2022 Week 15: 49ers 21, Seahawks 13 (Dynasty/Fantasy Analysis Game Report)
Football justice was served, as the 49ers handled the Seahawks to take the NFC West crown…and bounced Seattle out of the (current) playoffs. It took a while, but Seattle is collapsing back to the pack and the 49ers are ascending to among the top NFL teams.
Credit Seattle for hanging around in this game. The 49ers took a 7-0 lead in the 1st-quarter…on their way to an eventual 21-3 lead in the 4th-quarter, but Seattle kept fighting…didn't let the game get truly out of hand, then with 3:35 remaining the Seahawks cut the lead to one score but couldn't stop the 49ers from there. The 49ers were definitely the more dominant team here, but Seattle gave it all they had…they just aren't on the 49ers' level.
The 49ers are now (10-4) winners of seven in-a-row. Potentially the best team in the NFL…likely to win out and be (13-4) to make a case for a #1 seed. All that, while going through three starting QBs (so far). Kyle Shanahan goes from being mocked to arguably the NFL Coach of the Year.
Seattle falls to (7-7) and Pete Carroll losing all his momentum for Coach of the Year, that he had all but sewn up a few weeks ago. The Seahawks have KC-NYJ the next two weeks, which should be two losses…and thus dumps them out of the playoff race completely. Amazing season, when you really think about it, but peaked early and is now old, disappointing news.
*Note any fractional numbers in parentheses (4/2) or (2/3), etc., are a 'split' stat on our definition of a 'quality start' (or not) marker on a player -- using 14 PPR points in a game for RB-WR-TE and 21 for a QB…point levels that are good/productive/well above average starts for a Fantasy week. Trying to identify trends, consistency (or not) in players we might not normally realize.
A (3/2), for example, means: 3 times the player hit at/above the mark, and 2 times they did not.
Fantasy Player Notes…
-- I'm cracking up and pissed at the Brock Purdy (17-26 for 217 yards, 2 TDs/0 INT) analysis in the media.
Why is it that everyone thinks it's so hilarious to make fun of the way he looks? He's not a giant physical presence. He has a young face. Because he doesn't 'look' like the way want QBs to look, the media default mode is mock him with silly visual jokes…and it doesn't help that the idiotic NFL thinks it's high comedy to call one of their draft picks 'Mr. Irrelevant'.
My first move as the new NFL Commissioner would be to award the NFL Sunday Ticket to Amazon and then my next move would be to ban the totally ridiculous 'Mr. Irrelevant' thing. It's so degrading…I'm shocked that we live in a world where everything offends everybody, but we can totally call this human being a literal disposable piece of garbage and it be OK. Am I the only one super-offended by the NFL labeling its own in such a manner. Getting drafted into the NFL is an honor. Do they call the last person hired in your company 'Mr. Irrelevant'?
Lighten up…it's fun! Ha-ha! How would you enjoy it if your total public-to-the-entire-company nickname at work was 'Mr. Irrelevant'?
Any whooo…
The asleep at the switch, unaware of anything really happening in the NFL, media were scared to death of the 49ers being forced into Purdy a few weeks ago…because how could a 'Mr. Irrelevant' be any good? Thus the lower SF favored point spreads the last two weeks.
If THEY would have watched his Week 13 forced debut, they would've seen a legit NFL QB ready-to-go. If they would've watched the preseason, they could've seen the potential already there. Some probably did watch…they just have no idea to judge what they are looking at. But NOW they're warmed all the way up to 'he can just manage the game well'. That's their big compliment. They can't see what's happening because the draft position classically conditions THEIR brains on what to think.
I'll repeat what I said after his Week 13 debut -- he's already better for this offense than Jimmy G. Better arm, aggressiveness, and downfield accuracy. It seems impossible when you use your last 5-50+ years of football classical conditioning mindset on this…but football is changing so fast that our preconceived notions on 'how things work around here' all needs to be thrown in the trash. Every/any long-time football theory or notion is obsolete every 1-2 years now.
All that to say…Purdy is really very good. He deserves more than jokes from the media or 'hey, this guy is pretty good' wink-wink pats on the head, backward compliments. He's not an 'A', but he's not a 'D', not even close. He's a C+ trying to be a 'B', and might be a 'B' already given the perfect surroundings he's playing in.
-- Geno Smith (31-44 for 238 yards, 1 TD/0 INT) has had a QB1 season in 2022, unbelievably…but he's earned it, he's been playing well. He was under assault all game here and didn't have a good FF game, as expected, but it just shows his growth/ability that he didn't get totally destroyed by the SF defense.
Another tough draw Week 16 at NYJ…I fear a similar FF output a la Week 15, but he will have an axe to grind against the Jets…it sounds good but the Jets defense isn't going to care about that.
-- Kenneth Walker (12-47-0, 4-32-0/5) was fully cleared for this game, and he looked fine enough…it's just the 49ers defense is becoming un-runnable-on. Walker had nowhere to go and was struggling for any FF points but got some cheap targets and almost took his last target for a house call, knocked out a few years short on a long catch and run.
A little better, not great, matchup Week 15 v. NYJ.
-- Seattle may have lost Tyler Lockett (7-68-0/9) for the season…a broken finger in this game. He is planning to have surgery to try and get back for Week 16…but that seems like a stretch. In his absence, it's a big boost for Marquise Goodwin (2-10-0/4) who has been doing WR3 work as the 3rd WR here…now he'll step up to be a 2nd option WR. He's a real WR2 of interest with upside for Week 16.
Goodwin has 4 TDs in his last 7 games and has two 20+ point PPR games this season. He's no slouch...he still has NFL speed, but he's also a savvy veteran WR.
-- No Deebo this week, and we didn't see any big moves/shifts in the passing game. Everything is McCaffrey-based (26-108-1, 6-30-0/8) for SF, especially when they're in control, so the remainder of non-CMC targets/touches are doled out lightly to 'the others'.
Brandon Aiyuk (2-19-0/4) had an FF-dud. George Kittle (4-93-2/5) was a star, but it was lower target based and nothing electric, just simple passes with Kittle doing some nice things with it after the catch. No real 'favorite' receiver option has stood out for Purdy…which is fine…but hurts for FF purposes, to try and predict week-to-week for the WRs/TEs.
-- The 49ers-DST put up another gem here. When they started rolling a few weeks ago, I didn't see the full dominance…more a good defense vs. bad/weaker QBs. But the last few games, I've gotten onboard fully. Squashing Tampa Bay Week 14 didn't surprise me, because the Tampa offense is dreadful -- but their suffocating ways versus Brady just carried over to boxing in a very good Geno Smith/2022 this game for 55+ minutes. Seattle was mostly helpless every drive, every snap…couldn't run the ball and Geno was getting heat most drop backs. It was impressive.
Easy schedule ahead for the SF-DST: WSH-LV-ARI, but they may not have any real motivation to play the next few weeks if they can't catch the Eagles for the #1 seed, and thus they can rest/rotate defenders the next week, maybe two, before totally shutting it down Week 18.
Snap Counts of Interest:
48 = K Walker
16 = Homer
57 = McCaffrey
07 = Mason
