Bump: Quit discrediting Seahawks’ big win over 49ers
Nov 18, 2024, 4:18 PM | Updated: 4:21 pm
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba celebrates after beating the 49ers on Sunday. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks finally conquered their Bay Area nemesis.
Closer Look at Seahawks: 10 encouraging numbers
Geno Smith capped a masterful drive by scrambling for a game-winning touchdown in the closing seconds, lifting Seattle to a dramatic 20-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara.
The victory kept the Seahawks alive in the wide-open NFC West, where they remain just one game out of first place. And it marked their first win over San Francisco since 2021, snapping a six-game skid against their most bitter rival.
But in the wake of Seattle’s milestone win, some were quick to diminish it, pointing to the numerous star players the 49ers were missing.
Two-time All-Pro tight end George Kittle, Pro Bowl cornerback Charvarius Ward and All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga were each out with injuries. So was star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. And midway through the third quarter, All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa exited with an oblique injury.
However, NFL wide receiver and Seahawks Radio Network analyst Michael Bumpus took issue with those discrediting the Seahawks’ win.
“As soon as the clock hits zeroes, people are saying, ‘Well, they got lucky. There was no George Kittle. Bosa didn’t play. Ayuik’s not out there,'” Bumpus said Monday on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. “And I go, ‘You are absolutely right. None of those players were available.’ So are the Seahawks supposed to say, ‘Actually, Niners, we’ll just give you this win because you don’t have your full team?’
“All across the league, guys get banged up,” he added. “You’re still gonna take those wins. Was it a different game because George Kittle wasn’t there and because Nick Bosa only played 26 snaps? Most definitely. … But this is the NFL. You play whoever is out there.”
Bumpus acknowledged that the Seahawks caught a break by facing a beat-up 49ers team, but argued that shouldn’t diminish all the good things they did on Sunday.
Seattle’s defense contained star running back Christian McCaffrey and held San Francisco to a season-low 277 total yards. Second-year wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba posted his second consecutive 100-yard game. And Smith shined once again in crunch time, delivering his seventh game-winning drive of the past two seasons.
“Every team that wins a game has some part of luck that happens to them,” Bumpus said. “But to just disregard what that defense did, to disregard what JSN did, to disregard Geno’s final drive to win the game is nuts to me.
“At the end of the day, if you can walk off a football field, off a court, off a course, anything, and you get that ‘W,’ you earned that and it’s because of what you did,” he added. “… You’ve still gotta put drives together, you’ve gotta get first downs, you’ve gotta get stops.”
Listen to the full conversation at this link or listen to the audio player in this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
More on Seattle Seahawks
• Geno Smith conquers rival, potentially saves Seattle Seahawks’ season
• ‘We could be something special’: Seattle Seahawks’ defense finding identity
• Brock & Salk detail the reasons Seahawks finally got the best of 49ers
• What Brock saw from Seattle Seahawks’ new-look O-line
• Observations from Seattle Seahawks’ dramatic 20-17 win over 49ers
