While the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams battled in the NFC Championship Game last season, the San Francisco 49ers have been the best team in the NFC West so far this season.
The 49ers (4-0) will travel to Seattle on Sunday to meet the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks (3-1).
“They’re a huge in-division rival. They’re always tough games,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “They’ve been that way for years and been that way before we got here, too. It’s always big versus them and nothing out of the ordinary in that way (this season).”
This will be the 49ers’ first true road game of the season. They beat the Rams 27-7 in the opener at a neutral site in Melbourne, Australia, and have won their past three games, all at home. That includes a 24-14 victory against Denver last weekend.
The 49ers have won their past four regular-season games at Seattle’s Lumen Field, though they were pasted 41-6 in last season’s playoffs.
San Francisco’s Brock Purdy has yet to be sacked this season. He has completed 69.9% of his passes for 1,007 yards with 11 touchdowns, one interception and an NFL-leading 126.2 passer rating.
“He already makes a lot of plays within the pocket, on his feet, just kind of opening windows and viewing angles for himself,” 49ers center Jake Brendel said of Purdy. “He just kind of extends those things a little bit wider when the protection kind of breaks down.”
The 49ers feature a heavy veteran presence on offense — 15 of their 16 touchdowns this season have come from players in their 30s. Running back Christian McCaffrey is averaging 4.4 yards per rush and 7.6 per reception, tight end George Kittle is averaging 15.3 yards per catch with four touchdowns and wide receiver Deebo Samuel has returned to the Bay Area this season and has three scores.
The Seahawks held off a late rally to defeat the visiting Los Angeles Chargers 30-23 on Sunday despite a franchise-record 150 penalty yards on 14 flags.
Seattle’s defense held a players-only meeting this week to discuss the issue, as it nearly cost them a 21-point lead.
“We just had a real, honest meeting with each other about what we expect and what we want to go through,” defensive tackle Jarran Reed said. “We hit it head on because that was way too many penalties for us as a team, especially the personal (foul) penalties. Some of the stuff is just the cost of doing business. But the ones that can be avoided, we need to avoid those penalties.”
The 49ers will be without fullback Kyle Juszczyk (hyperextended knee and bone bruise) and safety Marques Sigle (high ankle sprain) this week, with defensive end Nick Bosa (calf) and defensive tackle James Thompson (ankle) remaining out. Cornerback Upton Stout (shoulder) also missed practice but is considered day-to-day. Running back Kaelon Black (illness), wide receiver Mike Evans (ribs) and defensive end Mykel Williams (knee) were limited in practice.
Linebacker Chazz Surratt (calf) was the only Seahawks player who missed practice this week. Limited participants included running backs Zach Charbonnet (knee) and George Holani (ribs), wide receiver Irv Charles (knee), offensive guard Beau Stephens (knee), defensive tackle Leonard Williams (ankle), linebacker Tyrice Knight (ankle) and cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett (ankle).
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said he was optimistic Leonard Williams would play this week but said Charbonnet is not yet ready after offseason surgery.
