As hard as the Seahawks and Rams have tried to become each other’s biggest rivals, their mutual hatred of the 49ers makes the war feel a little forced. And knowing how much both teams hate San Francisco probably only makes the 49ers enjoy it more—which is even worse.
The Seahawks and 49ers have met 10 times since 2022, more than any other two franchises. San Francisco won the first six, but Seattle has taken three of the last four. As expected, Sunday’s game has all the October stakes you could ask for:
Winner takes first place in the NFC West and becomes the early favorite for the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
How do YOU expect the 1:25 game at Lumen Field to go? Don’t just think it, send it:
Take the Week 5 Expectations Quiz Now!
How many yards do you expect Sam Darnold, JSN, and Emanuel Wilson to have? Who will score first? Who will have the most sacks? Do you have what it takes to be this week’s winner of the Greatest Expectations award? Take the quiz and find out!
Need a little help setting expectations?
Next Gen Stats offered a treasure trove of nuggets tidbits about Seahawks-49ers and these insights could help you make up your mind. For example, did you know that the 49ers are virtually guaranteed to run more 21 personnel (2 RB, 1 TE) than any other team?
And that Mike Macdonald is the best in the NFL at stopping it:
Seattle’s unparalleled ability to shut down Kyle Shanahan’s offense with Mike Macdonald’s defense is what allowed the Seahawks to hold the 49ers to 26 points across three games last year.
Sam Darnold passing yards
Average: 237 per game
49ers defense: 209 per game
Darnold averaged 157 passing yards per game against the 49ers in 2025. Since 2015, that is the second-fewest yards by any QB against the same defense three times in one season. And Darnold had just 168 last week.
So I expect fans to put Darnold in the 275+ range, and I expect to take the under on whatever number you come up with. The Seahawks won 41-6 in the playoffs and Darnold only needed 124 passing yards.
Emanuel Wilson rushing yards
Average: 86.5
49ers defense: 100 total per game
I’m going to call Wilson’s average the two times that he had a full workload, which was Week 2 and Week 4. If we include his nine carry game in Week 3, then the average goes down to 62.3 yards. Wilson is Gruden’s Grinder this week:
In the previous four games, Jeremiyah Love rushed for 90, De’Von Achane rushed for 74, while the Rams and Broncos both split their backfield work.
We don’t know yet what Brian Fleury plans to do with the backfield moving forward. Emanuel Wilson is still the team’s safest bet and I’d lean towards the 60 number, not the 80 number. It’s not a bad number!
Jaxon Smith-Njigba receiving yards
Average: 120.3
49ers: No individual has had 90 against them yet
Not a great player, an elite player. JSN should be out for blood after being shut down last week with 76 yards right after halftime. Per Next Gen Stats, JSN has over 130 career yards against both starting 49ers corners:
He had 124 yards against San Francisco in Week 1 last year, then 84 in Week 18, but only 19 in the playoffs. Well, everybody shut down after the Seahawks took a 27-6 lead, right? (Ironically, the same 27-6 lead that Seattle had against the Chargers at almost the exact same point in the game.)
The best WR game against the 49ers is 89 yards by Arizona’s Michael Wilson, followed by 77 by Miami’s Ryan Miller, 74 by Puka Nacua, and 47 by Pat Bryant.
Don’t Stop Interactin’!
Did you rank every player on the Seahawks yet? I’ll reveal the new list on Friday! Here’s the direct link too.
Most Sacks
Brock Purdy has not been sacked. He’s the fifth QB since 1970 to go through his team’s first four games and not get sacked, and the first since Peyton Manning in 2015. Can Seattle break the streak and who is most likely to do it?
DeMarcus Lawrence (no sacks yet) has a tough matchup against Trent Williams. He has the lowest pressure rate allowed among left tackle this season. You know who is second? Charles Cross.
As I write this, Leonard Williams is practicing in a limited capacity. That’s somewhat encouraging given how dire it may have looked as of Sunday. Here’s another grab from Next Gen Stats:
“Their most-used 4-man rush combination of Byron Murphy, Demarcus Lawrence, Derick Hall, and Leonard Williams has rushed the passer 16 times, Seattle’s only combination that has logged more than 10 pass rushes together. On those plays, they have generated nine pressures, including five quick pressures and one sack, resulting in a 56.3% pressure rate, which ranks third highest among 45 unique four-man pass rush combinations to have rushed the passer at least 10 times.”
To be honest, I’m still not sure I agree with the Derick Hall extension. Maybe I’ll be enlightened soon. I hope so! Hall is 62nd in pressures (10) and fourth on his own team. He has a pressure rate of 12.7%, which ranks 86th among qualified defensive linemen+linebackers.
I’m only talking about pressures because I can’t talk about sacks. He has two right now and I bet he’ll finish between 5 and 8. Gregory Rousseau has six sacks already. Hall is a good player. Do we think “good” is his ceiling?
Defensive Player of the Game
Nick Emmanwori has an individual rivalry of his own developing between him and George Kittle. They were each other’s most-faced opponent in 2025.
But do we think Emmanwori will win Defensive Player of the Game? We’ve got plenty of options to choose from between him, Devon Witherspoon, Byron Murphy, Ernest Jones, Julian Love, and plenty of others. By the way, Seattle is in zone a league-high 90% of the time.
It’s hard to predict, so don’t try to guess. Instead, tell me what you expect.
Reminder:
Big Cat being able to push off that ankle is a huge issue. I have an unhealthy dislike/ maybe hate for the 49’er franchise and fan base. I’m sure if their players were on another team, I would root for them. Because they wear those hideous uniforms and their fanbase is the worst in the NFL, I cannot and will not be swayed. I dream of pummeling this team. Fred Warner holds a dark place in my heart after his chicken shit punch in the back of DK’s head. DK of course got the penalty but that’s beside the point. What grown ass man does shit like that and holds their head up high? I hope Zabel puts him six feet in the dirt over and over all game long.
I feel better now that I’ve gotten that out. Sorry for the rant. Carry on
I feel like the season hinges on this game. Either we figure a bunch of small things out and win convincingly, or it’s all a scramble and we lose. I picked us to lose 31-24, confident only that I will be wrong. (Also, the season doesn’t hinge on this one. But this will tell us a lot.)