<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-nick-emmanwori-out-devon-witherspoon-doubtful-for-week-2');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks’ Nick Emmanwori out, Devon Witherspoon doubtful for Week 2');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Seahawks-S-S-Nick-Emmanwori.jpg?w=1024"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seahawks’ Nick Emmanwori out, Devon Witherspoon doubtful for Week 2</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-12T13:57:38-07:00">September 12th, 1:57pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-12T13:57:38-07:00">September 12th, 1:57pm</time><address><a href="https://linktr.ee/jordan.llanes">Jordan Llanes</a>Jordan Llanes is a sports writer and reporter based in Florida. In addition to ClutchPoints, he writes for a few other publications covering the NFL, college sports and Tottenham Hotspur. When he's not writing, Jordan enjoys spending time with his fiancée, cats, family and friends, as well as catching the latest TV shows and movies, and traveling.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-vs-steelers-bold-predictions-week-2-2025-nfl-season">Seattle Seahawks fell short</a> in their Week 1 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks’ 17-13 loss to their divisional rivals was not the way they wanted to start their 2025 season. However, a trip to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers awaits next Sunday. Seattle will look to escape Acrisure Field with their first win of the campaign. That task did get a bit tougher on Friday, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported via X (formerly Twitter) that rookie safety Nick Emmanwori is <a href="https://x.com/AdamSchefter/status/1966594003568054447" rel="noopener">officially out for Sunday’s tilt.</a></p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Seahawks are listing S Nick Emmanwori out for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh and CB Devon Witherspoon as doubtful. <a href="https://t.co/DQhBYU9T1Z">pic.twitter.com/DQhBYU9T1Z</a></p><p>— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1966594003568054447?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“Seahawks are listing S Nick Emmanwori out for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh and CB Devon Witherspoon as doubtful,” posted Schefter Friday afternoon.</p><p>Cornerback Devon Witherspoon is also doubtful for the road game. If he cannot go, the Seahawks’ secondary will be down two big contributors. Emmanwori rotated in at strong safety along with veteran Julian Love during Sunday’s loss. Many thought he was the top safety in this past April’s NFL Draft, so his slide to Seattle in the second round was considered a major steal. Losing <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-devon-witherspoon-nick-emmanwori-miss-practice-steelers-tilt">Emmanwori certainly affects the Seahawks</a> depth Sunday. Will Witherspoon be able to make it on the field Sunday despite the current “doubtful” status?</p><h2><b>Seahawks look to capture first victory of 2025 vs Steelers on Sunday</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Seahawks-CB-Devon-Witherspoon.jpg"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>In addition to losing Emmanwori and <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-devon-witherspoon-eyeing-return-to-bolster-playoff-push-droy-candidacy">Witherspoon’s in-doubt status,</a> the Seahawks’ defense has a few more injury concerns. Love is dealing with a groin injury, which led to him missing Thursday’s practice. Defensive tackle Jarran Reed also missed the session with a back injury. If Seattle also loses those two contributors for Sunday’s matchup, that will make stopping Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers a bit tougher, to say the least.</p><p>While linebackers Ernest Jones and Uchenna Nwosu are trending upwards, it’s clear that <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-most-blame-crushing-week-1-loss-49ers">the Seahawks’ defense needs reinforcement.</a> Witherspoon would have likely covered former teammate DK Metcalf, who was traded to the Steelers this past offseason. Now, it looks like that scenario may be in doubt. Can Seattle overcome these absences to capture their first victory of 2025?</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks’ Nick Emmanwori out, Devon Witherspoon doubtful for Week 2

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-devon-witherspoon-nick-emmanwori-miss-practice-steelers-tilt');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori miss practice again before Steelers tilt');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Seattle-Seahawks-DB-Devon-Witherspoon.jpg"><figcaption>Steven Bisig-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori miss practice again before Steelers tilt</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-11T18:06:09-07:00">September 11th, 6:06pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-11T18:06:09-07:00">September 11th, 6:06pm</time><address><a href="https://matthew516sports.substack.com/">Douglas Fritz</a>Douglas Fritz has been writing about sports for almost four decades and publishes a Christian sports newsletter and podcast on Substack at Matthew516Sports. He started as a reporter for the student newspaper at East Tennessee State University, worked his way up to Editor-In-Chief, and began his sports writing career at the Johnson City Press daily newspaper while still in college. During 30-plus years at the Press, he covered University of Tennessee football, men's and women's basketball, ETSU athletics, and high school athletics. Among the people he has interviewed are Dale Murphy, Bobby Cox, John Smoltz, and Bruce Smith. He is also a Christian-based screenwriter (five feature-length and one short), book writer (three completed manuscripts and one novel), and songwriter.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-most-blame-crushing-week-1-loss-49ers">Seattle Seahawks are coming off a tough loss</a>, and now they face an <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-vs-steelers-bold-predictions-week-2-2025-nfl-season">underdog role against the Steelers</a>. Further complicating the issue, secondary players Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori missed practice again before the Steelers tilt.</p><p>Because of the situation, the Seahawks <a href="https://x.com/bcondotta/status/1966272928452157947" rel="noopener">face some decisions</a>, according to a post on X by Bob Condotta.</p><p>“Devon Witherspoon again a DNP for Seahawks today, as was Nick Emmanwori. Seahawks may have to make a roster move with Emmanwori tomorrow. As for Witherspoon, missing both of the last 2 days certainly seems to create some uncertainty for his availability on Sunday”</p><p>Emmanwori is dealing with a high ankle sprain. Meanwhile, Witherspoon has a knee injury.</p><h2><b>Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald juggling injuries</b></h2><p>Not only do the Seahawks have injury problems in the defensive backfield, but they also have to deal with <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46219948/seahawks-riq-woolen-unsure-starting-status-mistakes" rel="noopener">the poor play</a> of cornerback Riq Woolen, according to ESPN.</p><p>Macdonald didn’t commit to keeping Woolen on the field as much.</p><p>“We’ll see,” coach Mike Macdonald said Wednesday when asked if Woolen would start against the Steelers.</p><p>Woolen misplayed two throws on the 49ers’ winning drive. They were both devastating, including a 45-yard completion to receiver Ricky Pearsall down the sideline. Also, Woolen was in a perfect position for an interception before the winning touchdown toss to tight end Jake Tonges.</p><p>“I could have just played the ball better,” Woolen said. “I ran the route for him, and I knew what type of route it was. I’ve just got to execute and attack the ball and not lose track of the ball.”</p><p>But what options will the Seahawks have if Witherspoon can’t go? He is the Seattle starter at the nickel back position.</p><p>Also, cornerback Josh Jobe played more snaps than expected after the injury to Emmanwori on the game’s opening drive. There is still a possibility Emmanwori could be placed on IR, which would cost him at least four games.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori miss practice again before Steelers tilt

