Rich: What the 49ers Proved in Outlasting the Seahawks in Their Week 5 NFC West Showdown

On a weekend full of rubbernecking and train wrecks, 49ers at Seahawks was the actual game of the day. Rich knew it would be.

The history explained why. The last time San Francisco played in Seattle, the 49ers lost a playoff game on the opening kickoff when Rashid Shaheed returned it for a touchdown. "It was over. It was a wrap," Rich said. That came two weeks after Seattle went into San Francisco on a Saturday night, despite the 49ers' mounting injuries and having lost Brock Purdy to a toe injury, and hit them in the mouth to take away the one seed. And it wasn't even Seattle's last trip to the 49ers' home that season. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl in the 49ers' house, using their locker room to do it.

So the stakes were real. San Francisco came in 4-0, Seattle 3-1. A Niners win meant a massive leg up in what Rich called the so-called toughest division in football. A Seahawks win meant first place and a home division game already held.

What everyone got was wild. Seven combined turnovers, the most in a game this season. Thirty-eight combined points off those turnovers, the most since the Saints and Lions combined for 42 in 2017. Rich admitted he didn't Google it, he "didn't go full Cignetti," but he was comfortable going out on a limb that the stakes were higher this time.

Then Rich got to the 49ers themselves. Every year, he said, it's like a Mad Lib: they keep winning despite losing "proper name of football player who's hurt." What they have is a top-notch head coach with offensive brilliance, players who fit the scheme, and a handful of Pro Football Hall of Famers still in cleats and pads. Christian McCaffrey is one. George Kittle is another. Trent Williams is another.

Purdy is playing like an MVP, Rich said, even in his second game of the season with an interception. He came in with just one pick and no sacks, then threw one and took three sacks in Seattle. "But he kept on ticking," Rich said.

And there's the newest one. "His name is Mike Evans," Rich said. "In case you're wondering."

Rich believes Evans is playing his way into the rarefied air of a sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer at receiver, the territory reserved for the Larry Fitzgeralds and Randy Mosses of the world. Evans now has 112 career touchdowns, 111 of them receiving, plus a fumble recovery touchdown from his Bucs days. Last year in Tampa he played half the season and caught three touchdowns. This year he already has three.

The key is availability. Evans is constantly battling something, usually a soft tissue injury, this time a rib. But when he shows up, practices and plays, Rich said, "it electrifies the team." In Seattle, Evans caught seven passes for 113 yards and a touchdown to push the 49ers to 5-0.

"This is what I'm here for," Evans said afterward. "Nothing's really promised in this game, and if you're available to play and go out there for your team and try to do your best to help get a win, I mean, that's what I'm going to do. And that's what a lot of guys on this team have been doing, playing through injuries and putting it all out there."

Rich pointed out there's at least one Hall of Famer on the defense, too. Fred Warner sounded like a fan describing Evans. "Just a walking aura," Warner said. "I'm on the sideline watching him do crazy stuff. I'm like, we have Mike Evans. Like, I can't believe it. He really doesn't say anything. He just shows up every week and just works. And then goes out there on Sunday and just dominates you."

Rich immediately asked if the crew would refer to him as "walking aura," just for the rest of the day. The studio informed him you can't give yourself a nickname.

Evans may not talk much in practice, but he talks to other people. During the game he and Seattle's Trevon Diggs started barking at each other, and Evans flipped Diggs around to look at the nameplate on the back of his jersey. Diggs mushed him. Rich gave the officials credit for not flagging either player.

Evans explained it afterward. "I was blocking him until the whistle, and then he said something like I'm doing extra," Evans said. "I didn't know that was him at first, because I played against him a few times and we always been cool. In the helmet it's hard to tell sometimes. And then I was like, 'Who are you?' And I looked to make sure. I was like, 'Oh, it's Diggs.' And then he mushed me. That should have been a penalty."

That reminded Rich of his own version. Back in his SportsCenter days, he regularly did Braves highlights in the voice of longtime announcer Skip Caray, and he heard Caray knew about it and didn't love it. So at the 1999 World Series between the Yankees and the Braves, in the concourse at the old Yankee Stadium, Rich walked up to introduce himself and explain that he did it out of respect. Caray grabbed the press pass hanging around Rich's neck, looked at the name, said "Oh, okay. Thank you," and walked away.

"I took it as disrespect," Rich said. "Cuz he knew exactly who I was."

The rematch is Seattle at San Francisco in Week 12, which Rich figures Fox protected with all its life. It lands on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, when the current Sunday Night Football game is Patriots at Chargers. The studio's one-word response: flex.

Seattle had two moments that could have flipped this one. Jaxon Smith-Njigba dropped a ball he normally catches. Brady screamed in the booth, and Rich screamed at home, because JSN, "the king of catch and yak," usually turns that into a big gain if not a score.

The other was a Cooper Kupp leap for the line to gain that was ruled short. Rich thought it was a first down "1,000 percent," and his bigger complaint was the process. The official who made the call came running from behind the play, out of bounds, not even looking down the line. Rich wanted that official to plant a foot, get on the headset and get help before making a call everyone knew was going to replay.

The studio did not agree. One voice insisted the call was right and the ball was out of bounds when Kupp stretched. Rich countered that you can't tell from the angle, and that the official had as bad a view as anyone at home. He also floated a fix: treat the first down marker like the goal line.

With a break coming, the debate ended where these always do. "We'll just agree to disagree," Rich said. Either way, Rich's old rule applies: you have to play better than the refs, and on this day, the 49ers did.