing the ball downfield a little more. Hassleeck was 20/28 for 219 yards. Shuan Alexander was 34 carries for 132 yards and Mo Morris went 7 for 24 yards. Can K9 and Charbs go 41 carries for 156 yards? I think so.
Someone tell me I'm crazy.
Go Hawks.