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-vs-steelers-bold-predictions-week-2-2025-nfl-season');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks vs. Steelers bold predictions for Week 2 of 2025 NFL season');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Seahawks-vs.-Steelers-bold-predictions-for-Week-2-of-2025-NFL-season.jpg"></figure><h1>Seahawks vs. Steelers bold predictions for Week 2 of 2025 NFL season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-10T15:02:31-07:00">September 10th, 3:02pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-10T15:59:42-07:00">September 10th, 3:59pm</time><address><a>RB Hayek</a>RB Hayek has been writing about sports for over a decade and is currently a member of ClutchPoints' editorial team after primarily focusing on betting content. In addition, he is also a published author of thriller novels, available on Amazon.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-most-blame-crushing-week-1-loss-49ers">Seattle Seahawks fell to the San Francisco 49ers</a> in Week 1 and hope to get their first win of the 2025 season this weekend. Conversely, their Week 2 opponent is the Pittsburgh Steelers, who just beat the New York Jets 34-32. This Seahawks vs. Steelers game will provide a story of two different directions.</p><p>Pittsburgh <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nfl" rel="noopener">is a three-point favorite</a> against Seattle, according to FanDuel. At this point, the oddsmakers believe this game will be a close game. The Hawks lost a close game in Week 1, while the Steelers won a close battle against the Jets. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/nfl-stories/nfl-week-1-winners-aaron-rodgers-turns-back-clock-packers-statement">Aaron Rodgers dominated the New York defense,</a> showing that he still has what it takes to put up a great performance. On the flip side, it was not so easy for the Seattle offense. They could not muster much against the San Francisco defense.</p><p>This Seahawks-Steelers Week 2 preview will give you a taste of what the teams have done so far. Moreover, it will also give you some ideas of what could happen this weekend when the teams face off at Acrisure Stadium. Here are three Seahawks-Steelers bold predictions for their big clash in the Steel City.</p><h2><b>Sam Darnold turns the football over three times</b></h2><p>Darnold was not awful against the Niners. However, he just didn’t do enough to get the job done. Darnold went 16-for-23 with 150 yards passing but did not throw a touchdown. Unfortunately, his lone mistake was a fumble Nick Bosa caused when he rammed an offensive lineman into him, causing Darnold to lose the football.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-sam-darnold-emphasizes-seattle-identity-change-chiefs-rout">Darnold has been a leader throughout the offseason</a>, and plans to lead a Seattle team that emphasises running the football. Yet, it did not start out well. Although the Pittsburgh defense struggled against the Jets, there is a good chance it might bounce back. Consider the fact that the Steelers will be having their home opener at Acrisure Stadium this weekend. The defense could feed off the energy of the crowd, and it could motivate them to play inspired football. Darnold did not throw an interception in Week 1, but this Pittsburgh defense will be on the hunt, looking to snag the ball.</p><p>Darnold has seen ghosts before, and that could be the case this weekend as he steps into Pittsburgh. His habit of holding onto the ball too long cost him in Week 1, and it may be disastrous this weekend.</p><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Steelers-11.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h2><b>DK Metcalf torches his former team</b></h2><p>This Week 2 game has been on <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/steelers-news-when-dk-metcalf-will-face-seahawks-for-first-time">DK Metcalf’s calendar for a long time</a>. Now, it’s time for the former Seahawk to try to burn his former team. So far, things are going well with his new team.</p><p>Metcalf had four receptions on seven targets for 83 yards in the opener against the Jets. Although he did not get into the end zone, that could very well happen this weekend against the team he spent his entire career with. Metcalf has a chance to have a big game. No, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-dk-metcalf-posts-emotional-farewell-seattle-steelers-trade">Metcalf does not have hatred for Seattle</a>. However, it is still a game of revenge, regardless.</p><p>Metcalf could have big numbers this weekend. Ultimately, the boldest prediction has him garnering seven catches for 110 yards and a touchdown while helping the Steelers defeat the Seahawks.</p><h2><b>The Steelers rout the Seahawks</b></h2><p>NFL fans should never use the previous week as an example of what will happen this week. Yet, there are always some warning signs. The Hawks could not run the football efficiently against the Niners. Still, they could take some hope for the weekend, given the fact that Breece Hall went off for 107 yards on 19 touches. But that was in a home game at the Meadowlands. This game is in Pittsburgh.</p><p>The Seahawks were a good road team last season, going 7-1 away from Lumen Field. Yet, will they be able to do it again? The Steelers won 23-20 in their last battle in Pittsburgh against the Hawks on October 17, 2021. But this Seattle team appears significantly weaker than that team. Also, the Steelers look to be in tip-top shape as they get ready for the home opener. Rodgers has Metcalf to throw to, in addition to Calvin Austin III and tight end Pat Freiermuth. If the Steelers’ running game gets going, it could be a long day for Seattle.</p><p>The Seahawks will need to bounce back after a heartbreaking home loss to the Niners. Yet, traveling all the way across the country and beating the Steelers will not be easy. While they have the talent to go into Pittsburgh and shock the world, it might not be in the cards. Expect the Steelers to build on the momentum they gained last week and rout the Hawks in their home opener.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks vs. Steelers bold predictions for Week 2 of 2025 NFL season

