Three things to know about the Seahawks’ Week 11 opponent

The bye week was needed for the Seattle Seahawks, but they’ll have to hit the ground running if they want to get their season back on track.

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The 4-5 Seahawks take on the 5-4 San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Seattle is attempting to pick up just its second win since starting the season 3-0, while also trying to end a six-game slide in its heated NFC West rival series with the 49ers.

A win and a loss by the Arizona Cardinals would put the Seahawks in a position to be playing for at least a share of first place in the division next week at home against Arizona. A loss against San Francisco would move Seattle to 0-3 in divisional play and would severely hinder its chances of reaching the playoffs.

During Thursday’s edition of Bump and Stacy, NBC Sports 49ers beat writer Jennifer Lee Chan joined The Huddle to discuss the upcoming matchup. Here’s a look at three interesting things she said about San Francisco.

No load management for CMC

Star running back Christian McCaffrey made his season debut last week in the 49ers’ 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

McCaffrey, the NFL’s leader in rushing and yards from scrimmage and Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year last season, missed San Francisco’s first eight games while on injured reserve with Achilles tendinitis.

With the stellar play of backups Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo in McCaffrey’s absence, it was expected that he could see limited action against Tampa Bay. But there appeared to be no limitations on the 28-year-old running back in his first action of the season. He was in on 56 plays and 88% of the team’s offensive snaps, while totaling 39 yards on 13 carries and 68 yards on six receptions.

“He says he’s 100% now. It wasn’t a great game for him (running the ball), but he was very active in the passing game,” Chan said. “… That Tampa Bay defensive line is pretty stout with (former UW Huskies standout) Vita Vea on it. So I didn’t expect him to get a ton of yards, but he was on the field more than I thought he was going to be. I thought they were going to ease him in a little bit more. … They really kind of leaned on Christian McCaffrey, and I think it depends on the down and distance whether they keep him in or not. But third downs, for sure, they’re going to keep him on the field.”

Beef squashed

San Francisco made some headlines for the wrong reasons last week after star wide receiver Deebo Samuel and long snapper Taybor Pepper got into a heated conversation on the sideline following Samuel confronting kicker Jake Moody for missing his third field goal of the game.

Pepper confronted Samuel and the wide receiver proceeded to grab Pepper by the neck and swipe at Moody as he walked away. Pepper then started shouting and walking after Samuel on the sideline.

The incident occurred late in the fourth quarter while San Francisco was leading 20-17. Tampa Bay tied the game, but Moody redeemed himself by making a 44-yard game-winner as time expired in regulation.

“It was an interesting moment because this team is really known for not pointing fingers,” Chan said. “… It was an emotional game and they’ve (blown leads) before this season. They’ve been on a roller coaster during games (and) two other times they’ve come out losers. … So you can kind of see where (Samuel) was coming from, but obviously not the best way to talk to your teammates. It’s all squashed now, everybody’s fine and Kyle Shanahan spoke yesterday and said that it was a little bit of an overreaction by Deebo and also a little bit of an overreaction by Tabor Pepper.”

San Francisco’s emerging rookie

The Seahawks didn’t get a chance to see rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall in the first meeting between the rivals but will face him for the first time Sunday.

Pearsall, the 49ers’ first-round draft pick, missed San Francisco’s first six games after he was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in San Francisco on Aug. 31.

The Florida product made his season debut in Week 7 and has hauled in 11 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown while adding a 39-yard rush in the three games since his debut. His return became even more important for San Francisco when standout wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk suffered season-ending tears to his ACL and MCL during Pearsall’s first game.

“He is an unbelievable route runner,” Chan said. “… He’s kind of one of those film junkies who really watches all the route running and is so good at every position. I think he’s just going to get better. He is really smooth in coming out of his breaks, and his chemistry he is building with (quarterback) Brock Purdy is really going to be evident as the season progresses.”

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.

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