Seahawks defense excels in area that is 'bad news' for Brock Purdy and the 49ers

Brock Purdy is not very athletic, or very big, or strong, or particularly fast. At some point you do have to give Purdy credit that he's good at what he does - and the Seattle Seahawks can never assume they'll just roll over the San Francisco 49ers.

So, while they may be favored by more than a touchdown for Saturday night's divisional round game, Seattle can't take the Niners offense lightly, even though they're down to Christian McCaffrey and scrubs.

The key to throwing off Purdy - and every other quarterback - is generating consistent pressure. That's something the Seahawks do better than any other team in the NFL this year, According to Nick Shook at NFL.com, Seattle has the best defensive efficiency on blitzes, which is exactly where Purdy and the 49ers struggle.

ty okada — Jan 3, 2026; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) rushes the ball past Seattle Seahawks safety Ty Okada (39) during the first half at Levi's Stadium. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

NFL.com on Seahawks-49ers

"According to NFL Pro, they rank 11th in defensive efficiency with no blitz and are the best in the NFL in this metric when they do blitz, meaning they're going to cause problems regardless of whether they send extra rushers. That's bad news for the 49ers, because Purdy and the San Francisco offense has struggled mightily against the blitz this season, ranking 24th in passing efficiency."

The Seahawks seem to be well aware. As Shook shares, they pumped up the blitz quite a bit in their Week 18 meeting compared to Week 1 - and they reaped the benefits.

Seahawks figuring it out

"The proof is in their two meetings, too: Seattle increased its blitzing by a rate of nearly 2:1 from their first contest to their second and reaped the benefits, forcing a completion percentage over expected of -4.7 percent on a night in which the 49ers couldn't do much of anything positive offensively."

Meanwhile, the other side of the coin in this metric also favors the Seahawks. Predictably, losing Nick Bosa for the season was devastating for the 49ers' pass rush, and they finished the regular season with the fewest sacks in the league.

If they can't get consistent pressure on Darnold, he'll be far less likely to commit turnovers, which is the Niners' only realistic hope at an upset. They have to decisively win the takeaways battle or they'll line up and get beaten by a team that's vastly more talented right now.

NFL.com on Seahawks-49ers

Seahawks figuring it out

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