Top 3 storylines heading into Seahawks versus 49ers on Thursday Night Football

In their first divisional match-up of the season, the Seattle Seahawks face a short week as Seattle hosts the San Francisco 49ers in an early-season game that will determine the first-seed in the NFC West. Seattle (3-2) looks to snap their two-game losing streak as San Francisco (2-3) looks to get their young season back on track.

Both teams have been awful over the last few weeks. On Sunday, Seattle lost to the New York Giants at home in one of the most frustrating games I've ever watched. The Niners, not to be outdone, blew a late lead to yet another division opponent and fell to the Arizona Cardinals to fall to 2-3. Both Seattle and San Francisco are ice cold heading into Thursday night.

However, just two short weeks ago, Seattle was 3-0, and this game felt like it would be two of the top superpowers in the NFC clashing in a game to determine who the best team in the conference is. A lot has changed in the past two weeks, and this game is now less of a clash of two titans and more of a desperation match between two teams trying to stop some heavy bleeding.

Will Ryan Grubb remember the Seahawks employ running backs?

Last Monday night in Detroit, Seattle appeared to abandon the run. You could rationalize that decision as the ground game wasn't too productive, and the Seahawks fell behind by two scores fairly early. Seattle had a lot to make up for, and Geno Smith was brilliant with the ball in his hands. As Seattle kept falling behind a seemingly unstoppable Detroit Lions offense, it was halfway forgivable to abandon the run.

However, this past Sunday was a completely different story. The New York Giants weren't scoring at will, nor were the Seahawks down early. In fact, Seattle led, or was tied, for almost the entire first half. For no discernible reason, running back Kenneth Walker was completely taken out of the game plan, and the Seahawks simply stopped running the football, even as Geno Smith was assaulted by the New York pass rush all day long, culminating in seven total sacks.

As the Giants strolled into the end zone to end the game following a blocked field goal attempt in the closing minute of the game, Walker had only been given five carries. The leading rusher for Seattle was Geno Smith, with 72 yards, on four non-designed carries. Unless there's some undisclosed injury to both Walker and Zach Charbonnet, completely abandoning the run for two straight games is totally inexcusable from the first-year offensive coordinator.

San Francisco has a mean pass rush, but they're not as effective in defending the run. If Ryan Grubb continues to call a one-dimensional offense and Smith has over 40 pass attempts for no reason again, Grubb will have singlehandedly lost the game for the Seahawks. As one of the most explosive, dynamic, and ,frankly, one of the best backs in the league, there is no rational reason for Walker to have no role in this very consequential game.

Will Brock Purdy and the 49ers continue to dice up the Seattle defense?

Over the past 120 minutes of Seahawks football, opposing quarterbacks are a combined 41/52 passing (79 percent) for 549 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions.

No matter the personnel or the injuries, this is unacceptable for Seattle. Those two quarterbacks were Jared Goff and Daniel Jones, but they were not exactly world-beaters. Over the past two weeks, the Seattle defense looks beyond worse than the 2023 defense, which got Pete Carroll and almost every other coach fired. Across every level of the defense, from the defensive line to the linebackers and all the way to the defensive backs, this defense has been embarrassing.

49ers quarterback Brock Purdy isn't exactly having an All-Pro season, but he's looked very good at times this season. Purdy's biggest issue this season has been turning the ball over and throwing four interceptions in five games. On the flip side, the Seahawks have not only struggled to force interceptions over the past couple of games, but they've also been having issues forcing any incompletions at all. Last Monday night, Jared Goff completed 18 of his 18 attempted passes, an impressively pathetic statistic for Seattle's defense.

Brock Purdy, in his three games against Seattle in his career, has been dominant. Purdy owns a 109.2 passer rating with 794 yards, 5 touchdowns, and only two interceptions in his career against the Seahawks. If Seattle can't manage to cover the talented San Francisco receivers enough to force at least a few incompletions, the Seahawks don't have a chance to even make this game close.

Both teams are still pretty injured

This has been a very weird start to the season. Almost every single team in the league is dealing with significant injuries, including both the Seahawks and Niners. On Thursday night, both teams will be without key players.

Starting with San Francisco, their injury report is quite lengthy. All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey remains on injured reserve with a bizarre Achilles injury that saw McCaffrey travel to Germany to consult with doctors. Fellow All-Pro player, linebacker Fred Warner, is listed as questionable whilst dealing with an ankle injury that he played through this past Sunday.

Kicker Jake Moody has been ruled out with a high-ankle sprain suffered this past Sunday. Other notable players that appear on the Niners' injury report include tight end George Kittle, cornerback Charvarious Ward, safety Talanoa Hufanga, and rookie first-round wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, who remains out after being shot in the offseason.

The Seahawks aren't much healthier. Rookie first-rounder Byron Murphy has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, and his status is still up in the air for Thursday. Edge rusher Boye Mafe is also listed as questionable with a knee injury. Fellow edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu, following a 12-month absence, was once again placed on injured reserve this past Sunday.

Starting safety Julian Love is still present on the injury report following a thigh injury. One of the only edge rushers left for Seattle, Derick Hall, who's had a very strong season, is also questionable to play with a foot injury suffered on Sunday. And to top it all off, cornerback Riq Woolen's status is in doubt after exiting Sunday's game with an ankle injury.

On the offensive side of the ball, starting right tackle Abraham Lucas still remains out with a lingering knee issue. His backup, George Fant, was placed on injured reserve, so Seattle is down to their third-string right tackle, Stone Forsythe, who was a turnstile on Sunday.

Injuries are never an excuse, but neither team will be entirely healthy for this early divisional game. Hopefully, for both teams' sakes, they'll get a healthier match-up later on in the season in Santa Clara - and hopefully, the stakes will be just as high.