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-most-blame-crushing-week-1-loss-49ers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks most to blame for crushing Week 1 loss to 49ers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/full_5dbc16.jpg"><figcaption>Steven Bisig-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seahawks most to blame for crushing Week 1 loss to 49ers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-09T11:39:40-07:00">September 9th, 11:39am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-09T11:39:40-07:00">September 9th, 11:39am</time><address><a href="https://matthew516sports.substack.com/">Douglas Fritz</a>Douglas Fritz has been writing about sports for almost four decades and publishes a Christian sports newsletter and podcast on Substack at Matthew516Sports. He started as a reporter for the student newspaper at East Tennessee State University, worked his way up to Editor-In-Chief, and began his sports writing career at the Johnson City Press daily newspaper while still in college. During 30-plus years at the Press, he covered University of Tennessee football, men's and women's basketball, ETSU athletics, and high school athletics. Among the people he has interviewed are Dale Murphy, Bobby Cox, John Smoltz, and Bruce Smith. He is also a Christian-based screenwriter (five feature-length and one short), book writer (three completed manuscripts and one novel), and songwriter.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>After a tough loss, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-mike-macdonald-need-seattle-offense">Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald talked about</a> the needs for his offense, and also <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-mike-macdonald-explains-controversial-4th-down-decision">his controversial fourth-down decision</a>. And here are the Seahawks most to blame for the crushing Week 1 loss to the 49ers.</p><p>Jake Tonges caught a deflected pass for a late touchdown, slapping the Seahawks with a tough 17-13 decision on Sunday.</p><p>At the head of the blame list is a certain cornerback, who failed at the game’s end.</p><h2><b>Seahawks CB Riq Woolen whiffed on INT attempt</b></h2><p>Trailing 13-10 with less than two minutes remaining, the 49ers faced a third-and-three from the 4-yard line. Brock Purdy made what appeared to be a terrible decision, lofting a weak pass that should have been picked off — potentially giving the Seahawks the victory.</p><p>However, Woolen simply didn’t make a play on the ball. Watch here.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/49ers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#49ers</a> JAKE TONGES GO AHEAD TD!  <a href="https://t.co/HVLLAXM68b">pic.twitter.com/HVLLAXM68b</a></p><p>— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/OurSf49ers/status/1964825560213078246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>It doesn’t get much worse than that from the cornernack position. And it <a href="https://x.com/Nathan_26_/status/1964825543893020709" rel="noopener">wasn’t only that play</a>, according to a post on X by 247 Sports analyst Nathan Carroll.</p><p>“Riq Woolen with the single worst possession I’ve ever seen a CB have. Gets two absolute ducks that should’ve been easy INTs… leads to a 40-yard pass and a TD. Brutal.”</p><p>Head coach Mike Macdonald <a href="https://www.seahawks.com/news/disappointed-but-determined-other-takeaways-from-mike-macdonald-s-monday-press-conference" rel="noopener">took the high road</a> in the team’s loss, according to Seahawks.com.</p><p>“Guys played really hard [Sunday],” Macdonald said. “Obviously, a disappointing result. But a lot of the process up to this point I’m pleased with, which would have been the same answer if we would have made a couple of plays there at the end. The intent was there, the detail we’ve got to improve on as a football team. And we’ll do that. It started today, and we’ll go work our tails off this week and look forward to playing Pittsburgh on [this coming] Sunday.”</p><h2><b>Seahawks’ run game fell way short</b></h2><p>Seattle managed 84 on 26 carries. The longest run of the game came from Sam Darnold, who authored a nine-yard “sprint.”</p><p>“I think it’s fair to say when we’re not running the ball effectively, we’re either not hitting our targets or wrongly leveraged or maybe not taking the right path,” Macdonald said. “It can just be one of whatever things, it’s not like guys don’t know what to do, it’s just how to do them to a certain extent. We’ll get those things cleaned up as we go.</p><p>“You’re never going to play a perfect football game. That’s why the effort and the physicality are so important, because a lot of times, that makes up for a little lack of detail here or there. They’ve got good players too. That’s why the game of football is so great. It’s just back and forth, this battle of wills. When we’re on our stuff and when we’re rolling, I think we can be pretty dang good.”</p><h2><b>QB Sam Darnold needs to be more dynamic</b></h2><p>Putting up 150 yards on 16 of 23 completions isn’t going to win a lot of games for Darnold and the Seahawks. Also, Darnold’s lost fumble played a key role in the outcome.</p><p>Still, Macdonald said Darnold almost did enough.</p><p>“I thought he played fast,” Macdonald said. “I thought he played decisive, took care of the ball, put us in a lot of great positions, but unfortunately, let’s go close it out.”</p><p>Darnold said the Seahawks fell <a href="https://www.seahawks.com/news/sam-darnold-that-wasn-t-our-standard-on-seahawks-season-opener" rel="noopener">short of their goals</a>, according to Seahawks.com</p><p>“After I came off the field after the game, I knew that wasn’t our standard and how we do things,” Darnold said. “We knew that. I knew that personally. I talked to some of the guys already and we’re just going to continue to grow and get better from it, and we’ll be all right.</p><p>“Obviously not the start that we wanted; credit those guys. I thought their defense came out and played really well. For us, it was just not enough today. I felt like we weren’t as efficient as we wanted to be on first and second down; third down, we got to be way better as well. We’ll bounce back and be better next week.”</p><p>Macdonald pointed to good things, including Darnold’s ability to get the ball to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. But Kenneth Walker was next on the catch list, totaling three catches for four yards. Ick. Things <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/new-qb-sam-darnold-and-offensive-coordinator-21037904.php" rel="noopener">need to improve</a>, according to timesunion.com.</p><p>“It seemed to me when we get it targeted and we’re all on the same page, we’re doing a lot of good stuff,” Macdonald said Monday. “When we have some indecisiveness, that’s when things got twisted a little bit, but a lot of positives.”</p><p>Included <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46139936/nfl-week-2-power-rankings-poll-32-teams-2025-best-newcomer" rel="noopener">in those good things</a> was DeMarcus Lawrence, according to ESPN.</p><p>“There were plenty of positives with the Seahawks’ defense, and [DeMarcus] Lawrence’s debut was one of them,” Brady Henderson wrote. “The ex-Cowboy had six tackles, two tackles for loss and a QB hit, looking every bit the rugged presence that the Seahawks expected him to be when they gave him a three-year, $32.5 million deal in March.”</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks most to blame for crushing Week 1 loss to 49ers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-mike-macdonald-need-seattle-offense');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald reveals ‘need’ for Seattle offense');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Seattle-Seahawks-head-coach-Mike-Macdonald.jpg"><figcaption>Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald reveals ‘need’ for Seattle offense</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-08T17:34:15-07:00">September 8th, 5:34pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-08T17:34:15-07:00">September 8th, 5:34pm</time><address><a href="https://matthew516sports.substack.com/">Douglas Fritz</a>Douglas Fritz has been writing about sports for almost four decades and publishes a Christian sports newsletter and podcast on Substack at Matthew516Sports. He started as a reporter for the student newspaper at East Tennessee State University, worked his way up to Editor-In-Chief, and began his sports writing career at the Johnson City Press daily newspaper while still in college. During 30-plus years at the Press, he covered University of Tennessee football, men's and women's basketball, ETSU athletics, and high school athletics. Among the people he has interviewed are Dale Murphy, Bobby Cox, John Smoltz, and Bruce Smith. He is also a Christian-based screenwriter (five feature-length and one short), book writer (three completed manuscripts and one novel), and songwriter.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-mike-macdonald-explains-controversial-4th-down-decision">Seattle Seahawks are dealing with the aftermath</a> of a tough loss. And <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-jalen-milroe-is-going-to-get-opportunities-in-week-1-vs-49ers">rookie Jalen Milroe didn’t have</a> much of a role. But Mike Macdonald revealed a need for the Seahawks offense.</p><p>Macdonald said the team <a href="https://x.com/MikeDugar/status/1965192082307629297" rel="noopener">needs more deception</a>, according to a post on X by Dugar, Michael-Shawn.</p><p>Mike Macdonald: “We need to (play)-action more. We need more movement. We’ll call it, and we’ll execute it when called.”</p><p>Seattle ran 2 play-action plays yesterday, per<br>@TruMediaSports. Resulted in a 21yd reception by JSN and 5-scramble by Sam. Both produced 1st downs.”</p><h2><b>Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald looking for points</b></h2><p>The Seahawks came up on the short end of a 17-13 decision against the rival 49ers. And Macdonald <a href="https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article312015788.html" rel="noopener">left the game unhappy</a>, according to thenewstribune.com.</p><p>“Very disappointed about the outcome, but got to look at the process, as well,” Macdonald said. “I think our guys played incredibly hard, played all 60 minutes. Gave ourselves a chance to win at the end.”</p><p>But he didn’t leave the game discouraged about the future.</p><p>“I think we have a really good football team, and we’re not there yet,” said Macdonald. “So let’s go work, figure out things we can do better, and move forward. Which we will. We’re a good team now. We’re only going to get better. So the guys will respond. And let’s go have a great week and go to Pittsburgh.”</p><p>Macdonald <a href="https://x.com/BradyHenderson/status/1965113507315327215" rel="noopener">came under some fire</a> for the decision to kick a late field goal, according to a post on X by Brady Henderson.</p><p>“If you go and you get the first down, you’re not guaranteed a touchdown,” he added. “You’re gonna knock some time off the clock, and ultimately you’ll probably end up with a score on that, and then San Fran’s gonna be in a four-down situation coming down the field, which is a difficult situation too on defense. I think the numbers are about 40, 50, 60% score rate in that situation. So that’s what was going through my mind.”</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald reveals ‘need’ for Seattle offense

