SEATTLE — It’s the greatest active rivalry in the NFL.
asserted
It → ’ → NFL
And it produced another instant classic on cloudless fall Sunday at Lumen Field.
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it → produce → Field
Against the defense that has been his kryptonite, Brock Purdy took over trailing late in the third quarter and showed why he has firmly established himself in the MVP conversation.
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he → take → conversation
Purdy completed six of seven passes — four to Mike Evans for 75 yards — as the 49ers overcame a first-and-20 on their first play of the drive and another 11-yard penalty during a methodical 12-play drive.
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49ers → complete → drive
Purdy found Brandin Cooks in the back of the end zone, threw up a 2-point conversion to Mike Evans and the 49ers never looked back on their way to a thrilling 32-29 win that put them firmly in command of the NFC West.
“That was the one drive that got us going,” coach Kyle Shanahan said after his team improved to 5-0 against the defending Super Bowl champions in a game that featured four lead changes, two ties, seven takeaways, one ejection and plenty more big hits and momentum swings.
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that → find → changes
Until that point, the 49ers had failed to mount a scoring drive of more than four plays.
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49ers → fail → plays
Renardo Green picked off a pair of passes, Fred Warner forced one fumble and Gracen Halton knocked out another that he recovered in the end zone — all of their first 21 points came off turnovers.
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all → pick → turnovers
Turns out, it’s to fight defense with defense.
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it → turn → defense
Cooks, a childhood 49ers fan, got quite the introduction to his first game inside the rivalry.
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Cooks → get → rivalry
“You definitely see it from afar over the years,” he said, “but to be a part of it was definitely fun.”
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be → see → it
The evenly matched NFC West foes traded leads four times and tied the score two other times.
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foes → match → score
The largest advantage either team took was after Halton recovered the fumble he forced out of George Holani’s hands in the end zone to put the 49ers on top 21-13 in the closing seconds of the first half.
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he → take → half
The Seahawks had allowed their opponents to put up 24 points off turnovers in their past two games.
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opponents → allow → games
Green — the culprit of two Darnold interceptions — said they knew they’d have their chances.
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they → say → chances
He jumped Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s route for his first interception and came down with a second — his third this season — on Sam Darnold’s first pass of the second half.
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He → jump → half
“We didn’t know how many turnovers we [were] going to get, but we knew we were going to get our opps this game,” said Green, who was benched on the 49ers’ last visit in January.
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who → know → January
“It was up to us to capitalize on every opp we get to win the game.
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we → capitalize → game
We just didn’t know how many.”
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We → know → ?
Difference makers
Fred Warner was still recovering from a broken ankle and Mike Evans was still under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 49ers’ 41-6 loss here almost nine months ago.
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Evans → recover → loss
In the rivals’ next meeting, both players proved just how much their presence mattered.
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presence → prove → meeting
Warner, as always, played a pivotal role at the heart of the 49ers defense, punching the ball out of Emmanual Wilson’s arms for their second of three first-half takeaways.
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Warner → play → takeaways
The “Warner Whack,” as play-by-play man Greg Papa termed it in a text to NBC Sports Bay Area, has become an art form.
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Papa → term → Area
Purdy completed just two of his first seven pass attempts — both of which threaded the needle into the hands of Evans.
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both → complete → Evans
The first went for one of the 49ers’ two third-down conversions on seven chances in the first half.
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first → go → half
The second put the Niners’ first six points on the scoreboard.
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second → put → scoreboard
“Obviously, he’s a game-changer,” Purdy said of Evans.
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Purdy → ’ → Evans
“He can make defenses pay, and I thought today he did a great job of that, going up to get the ball multiple times.”
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he → make → ball
Evans, still only two weeks removed from breaking his ribs, finished with seven catches for 113 yards — both team-highs and personal-bests this season — including four catches for 75 yards as the 49ers marched down the field early in the fourth quarter to take a 29-26 lead with 11:02 to play.
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49ers → remove → 11:02
He also hauled in the successful 2-point conversion.
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He → haul → conversion
Warner led the 49ers with 10 tackles to go with his 20th career forced fumble, the most in franchise history.
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Warner → lead → history
And he played the second half without Dre Greenlaw by his side after his fellow linebacker was ejected for head-butting a Seahawk after delivering a late hit on Darnold.
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linebacker → play → Darnold
The reinforcements proved to be the difference against the Super Bowl champs on their home turf.
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reinforcements → prove → turf
Evans proved to be all the more important with George Kittle, in the words of Shanahan, “feeling like s—” with flu-like symptoms and Deebo Samuel leaving with a hamstring injury.
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Samuel → prove → injury
The defense’s production helped paper over two areas that had been strengths through the 49ers’ 4-0 start that suddenly went in the other direction in an imposing environment.
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that → paper → environment
Trent Williams and Dominic Puni were called for holding, a rollicking crowd of 68,684 forced a false start and Greenlaw was ejected after drawing a personal foul.
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Greenlaw → call → foul
The 49ers, one of the NFL’s least penalized teams, racked up eight flags for 70 yards.
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49ers → rack → yards
On the flip side, Seattle had been one of the least disciplined teams but was flagged only five times for 46 yards.
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Seattle → flag → yards
“There’s obviously emotions that go into [this matchup],” said running back Christian McCaffrey, who still managed 6.2 yards per carry on 11 handoffs.
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who → ’ → handoffs
“The challenge is not letting the emotions get the best of you. …
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emotions → let → you
These are two teams that don’t like each other.
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that → like → other
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
