McCaffrey's return elevates the 49ers' offense headed into their matchup vs. the Seahawks

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The season debut of Christian McCaffrey helped make the San Francisco 49ers' offense look more like it did a year ago than it did in an up-and-down first half of the season.

McCaffrey's presence helped create space in the passing game for the rest of San Francisco's playmakers, leading to more big plays and more yards after the catch than the Niners were able to create for the first two months of the season.

“The better the player is, the more space it helps for other people,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. "If it isn’t helping other people, then it’s the more space that player has. So, the more great players you can have out there, the better looks everyone’s going to have.”

The Niners (5-4) hope that carries over this week when they host the Seattle Seahawks (4-5) on Sunday in a key game in the NFC West race.

Tampa Bay focused on stopping the run and held McCaffrey to 39 yards on 13 carries. But he had 68 yards receiving and Brock Purdy was able to take advantage of the favorable matchups in the passing game to get the 23-20 win.

San Francisco had a season-high with 172 yards after the catch after ranking near the bottom of the league in that category while McCaffrey was sidelined the first eight games because of Achilles tendinitis.

The Niners also had a season-best five pass plays that went for at least 30 yards, spreading that around to five players as defenses have a harder time keying on any one player.

That provides a bigger challenge to Seattle's defense than what they faced last month when they struggled to slow down the Niners, allowing 483 yards and 7.3 yards per play in a 36-24 loss at home in Week 6 that was their sixth straight defeat in this series.

“I think you’re probably more likely to get Christian in funkier spots that they normally didn’t do with the other running backs or really any other running back in the league,” coach Mike Macdonald said. "So those are things you have to account for and really any situation. So they do a great job of, everybody kind of knows all the different spots and they don’t lose timing or anything like that. So that’s what you’re looking at.”

Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf returned to practice this week and could be in line to make his first appearance since spraining his MCL in Seattle’s win over Atlanta on Oct. 20. While Metcalf had only one missed game in the first five seasons of his NFL career, it wasn’t mentally difficult for him to sit out Seattle’s subsequent losses against Buffalo and the Los Angeles Rams.

“I wasn’t 100 percent, I knew I couldn’t go out there and be the best version of myself, just for myself and the team," Metcalf said. "So I mean, it was an easy decision for me. Nothing mental was going on, it was just hard on game days, sitting back and having a watch just kind of a different perspective.”

The Niners would have put up more points last week except for three missed field goals by Jake Moody than almost cost them the game.

Moody missed wide left from 49 yards in the second quarter, wide left from 50 yards in the fourth quarter and wide right from 44 yards out in the fourth. The last miss led to a highly visible sideline spat between receiver Deebo Samuel and long snapper Taybor Pepper.

But Moody responded and made a 44-yard field goal on the final play to give the Niners the win.

“It wasn’t the easiest place to kick in,” Shanahan said. "The wind was weird, especially the direction that he missed the stuff. It was different. But it was a few big kicks and came back and hit his first game-winner on a walk off. I thought he finished it well and we’ll move on to next week with it.”

Seattle's Coby Bryant is still learning how to play safety, and he seems happy with his progress midway through his first full season at the position.

Drafted as a cornerback in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft, Bryant had a breakout rookie season, with 70 tackles, four forced fumbles, and two sacks, but suffered through an injury-riddled 2023 before making the switch to safety this past offseason.

Bryant has 28 tackles, three passes defensed and one interception so far this season in his first action at safety at any level.

“Obviously, there’s always things I can get better at,” Bryant said. “You know, that’s the biggest thing right now, that I’m still trying to get better, but feel like I’m doing pretty well.”

Niners defensive end Nick Bosa has thrived against Seattle, with 8 1/2 sacks in his last seven regular-season games against the Seahawks. But he likely won't be at 100% on Sunday after injuring his hip in practice last week.

Bosa gutted it through the game against the Bucs and did get a key sack in the fourth quarter.

“It’s probably the worst thing I’ve had to play through,” he said. “But, hopefully, I’m able to rest it up this week and get back out there.”

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