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-mike-macdonald-explains-controversial-4th-down-decision');   ga('set', 'title', 'Mike Macdonald explains controversial 4th-down decision vs. 49ers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Los-Angeles-Rams-head-coach-Mike-Macdonald-on-the-sidelines-in-the-fourth-quarter-of-the-game-against-the-Los-Angeles-Rams-at-SoFi-Stadium.jpg"><figcaption>© Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Mike Macdonald explains controversial 4th-down decision vs. 49ers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-08T12:49:31-07:00">September 8th, 12:49pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-08T12:49:31-07:00">September 8th, 12:49pm</time><address><a>Jake Faigus</a>Jake Faigus graduated from the University of Arizona in 2022 and has written for several publications and websites. He has had stops at Catena Media, Playmaker, DraftKings, USA Today, Spike Up, and Spotlight Sports Group. He also writes for Sporting News and works at iHeartMedia in Phoenix when he is not writing for ClutchPoints.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Seattle Seahawks started their 2025 season with a struggle against the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers snuck out with a 17-13 win <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-new-week-1-hero-nfl-history-game-winning-td-catch" rel="noopener">thanks to Jake Tonges catching a go-ahead touchdown pass</a>, but the final score left many Seahawks fans wondering how the game ended. The Seahawks settled for a late field goal, and immediately after, the 49ers scored a touchdown on the following drive. That ended up being the difference in the game.</p><p>Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald received some late criticism after the decision to kick the field goal. Analytics have said that the Seahawks should have gone for it, given the time of the game and where the offense was on the field. However, Macdonald <a href="https://x.com/BradyHenderson/status/1965113507315327215" rel="noopener">defended the decision</a>, saying that, at worst, they’d hold the 49ers to the tying FG and would still have time left to drive for the game-winner.</p><p>“If you go and you get the first down, you’re not guaranteed a touchdown,” he added. “You’re gonna knock some time off the clock, and ultimately you’ll probably end up with a score on that, and then San Fran’s gonna be in a four-down situation coming down the field, … which is a difficult situation too on defense. I think the numbers are about 40, 50, 60% score rate in that situation. So that’s what was going through my mind.”</p><p>Macdonald was then asked whether he factors in the message he sends to his team when making those difficult decisions. So if he decides to go for it, it signals confidence in the offense, but if he kicks it, it signals confidence in what the defense can do.</p><p>“I mean, of course it factors in,” Macdonald said. “But look, I trust the heck out of our guys. I think they trust the heck out of us. We’re trying to win the game. I felt pretty strongly about the decision in real time. But it wasn’t easy. There’s an argument to go the other way – let’s run it for a yard or (call) our best fourth-and-1 play at the time.</p><p>“But I’m not worried about how the guys feel. I think they have our backs, and I know we have theirs.”</p><p>The 49ers struggled in the game in their own right, highlighted by Jake Moody’s struggles when he missed two field goals, but<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-news-49ers-hc-kyle-shanahan-no-question-jake-moody-stance-seahawks-win" rel="noopener"> the 49ers are sticking with him despite the struggles</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Mike Macdonald explains controversial 4th-down decision vs. 49ers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-news-49ers-hc-kyle-shanahan-no-question-jake-moody-stance-seahawks-win');   ga('set', 'title', '49ers HC Kyle Shanahan’s ‘no question’ Jake Moody stance after Seahawks win');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jake-Moody-cover.jpg"></figure><h1>49ers HC Kyle Shanahan’s ‘no question’ Jake Moody stance after Seahawks win</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-07T19:02:34-07:00">September 7th, 7:02pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-07T19:02:34-07:00">September 7th, 7:02pm</time><address><a>Brayden Haena</a>Brayden Haena is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He's a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan and a football fanatic. In addition to sports writing, he works for Arizona Football in the Player Personnel and Recruiting department and formerly served as the Defensive Coordinator for Heritage High School.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>After Saturday’s <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-rumors-the-sign-that-christian-mccaffrey-will-play-week-1-seahawks">win over the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers</a> head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t leave any wiggle room after a nervy opener in Seattle. Asked if Jake Moody would keep the kicking job for Week 2, the 49ers coach said there’s “no question” the 2023 third-rounder remains his guy following San Francisco’s 17–13 win over the Seahawks. It was <a href="https://x.com/nwagoner/status/1964832029859873264" rel="noopener">an emphatic vote</a> of confidence on a day when the kicking game nearly swung the result the other way.</p><p>Moody finished 1-for-3 on field goals and 2-for-2 on extra points, a line that included a jarring doink from 27 yards just before halftime and a third-quarter attempt that was blocked when Seattle’s Julian Love split protection off the left edge. Moody steadied himself to bury a fourth-quarter try that tied the game 10–10, but Shanahan made clear the operation has to tighten up. “Obviously, I was disappointed that we missed two field goals,” Shanahan said.</p><p>“We missed one which was a big miss, especially we were inside the 10… Then the next one [Julian] Love made a hell of a move. … We got to clean up that protection. That’s everyone there. That one wasn’t Jake, that’s just the whole operation. But yeah, we’ve got to do better.”</p><p>The 49ers carried veteran Greg Joseph through camp to push Moody, whose accuracy dipped late last season (12-for-23 on FGs since Week 10 of 2024). For now, Shanahan is betting on a rebound — and on fixing the details around him.</p><h2><b>49ers, led by Brock Purdy, pull out the win in Seattle</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Brock-Purdy-1.jpg"><figcaption>Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>San Francisco needed that late field goal composure because the rest of the afternoon was a grind. Brock Purdy battled two interceptions — the second set up Jason Myers’ go-ahead kick with 3:24 left — but responded with a composed 68-yard drive, uncorking clutch throws to rookie Ricky Pearsall and tight end Jake Tonges.</p><p>With <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-news-george-kittle-ruled-out-for-rest-seahawks-game-hamstring-injury">George Kittle sidelined by a first-half hamstring injury</a> after an early touchdown, Tonges slipped free for the go-ahead 4-yard score with 1:34 to play. From there, the defense authored the final word. On second-and-5 at the San Francisco 9, Nick Bosa powered through newly paid right tackle Abe Lucas, strip-sacked Sam Darnold and fell on the ball to seal it.</p><p>In Robert Saleh’s first game back as defensive coordinator, the 49ers smothered Seattle’s run game, blitzed selectively to rattle Darnold and leaned on timely stops from Kalia Davis, Jordan Elliott, Fred Warner and Dee Winters. San Francisco dominated possession (37:58 to 22:02) and yardage (384–230), the kind of control that usually makes kicking drama academic — unless it isn’t.</p><p>The attrition was real. Kittle (hamstring) and Jauan Jennings (shoulder) were ruled out and will undergo MRIs, while Warner (face) and Trent Williams (ankle) briefly exited but returned. One positive: Christian McCaffrey looked spry after last week’s calf scare, piling up 142 total yards on a team-high 10 targets as the offense leaned on him late.</p><p>All of it set the stage for Shanahan’s postgame stance. The 49ers survived despite miscues in the third phase, and they’ll ride with the kicker they drafted to finish big games — with a clear mandate to “clean up” the parts around him.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan’s ‘no question’ Jake Moody stance after Seahawks win

