The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers are set to meet again after the Niners beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round on Jan. 11. Meanwhile, the Seahawks spent their bye week observing the results from the sidelines.
Nonetheless, after it was all said and done, it’s Round 3 with the 49ers. The Niners won the first meeting in Week 1, while the Seahawks took the second matchup in Week 18, which had more stakes, as the victory allowed Seattle to secure the NFC West division and the No. 1 seed in the conference.
Both teams will now look for their second win this season and book their ticket to the NFC title game. Ahead of the divisional round matchup, Jauan Jennings, who had a passing touchdown in the win over Philadelphia, issued a two-word response to the Seahawks.
“Can’t wait!” Jennings said when speaking to reporters about facing Seattle again (h/t SportsCenter).
Moreover, the Niners added to their injury list, with George Kittle going down with a torn Achilles tendon. Jennings also spoke about the team’s mental toughness in overcoming the Kittle injury.
“I think it just shows the resilience of this team all year,” Jennings told NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. “That’s what we’ve been dealing with, injuries, next man up. And this team, I think, we just live by that.”
Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald on Facing 49ers a Third Time
Meanwhile, on Jan. 11, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald appeared on the NFL on NBC and shared his thoughts about playing the 49ers for a third time this season. Both teams know one another, so they might need to go deep into their playbook to surprise the opposition.
“Well, it’s been a heck of a couple of days because every six hours it feels like we change out who we think we’re going to play,” Macdonald told NBC Sports’ Maria Taylor on FaceTime.
“So it’s just nice to know who we finally have. And it’s a little funky going against a team two games in a row. So we got to do a great job of debriefing and having some answers, knowing that Kyle will have some stuff dialed up for us.”
Mike Macdonald on Needing to Beat the 49ers a Second Time
Additionally, Macdonald noted what his team must do to beat the 49ers a second time this season. Seattle’s defense overwhelmed the 49ers’ offense in the second meeting, which allowed the Seahawks to leave the Bay Area with the win.
“They’re a heck of a team,” Macdonald added. “We’ve got to play great situational football. They’re so good on third down on both sides. The special teams, like the starting field position, were a big part of the last game. So we did a great job taking care of the ball on offense. We attacked it on defense. We got to be able to do that back at Lumen.”
It will be interesting to see how this matchup unfolds, but with three NFC West teams in the divisional round, whoever comes out of this Seahawks-49ers game could face a familiar foe in the Los Angeles Rams, who are facing the Chicago Bears in the other matchup.
Seahawks Get Two-Word Message From 49ers’ Jauan Jennings