Which Seahawks need to have great games vs 49ers? Bump weighs in

Nov 14, 2024, 9:35 AM

Charles Cross of the Seattle Seahawks sets up to block during a 2024 game. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

BY ZAC HERETH

Seattle Sports

After losing five of their past six games, the Seattle Seahawks have a chance to get their season back on track Sunday.

Seattle Seahawks-San Francisco 49ers Week 11 Info: TV, radio, announcers, uniforms, more

That will be easier said than done, though, as the Seahawks are traveling south to take on the two-time defending NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers.

San Francisco beat Seattle 36-24 at Lumen Field during Week 6 and has won six straight games against the Seahawks dating back to the 2022 season.

How can Seattle flip the script in its bitter rivalry series? During his Four Down Territory segment on Wednesday’s edition of Bump and Stacy, Seahawks Radio Network analyst Michael Bumpus highlighted a couple of players who will be key for the team to turn the tables this weekend in Santa Clara, Calif. Those players will be tasked with trying to slow down star 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa.

“He is a baller, so you’re looking at the (offensive) tackles,” Bumpus said. “Charles Cross needs to play like the No. 6 offensive lineman in the game. If Abe Lucas is there, he has to play like the Abe Lucas that we’ve seen. Nick Bosa is gonna cause some trouble, man.”

Bosa hasn’t put up the same sort of eye-popping sack numbers he did during his 18 1/2-sack campaign in 2022 when he was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He has 5 1/2 sacks and eight tackles for loss through nine games, but the Ohio State product is still the same dangerous player he’s been for years.

Nick Bosa said GIMME THAT.

📺 #AZvsSF on FOX
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4nCVJ pic.twitter.com/KOXKoPnrwH

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 6, 2024

According to Pro Football Focus, Bosa is the fifth-best edge rusher in the league this season with an overall defensive grade of 90.4. His 49 total pressures and 33 quarterback hurries are both second in the league, and he’s tied for fifth with 10 quarterback hits.

In his first matchup against the Seahawks this season, Bosa wreaked havoc while mostly lined up across from third-string right tackle Stone Forsythe. Bosa didn’t have a sack in that game, but he had a whopping 14 pressures, which tied a career high and is twice as many as his next-closest total in 2024.

However, Bosa won’t be lining up across for Forsythe, who is on injured reserve, on Sunday.

Seattle is hoping it will be in better shape at right tackle this weekend after designating starter Lucas to return from the physically unable to perform list on Wednesday. Head coach Mike Macdonald said Monday that Lucas playing this weekend was a “realistic expectation.”

Lucas grabbed the starting job at right tackle as a rookie in 2022 but played just six games in 2023 and has missed all of this season after having offseason knee surgery.

If Lucas is unable to play or needs to be a part of a rotation in his first game back in nearly a full year, that would likely mean Bosa would get reps against rookie Michael Jerrell, a sixth-round pick who has made two starts this season. Jerrell’s 40.3 overall PFF grade ranks last among 10 qualified rookie tackles, and he has allowed 12 pressures and three sacks in 113 pass-blocking snaps.

If Bosa spends time on the other side of line, he’ll be matched up with the Seahawks’ best lineman in Cross. The third-year pro out of Mississippi State has the sixth-highest PFF grade among offensive tackles at 84.6 and has allowed just one sack this season. He surrendered three pressures in the initial meeting with San Francisco.

“If I’m the 49ers, I’m lining up Nick Bosa and (inside linebacker) Fred Warner and I’m stunting them,” Bumpus said. “I’m sending Nick Bosa inside to mess with those guards. I’m sending Fred Warner outside. I’m using the safeties as well. You stunt with Nick Bosa and then you use them in the bull rush, he’s going to make this offensive line have to think about where he is at all times, man. Nick Bosa is a baller and we gotta see him. So you tackles, you guards, if they stunt them, you gotta have yourself a good game.

“But I can say that every single week about this line. If they have a good game, this team has a chance to win. If they don’t, it’s gonna be a tough day for the squad.”

Listen to the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.