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-elevates-former-starter-for-49ers-showdown');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks elevates former starter for 49ers showdown');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Mike-Macdonald-coaching.jpg"><figcaption>Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seahawks elevates former starter for 49ers showdown</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-06T14:12:59-07:00">September 6th, 2:12pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-06T14:12:59-07:00">September 6th, 2:12pm</time><address><a>Lorenzo J Reyna</a>Lorenzo J Reyna is an Associate Editor covering the NFL and NCAA Football for ClutchPoints. He's equipped with past experience for both realms through his recent stops at Pro Football Network and Heavy while also writing for 247Sports.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Seattle Seahawks called on last minute reinforcements before the season opener. Calling up a former starter with the rival San Francisco 49ers on deck.</p><p>Seattle and head coach Mike Macdonald elevated Shaquill Griffin to the two-deep ahead of the Week 1 showdown. He’s not the only roster elevation, though, according to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter <a href="https://x.com/AdamSchefter/status/1964423455295553976" rel="noopener">on Saturday afternoon</a>.</p><p>“Seahawks elevated cornerback Shaquill Griffin and defensive tackle Quinton Bohanna from their practice squad ahead of Sunday’s season opener versus the 49ers,” Schefter posted on X.</p><p>Seattle <a href="https://x.com/AdamSchefter/status/1964422722445885861" rel="noopener">lifted two more as well</a> to fill the starters and backups on the eve of the home opener. The franchise promoted linebacker Curtis Robinson and wide receiver Russell Gage to fill the final gameday roster.</p><p>Even prized rookie NFL Draft pick Jalen Milroe is expected to see <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-jalen-milroe-is-going-to-get-opportunities-in-week-1-vs-49ers">snaps at quarterback for Seattle. </a></p><h2><b>Seattle’s Shaquill Griffin all-time versus 49ers </b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Shaquill-Griffin-tackling.jpg"><figcaption>Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Griffin’s presence comes in handy for the opener. Especially considering his past success against the division foe.</p><p>He’s 5-3 all-time against San Francisco. And that includes his other stops with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Griffin also suited up for the Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers.</p><p>Griffin allowed five receptions his side for 81 yards in his first encounter with the 49ers. But his Seahawks steamrolled the 49ers that 2018 afternoon 43-16. He cut his catches his side down to two in the second meeting. But S.F. won that ’18 battle 26-23 in overtime during Dec. 2018.</p><p>The former Central Florida star then surrendered one catch for 12 yards in the Nov. 2019 meeting. Seattle took the 27-24 overtime victory there. It marked one of his better performances against S.F. — plus eventually earned his first career Pro Bowl nod.</p><p>Griffin, however, likely will accept a rotational role. Seattle features new, younger stars in Riq Woolen and Josh Jobe. The latter now entering his second season with the franchise after coming over from the Philadelphia Eagles.</p><p>Griffin will be asked to help slow down a new-look 49ers receiving room that no longer has Deebo Samuel. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-seahawks-bold-predictions-week-1-2025-nfl-season">Except the 49ers are predicted to hold off a Seattle rally</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks elevates former starter for 49ers showdown

