{"id":1021375,"date":"2026-10-07T20:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T20:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1021375\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T20:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T20:48:16","slug":"49ers-practice-updates-ahead-of-seattle-showdown-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1021375\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers practice updates ahead of Seattle showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2013 Moments before the Super Bowl kicked off and the Seattle Seahawks triumphed<\/a> on the 49ers\u2019 home field, coach Kyle Shanahan appeared on NBC Sports\u2019 pregame show<\/a> with his quick wit, wisdom, and humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s so hard about facing the Seahawks\u2019 defense?\u201d asked Chris Simms, an NBC Sports analyst and Shanahan\u2019s friend since their University of Texas days.<\/p>\n

Shanahan\u2019s response: \u201cI know you guys want my expert opinion but I haven\u2019t scored a touchdown on these guys the last two times we played them, so I don\u2019t know how good that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday made for a great time to revisit that question. The 49ers (4-0) put their undefeated record<\/a> and NFC West stature on the line Sunday against the Seahawks (3-1) in Seattle, where the 49ers got eliminated 41-6 in the divisional-round playoffs.<\/p>\n

So, coach, what\u2019s so hard about the Seahawks\u2019 defense?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow sound they are, yet still aggressive, if that makes sense,\u201d Shanahan replied Wednesday. \u201cWhen they\u2019re aggressive. It\u2019s tough to get big plays on them, run or pass. They make you work for everything. They have lot good players out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shanahan headed out of Levi\u2019s Stadium after halftime and before the Seahawks finished off the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX, recalling how \u201cit was tough\u201d watching.<\/p>\n

Linebacker Fred Warner, who also was part of NBC\u2019s pregame show, shrugged off whether the 49ers are extra motivated because of that Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the thing, there\u2019s always extra juice with them, regardless of what last year was,\u201d Warner said. \u201cThose divisional games truly just mean more. \u2026 Their stadium is one of those places where it\u2019s going to be hostile and what\u2019s what it kind of that (rivalry) thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since last season, Shanahan obviously has dissected film looking for ways to conquer Mike Macdonald\u2019s defense that also produced a 13-3 win over the 49ers in the regular-season finale. The Seahawks celebrated that win by smoking cigars in Levi\u2019s Stadium\u2019s visitors\u2019 locker room.<\/p>\n

Shanahan described the Seahawks\u2019 scheme as aggressive with a deep defensive front and back-end safeties who prevent big plays. \u201cThey play like overachievers because of how hard they go, but it\u2019s more than that, they\u2019re very talented,\u201d Shanahan added.<\/p>\n

PRACTICE REPORT<\/p>\n

Not participating Wednesday were defensive linemen Nick Bosa (calf) and James Thompson (ankle), fullback Kyle Juszczyk (knee), and, safety Marques Sigle (ankle). Limited: Defensive end Mykel Williams (knee), wide receiver Mike Evans (ribs), cornerback Upton Stout (shoulder), and and running back Kaelon Black (illness).<\/p>\n

WILLIAMS\u2019 COMEBACK\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams, last year\u2019s first-round pick, has made it through the \u201credundant\u201d process of anterior cruciate ligament repair to likely make his season debut Sunday against the Seahawks. \u201cI don\u2019t care who was (the next opponent). I\u2019m just\u00a0 ready to play ball,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI\u2019ve been sitting down too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

After saying he didn\u2019t play up to his best ability last season with one sack in nine games, Williams looks and feels ready to impress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel quicker. I\u2019m around the same weight but toned it up with my diet and how I worked this offseason,\u201d added Williams, who called it \u201chuge\u201d for a Georgia native who cut out peach cobbler and ice cream. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to eat bad so I cut out sweets and added more protein.\u201d<\/p>\n

PETTIS OUT, EX-RAM IN<\/p>\n

Wide receiver Dante Pettis got moved to the practice squad\u2019s Injured Reserve list because of a calf injury he sustained in his second practice last week. Taking his spot is Xavier Smith, who got waived Friday by the Rams after inconsistent plays on special teams since 2024.<\/p>\n

Smith ironically joins the 49ers as they head to Seattle, where his muffed punt return in last season\u2019s NFC Championship Game helped trigger the Rams\u2019 downfall. He averaged 9.4 yards on 50 punt returns and 23.1 yards on 26 kick returns over his three-year tenure.<\/p>\n

The 49ers rank 31st in punt return average (4.2 yards), but Jacob Cowing has only returned five and fair caught three. Their kick-return unit is 19th with a 25.5-yard average, including nine by Deebo Samuel (25.7 yards per return) and two by Cowing (25.0 ypr).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2013 Moments before the Super Bowl kicked off and the Seattle Seahawks triumphed on the 49ers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1021376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,2947,1926,1443,7,1921,929,6,1161,252,2624,2623,7910,1929,1930,9],"class_list":["post-1021375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco-49ers","tag-49ers","tag-49ers-hq","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-football","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sanfrancisco","tag-sanfrancisco49ers","tag-santa-clara","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117401596982771979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1021376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}