Even after all their struggles on offense over the first 58 minutes, the Seattle Seahawks still had a chance at the end.
‘Not the start that we wanted’ for Seahawks’ offense
Trailing 17-13 with just under a minute to go in Sunday’s season opener, Seattle was facing a second-and-5 from the San Francisco 9-yard line. Sam Darnold, who led five game-winning drives with the Minnesota Vikings last year, seemed on the verge of some more late-game magic in his Seahawks debut.
But in the game’s biggest moment, 49ers star Nick Bosa showed why he’s one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers.
As Darnold took a shotgun snap, Bosa raced off the edge and overpowered Seattle right tackle Abraham Lucas. Bosa ended up pushing Lucas into Darnold, which knocked the ball free from Darnold’s hand right as he was beginning his throwing motion. Bosa then fell on the loose ball and recovered the fumble to seal the game – and to hand the Seahawks a crushing Week 1 loss to their bitter NFC West rival.
What did former NFL quarterback Brock Huard see on the fateful play? He broke it down during Monday’s Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
NICK BOSA CALLS GAME
SFvsSEA on FOXhttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/7cck4psHjo
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025
Brock’s view
Darnold had five options on the play. On the right side, it was wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Tory Horton, and tight end AJ Barner. To the left, it was receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and running back Kenneth Walker III.
When the ball got knocked free, Darnold was looking to the left and appeared to be targeting Walker on an underneath checkdown route. At the same time, Kupp also appeared to be breaking open over the middle.
“There were both options open,” Huard said. “The checkdown was going to be open and Cooper Kupp (would’ve been) a walk-in touchdown. Unfortunately, the pass set of Abe – you just have to anchor, and you let Bosa get underneath your pads. And no matter how big and strong and long and everything that Abe Lucas is, when (Bosa) gets underneath your pads, he drove him right into the lap of Sam Darnold.
“Could Sam have felt that? Yeah, he could have. Could he have squeezed it a little bit tighter? Yeah, he could have. Was he going to take a sack in that moment? Absolutely not. So (he was) trying to get the ball out, and it just so happened at the very moment of truth where he’s starting to do that, he gets bumped, the ball gets out and of course (the 49ers) recover.”
“And it’s the most gut-wrenching, heartbreaking opening loss, because the guys on both sides emptied the tanks. I mean, they played their butts off. But their star made the biggest play in the biggest moment.”
Coulda, shoulda, woulda
Details win/lose games in the final minutes
3 Things:
1-A better set & anchor by Abe has to happen
2-If Sam reads it to the field, with the chair concept, it’s a walk in TD to Cooper Kupp
3-Sam has to feel that pressure & be firm w/the ball/grip pic.twitter.com/SBGHxHWQt8
— Brock Huard (@BrockHuard) September 8, 2025
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