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-jalen-milroe-is-going-to-get-opportunities-in-week-1-vs-49ers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks’ Jalen Milroe ‘is going to get opportunities’ in Week 1 vs. 49ers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jalen-Milroe.jpg"><figcaption>Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seahawks’ Jalen Milroe ‘is going to get opportunities’ in Week 1 vs. 49ers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-04T17:56:41-07:00">September 4th, 5:56pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-04T17:56:41-07:00">September 4th, 5:56pm</time><address><a>Richard Pereira</a>Richard Pereira joined ClutchPoints in January 2025 as an Associate Editor. He earned his degree from Florida Atlantic University in 2023 and has been covering the school's athletic programs since 2020, having served as a Sports Editor at the FAU University Press. He was granted the unique opportunity to report on the men's basketball team's journey to the Final Four in Houston for FAU Owls Nest during March Madness, consistently striving to grow as a sports journalist.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Jalen Milroe looks to be getting his first chances as a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-jalen-milroe-dazzles-preseason-debut-highlight-reel-run">rookie going into the Seattle Seahawks</a>‘ 2025 season.</p><p>Milroe begins his professional career after the Seahawks selected him in the third round of the NFL draft. Seattle previously traded quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders to acquire the pick.</p><p>It concluded a strong collegiate career with the Alabama Crimson Tide after four years. He grew into his own as one of the best quarterbacks in the country, giving himself the valuable opportunity of playing in the pros.</p><p>Seattle begins the season at home, hoping to be in playoff contention this year. While Sam Darnold will be the starting quarterback, the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak <a href="https://x.com/gbellseattle/status/1963734532173205871" rel="noopener">revealed that the rookie will get his chances</a> in some situations going into the season opener.</p><p>“He’s going to get opportunities. And we’re excited,” Kubiak said, via reporter Gregg Bell.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Seahawks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Seahawks</a> offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is clear about rookie QB Jalen Milroe this regular season, including Sunday in the opener vs the 49ers. “He’s going to get opportunities. And we’re excited.” <a href="https://twitter.com/thenewstribune?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thenewstribune</a> <a href="https://t.co/JPZt3s4mQl">pic.twitter.com/JPZt3s4mQl</a></p><p>— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) <a href="https://twitter.com/gbellseattle/status/1963734532173205871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p></figure><h2><b>What lies ahead for Jalen Milroe, Seahawks</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jalen-Milroe-6-rushes-with-the-football.jpg"><figcaption>Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>It’s big news for the Seahawks to have interest in having Jalen Milroe get his chances on the field.</p><p>Milroe earned his honors after two seasons as Alabama’s full-time starter. He went 20-6 in his 26 starts, completing 392 passes for 5,678 yards and 39 touchdowns. He won the William V. Campbell Trophy in 2024 while landing on Second-team All-SEC honors in 2023.</p><p>His chances would initially be small as a rookie, learning from veteran Sam Darnold. However, they can increase if he can execute them to success and give Seattle another dimension to its offense.</p><p>Seattle is coming off a 10-7 campaign last year. They fell short of the playoffs after finishing second in the NFC West Division, only behind the Los Angeles Rams.</p><p>The Seahawks will prepare for their season opener, being at home. They host the 49ers on Sept. 7 at 1:05 p.m. ET.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks’ Jalen Milroe ‘is going to get opportunities’ in Week 1 vs. 49ers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahwaks-news-seattle-have-undercover-cops-to-monitor-fan-behavior');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seattle will have undercover cops at stadium to monitor fan behavior');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Lumen-Field.jpg"><figcaption>© Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seattle will have undercover cops at stadium to monitor fan behavior</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-04T13:26:34-07:00">September 4th, 1:26pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-04T13:27:27-07:00">September 4th, 1:27pm</time><address><a>Guillermo Guajardo</a>Guillermo Guajardo is a dynamic sports presenter with experience on various television channels and digital platforms, most recently with A Tiempo.TV. He is also a multidisciplinary artist with 10 years of experience in acting, directing, writing, and hosting. His work in film has been recognized at international festivals, earning awards for both his performances and directorial projects.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Aimed at improving fan conduct during home games at Lumen Field, the Seattle Seahawks announced that <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-bold-predictions-2025-nfl-season">beginning with the 2025 season,</a> undercover police officers will be present at the stadium dressed in opposing team jerseys. The organization <a href="https://x.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1963679183273685293" rel="noopener">confirmed the policy on Thursday.</a></p><p>The Seahawks explained that the plan is designed to quickly identify disruptive or inappropriate behavior in the stands. Undercover officers, working alongside Lumen Field staff, will intervene if they observe fans using offensive language, making inappropriate gestures, or ignoring instructions from stadium personnel. The team emphasized that the measure is part of its ongoing efforts to reinforce the fan code of conduct during home games, according to Ari Meirov X post.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">The Seattle Seahawks will have undercover law enforcement officers wearing opposing team jerseys at Lumen Field this season in an effort to quickly detect and address illegal and unruly fan behavior.</p><p>The full announcement is below: <a href="https://t.co/9qXyKnrMES">pic.twitter.com/9qXyKnrMES</a></p><p>— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1963679183273685293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>The strategy comes just as <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-seahawks-bold-predictions-week-1-2025-nfl-season">Seattle prepares for its season opener against the San Francisco 49ers</a>, one of its biggest NFC West rivals. The announcement arrived only days before the divisional matchup, which is expected to bring a highly charged atmosphere. The Seahawks have struggled against the 49ers in recent years, losing five of their last six meetings after sweeping the series in 2021.</p><p>The organization also noted that while banter and friendly rivalry are part of game-day culture, boundaries have been crossed in the past. Reports of fan altercations became more frequent during the 2010s, and the team now appears determined to prevent such incidents before they escalate. A similar tactic involving undercover officers was mentioned as far back as 2013, when Seattle police raised the possibility of disguising officers in rival jerseys to monitor the crowd.</p><p>Seattle enters the 2025 season after posting a 10-7 record, a significant improvement compared to San Francisco’s 6-11 mark in 2024. Although both teams missed the playoffs last year, the opener at Lumen Field will mark a new chapter in the Seahawks–49ers rivalry, this time under stricter surveillance from stadium staff and undercover officers. Fans have been warned that crowd control at Lumen Field will be tighter this season and that the new enforcement strategy will leave little tolerance for those who cross the line.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seattle will have undercover cops at stadium to monitor fan behavior

