It's only Week 1 of an increasingly long season

Seahawks-49ers Week 1 final thoughts: Injuries, importance, and Tory Horton

Taking nine months off from meaningful football games and then jumping right back into action can make it feel like the weight of the world is on the Seahawks’ shoulders tomorrow, but a win won’t guarantee success and a loss won’t doom Seattle’s playoff chances. Not even if it’s at home to the 49ers.

The Seahawks have missed the playoffs in two of the last three seasons in which the team won their opener. Seattle has also had two of their most historic campaigns (2012, 2015) in seasons in which they lost an opener against a division opponent.

Week 1 results, 2010-2024

*Made playoffs

2024 - W (Broncos)

2023 - L (Rams)

2022* - W (Broncos)

2021 - W (Colts)

2020* - W (Falcons)

2019* - W (Bengals)

2018* - L (Broncos)

2017 - L (Packers)

2016* - W (Dolphins)

2015* - L (Rams)

2014* - W (Packers)

2013* - W (Panthers)

2012* - L (Cardinals)

2011 - L (49ers)

2010* - W (49ers)

It’s great to make a statement. It’s better to follow up with actions. The Seahawks have started 1-0 in five of the past six years and yet they haven’t won a playoff game since 2019. A good start is ideal, but wasted without consistency.

Also, isn’t it insane that the Seahawks have opened with the Broncos in three of the past seven years? The 49ers will be just the second NFC West opponent that Seattle has opened a season against since 2015. What can Seahawks fans expect of this matchup that’s less than 24 hours away?

Christian McCaffrey expected to play

Yes, McCaffrey is one of the most talented players in the NFL, but I wouldn’t blame Seahawks fans for asking if his availability even matters that much. Here’s why I say that:

• The 49ers rushed for 228 yards against Seattle in Week 6 last year

• Without Christian McCaffrey

• That was San Francisco’s best rushing game of 2024

• That was also Seattle’s worst rushing defense game of 2024

When McCaffrey returned to face the Seahawks in Week 11, the 49ers only had 131 rushing yards and lost 20-17. We don’t even know what percent McCaffrey’s body will be charged up to when Sunday gets here…

75%? 50%? The Seahawks allowed Isaac Guerendo (now third-string) to gain 99 yards on 10 carries (76 on one of those) and Jordan Mason (now a Viking) to add 73 more yards on nine carries. That’s a combined total of 172 yards on 19 carries for two backs who are basically the George Holani’s of their teams.

No disrespect to George Holani. I’m just saying that if McCaffrey is not over 90%, he might not be as effective as his backups. More importantly, the 49ers will look significantly different than they did when they beat the Seahawks last year.

New 49ers Offense

There are 5 notable changes to San Francisco’s offense from that midseason game last year:

• WR Brandon Aiyuk (IR)

• WR Deebo Samuel (Moons)

• G Aaron Banks (Packers)

• TE Eric Saubert (Seahawks)

• RB Mason (traded to Vikings)

The 49ers gave Mason the second round tender prior to trading him to Minnesota. Did anyone else completely forget that Mason had over 600 rushing yards in the first six games of 2024? He was on pace for over 1,700 yards!

Saubert was a key blocking tight end in San Francisco and played 18 snaps in that Week 6 TNF contest, but then played virtually the entire game (97% snaps) when the 49ers lost the rematch. The 49ers replaced free agent Aaron Banks with free agent Ben Bartch, but the biggest changes will be at receiver.

Jauan Jennings is expected to start alongside Ricky Pearsall after missing most of training camp with a calf/contract issue. Marquez Valdes-Scantling will also be available after spending the offseason/camp with the Seahawks.

Seattle’s probably getting this matchup at the right time because there is so much uncertainty at receiver and with McCaffrey’s mc-calf-ey, plus the defense is all set to go without injuries minus Uchenna Nwosu, who wasn’t participating much anyway. This is the chance for Mike Macdonald to prove that he is the best defensive coordinator in football today (repeat: 483 total yards and 228 rushing yards allowed was his worst game of the year) and to let his players do the bragging for him by shutting the 49ers out of the end zone.

Can we go overboard with Tory Horton hype?

Did the host go too far in his Saturday Morning Inspection video on Friday by evoking the name “Anquan Boldin”?

Boldin set an NFL record with 217 yards in his Cardinals debut in 2003 despite only being a second round pick and not even being the highest-drafted receiver by his own team that year.

Believe it or not, the names of players who hit the 100-yard mark in their NFL debut is a mixed bag from the highs of Boldin and Ja’Marr Chase to the mids of Eddie Royal to the lows of Keke Coutee. There is one Seahawks player on the list of 22 who have hit 100 yards in their debut and it wasn’t that long ago, can you name him?

Go back only two years and you’ll find Puka Nacua, a fifth round pick who had 119 yards in his debut with the Rams (against the Seahawks) in 2023. L.A.’s passing game specialist that year was Jake Peetz, who is now the pass game coordinator for Seattle and he’s not the only Seahawk who can attest to what has made Nacua so productive early in his career; Cooper Kupp was there too.

Setting aside all the buzzy-sounding milestones like “100 yards”, any amount of production and value that Horton can provide on Sunday is not just a welcome bonus for a fifth round rookie…it is expected. The Seahawks cut MVS and stopped pursuing outside options once they drafted Horton and started to believe he was worthy of what is essentially a starting role in Klint Kubiak’s offense.

It could be running clear outs, it could be blocking for Kenneth Walker, and his entire day as a receiver could come down to completing one deep pass from Sam Darnold to help setup Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Kupp for underneath routes and crossers that make Robert Saleh feel like he’s dying from ten thousand paper cuts.

Boldin and Nacua are cool players who will always be remembered for how their careers started. The Seahawks don’t need that much from Horton in Week 1 for Horton to be a valuable draft steal right out of the gate. Seattle “only” got 86 yards from Steve Largent (1976 4th round pick by Oilers traded to Seahawks) in his debut and nobody complained.

Memory Lane

The Seahawks once picked a tight end named Robert Tyler in the eighth round of the 1988 draft. When he made his debut in 1989, Tyler had 61 yards against the Eagles, albeit in a 31-7 loss. That would be Tyler’s only NFL season.

Other Seahawks debuts:

• Darrell Jackson, 15 yards

• Tyler Lockett, 34 yards

• DK Metcalf, 89 yards

• JSN, 13 yards

• Brian Blades, 20 yards

• Joey Galloway, 69 yards

Final Thoughts: The ever-increasing length of season

The NFL scheduled increased to 17 games in 2021 and all the momentum seems to be pushing for an 18-game season in the near future, with negotiations for it expected to re-open in 2026. This despite the NFLPA arguing that 17 games is “already too long” and that players can barely heal in time for the next season when they’ve as many as 21 games the year before.

The same thing is happening in college football, where a single loss once felt like the end of your season (if you’re one of the few teams considered worthy of a national championship) and now you can sometimes even lose twice to the same opponent in the same year and still win the natty!

Ohio State played 16 games last year en route to the national championship. How can the NFLPA argue against 18 games being “too much” for grown men at the same time that teenagers are playing 16 games in the SEC and Big Ten?

Seahawks-49ers will always be an important game, at least as long as they are division rivals, but these “small” changes add up to each game being a little less important:

• Longer season

• More playoff teams

• Rules like expanding practice squad, exemptions, roster sizes, elevating players for game day rosters, et al.

The Seahawks still need to beat the 49ers and win their NFC West games to give themselves the best shot at a division title, a number one seed, and a Super Bowl. But regardless of the outcome, there are still many more weeks for things to go right and wrong.

What do you expect to happen:

Seaside Joe 2378