The last time the San Francisco 49ers were in Seattle, they were thoroughly embarrassed. From the opening kickoff, the Niners were dominated in every phase of the game and ultimately lost 41-6.
Now they will face the reigning Super Bowl champions, knowing that the last two meetings between the teams have been completely one-sided and that Seattle's head coach Mike Macdonald has had Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy's number in recent years.
Fortunately, there are reasons to believe this week's matchup will go differently. The Niners have two receivers on the roster who were not with San Francisco last season: Deebo Samuel and Mike Evans. The most glaring weakness San Francisco had against Seattle last season was the lack of weapons Purdy had at his disposal.
Jauan Jennings was the team's best receiver, and after seeing his utter lack of production so far this season with the Minnesota Vikings, it is pretty obvious that he is not a No. 1 receiver. Now the Niners have a true No. 1 receiver in Evans, but they also have Samuel, who looks like his old self and has owned Seattle in the past, especially on the road.
49ers' Deebo Samuel has ownage against rival Seahawks
In Samuel's three trips to Lumen Field in the past, he has had big games. In his rookie season during Week 17, with the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line, Samuel caught five passes for 102 yards and also had a 33-yard touchdown run.
Four years later on Thanksgiving, Samuel had seven catches for 79 yards and a rushing touchdown. That was back when the Niners were dominating Seattle and got to eat turkey on their home field, a nice bit of redemption after the Seahawks did the same to San Francisco in 2014.
The next season, Samuel had 102 receiving yards and a touchdown versus the Seahawks as the Niners won fairly easily, so any time San Francisco has had Samuel on the field on the road against Seattle since 2019, they have defeated them.
That doesn't guarantee that the Niners will come out on top this upcoming Sunday, but having an X-factor like Samuel, who can be used in so many different ways and can hurt opponents in countless ways, really does make a difference.
The Niners will need the offensive line to continue its tremendous play thus far so that Purdy can get the ball to Samuel and his other receivers, but having a weapon like Deebo out there is going to make a difference and could help San Francisco avoid a repeat of its last two meetings with Seattle.
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