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-abe-lucas-agree-46-million-contract-extension');   ga('set', 'title', 'Seahawks, Abe Lucas agree to $46 million contract extension');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Seahawks-offensive-lineman-Abe-Lucas.jpg"><figcaption>Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Seahawks, Abe Lucas agree to $46 million contract extension</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-04T10:02:29-07:00">September 4th, 10:02am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-04T10:02:29-07:00">September 4th, 10:02am</time><address><a>Josue Pavon</a>Josue Pavon is an Associate Editor and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer for ClutchPoints. He started his career as a credentialed media member writing about the Boston Celtics for WEEI.com in Boston, where he grew into a local on-camera NBA reporter and podcast host for CLNS Media. Alongside the Celtics radio broadcaster and two-time NBA champion Cedric Maxwell, Josue is the co-host of the Cedric Maxwell podcast.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NFL</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Ahead of the Seattle <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-seahawks-bold-predictions-week-1-2025-nfl-season">Seahawks’ Week 1 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers</a>, they inked their offensive lineman Abe Lucas to a three-year extension, worth $46 million. With their new quarterback, Sam Darnold, set to make his Seahawks debut, Seattle vowed to keep him protected with Lucas as the offensive line’s anchor.</p><p>Lucas can <a href="https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1963636467122475338" rel="noopener">reportedly earn more money</a>, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.</p><p>The #Seahawks and OT Abe Lucas have agreed to terms on a three-year, $46 million extension with the chance to earn more via incentives, sources say. The 2022 third-rounder, who was set to be a free agent, stays with Seattle,” Garafolo reported.</p><p>Lucas was selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He started all 16 games as a rookie before injuries plagued the past two seasons, playing in only 13 games throughout that span. Prior to the extension, Lucas was entering the final year of his deal. The Seahawks avoided seeing Abe test the free agency waters. Despite waiting to see if he can have another healthy season similar to his rookie campaign, Seattle locked in its offensive lineup for the foreseeable future.</p><p>Coming off of the 2024 NFL season, where the Seahawks finished 10-7, missing the playoffs due to a three NFC wild-card teams capturing at least 11 wins, they’ll look to bounce back with a stronger finish this upcoming season. Lucas will be the Seahawks’ starting right tackle when they face the 49ers in Week 1.</p><h2><b>Seahawks can breathe a sigh of relief after Jake Bobo head injury</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Seahawks-wide-receiver-Jake-Bobo.jpg"><figcaption>Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>The Seahawks’ offense caught a break after wide receiver Jake Bobo suffered a head injury in their final preseason game. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seahawks-news-seattle-sigh-relief-jake-bobo-head-injury-update">Bobo collided with Packers cornerback Tyler Hall</a> ahead of Week 1. Fortunately, it wasn’t a serious injury as the Seahawks’ offense caught a break in not losing their wide receiver before the 2025 NFL season.</p><p>With Seahakws right tackle Abe Lucas healthy and a healthy batch of wide receivers, Sam Darnold will make his Seahawks debut with hopes of a promising 2025 NFL season.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Seahawks, Abe Lucas agree to $46 million contract extension

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-seahawks-bold-predictions-week-1-2025-nfl-season');   ga('set', 'title', '49ers vs. Seahawks bold predictions for Week 1 of 2025 NFL season');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/49ers-vs.jpg"></figure><h1>49ers vs. Seahawks bold predictions for Week 1 of 2025 NFL season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-01T21:45:26-07:00">September 1st, 9:45pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-01T21:45:26-07:00">September 1st, 9:45pm</time><address><a href="http://hoopnut.blogspot.com/">Enzo Flojo</a>Enzo Flojo is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints and a columnist for Asian basketball at FIBA. He brings a dynamic spirit and background, having expertise that spans writing, analytics, coaching, and broadcasting. He is also currently an Assistant Coach on Scouting &amp; Analytics for the Philippine national youth basketball team.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are set to renew one of the NFC West’s fiercest rivalries in Week 1. This time, the stage feels bigger than ever. San Francisco, a team with Super Bowl aspirations, travels north to face a Seattle squad in transition but hungry to prove it belongs in the playoff conversation. With a rowdy Lumen Field crowd behind them, the Seahawks aim to end a four-year home losing streak against their biggest rival. For the 49ers, it’s about making a statement that their championship window is still wide open.</p><h2><b>49ers and Seahawks meet in a heated NFC West opener</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Purdy-throws.jpg"><figcaption>D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>The 49ers and Seahawks square off <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401772831/49ers-seahawks">on Sunday, Sept. 7, at Lumen Field</a>, where the noise will be deafening and the stakes high. For Seattle, this game represents the dawn of a new era. It’s year two of Mike Macdonald’s <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-mike-macdonald-minor-kenneth-walker-iii-injury">tenure as head coach</a>. It’s also year one of Sam Darnold’s tenure as the team’s starting quarterback. Opening day in Seattle is always intense, but the prospect of knocking off San Francisco would electrify a fanbase desperate for momentum. After all, it’s been four long years since the Seahawks last beat the Niners at home.</p><p>The 49ers, meanwhile, enter 2025 with high expectations after retooling both their offense and defense. Kyle Shanahan’s squad remains loaded with stars like Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle. With Robert Saleh returning as defensive coordinator, San Francisco is determined to set the tone early in what many believe is a Super Bowl-or-bust campaign. Seattle wants to show it’s ready to compete for the division crown. San Francisco wants to show the gap between the two teams is as wide as ever.</p><p><i><b>*Watch NFL games LIVE with fuboTV <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/stream/football/?irad=356362&amp;irmp=492408" rel="noopener sponsored">(click for a free trial)*</a></b></i></p><p>Here we will look at and discuss some bold predictions for the game between the 49ers and the Seahawks in Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season.</p><h2><b>A sloppy first half</b></h2><p>Opening games are rarely clean. This one projects to follow that script. Both teams have undergone significant changes, particularly Seattle with a new offensive scheme and quarterback. Darnold <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-news-sam-darnold-preseason-debut">has the tools to succeed</a>. However, Week 1 against a fast, aggressive 49ers defense is a brutal way to begin. Don’t be surprised if missed throws, penalties, or turnovers define the first half.</p><p>For San Francisco, too, early jitters are possible. With so many stars coming back from injury-shortened 2024 seasons, rhythm might take time to establish. Expect a close, potentially messy first half. Field goals and stalled drives will dominate the scoreboard. As the game progresses, though, the difference in talent and continuity should begin to emerge.</p><h2><b>Jaxon Smith-Njigba has 70+ yards and a touchdown</b></h2><p>If there’s a bright spot for Seattle, it’s the ascension of Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Entering his third season, the young wideout is poised for another leap. Yes, Darnold may struggle against Saleh’s blitz-heavy schemes. That said, Smith-Njigba’s crisp route running and ability to create yards after the catch will give the Seahawks some much-needed sparks.</p><p>The 49ers’ secondary has talent but can be vulnerable to shifty receivers who thrive in space. Smith-Njigba is exactly that type of playmaker. Look for him to log at least 70 receiving yards and find the end zone once. He can keep Seattle within striking distance. If the Seahawks are going to have a chance at pulling off the upset, Smith-Njigba will have to deliver a big performance.</p><h2><b>Shanahan’s offense shines</b></h2><p>Brock Purdy is still one of the NFL’s best feel-good stories, but <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/49ers-news-josh-allen-curveball-impacted-brock-purdy-contract-talks">with his rise comes responsibility</a>. He now leads one of the league’s most talented offenses, ranked by pundits as second only to Baltimore. Even with Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, and Trent Williams all missing significant time last season, San Francisco still managed a top-five finish.</p><p>Now fully healthy, Kyle Shanahan has his entire arsenal at his disposal. Expect McCaffrey to shred Seattle’s run defense and Kittle to exploit mismatches against linebackers. The Seahawks’ offense remains a work in progress, while the 49ers’ unit runs like a finely tuned machine. Once Shanahan’s group hits its rhythm, this matchup could get lopsided in a hurry.</p><h2><b>Seahawks’ rally falls short as Niners win</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SAMD.jpg"><figcaption>Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images.</figcaption></figure><p>Seattle won’t roll over, though. With a packed house and the energy of a season opener, the Seahawks will fight to the end. Darnold will make a few gutsy throws, and Smith-Njigba will shine. Still, Robert Saleh’s return to San Francisco could not come at a better time. His attacking defense will overwhelm Seattle’s shaky offensive line. They will produce sacks and turnovers that swing the momentum firmly to the Niners.</p><p>In the end, the Seahawks’ rally will fall short. The 49ers simply have too much firepower and too much experience. Expect San Francisco to pull away late, winning by double digits—something like 27-16. It will be another frustrating night for Seattle fans, but for San Francisco, it will be exactly the kind of statement win they need to launch their season.</p><h2><b>Final thoughts</b></h2><p>The Seahawks want to prove they can hang with the 49ers in the NFC West race. The 49ers want to show they’re still the division’s dominant force. Indications point to a sloppy opening half, a breakout showing from Smith-Njigba, and an offensive showcase from Shanahan’s crew. Ultimately, though, San Francisco’s depth, talent, and coaching edge will decide the outcome.</p><p>The noise at Lumen Field will be loud. The fight will be real. But when the dust settles, the 49ers’ championship aspirations will look intact. Meanwhile, the Seahawks will still be searching for answers.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Nick
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Nick Kallerup

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Seahawks vs. Steelers bold predictions for Week 2 of 2025 NFL season

Seahawks most to blame for crushing Week 1 loss to 49ers

Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald reveals ‘need’ for Seattle offense

Mike Macdonald explains controversial 4th-down decision vs. 49ers

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan’s ‘no question’ Jake Moody stance after Seahawks win

• Seahawks elevates former starter for 49ers showdown

• Seahawks’ Jalen Milroe ‘is going to get opportunities’ in Week 1 vs. 49ers

• Seattle will have undercover cops at stadium to monitor fan behavior

• Seahawks, Abe Lucas agree to $46 million contract extension

• 49ers vs. Seahawks bold predictions for Week 1 of 2025 NFL season

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