Passing-efficiency rating is a metric that uses completion, interception and touchdown percentages and average gain per pass to rate quarterback performance. Against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had a passing-efficiency rating of 92.2.
But when targeting receivers covered by Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe in the 49ers’ 17-13 season-opening victory, Purdy had a passing-efficiency rating of 0.0, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.
Purdy threw to the receiver covered by Jobe five times. He had one completion for 1 yard, and Jobe intercepted a pass.
Jobe’s interception on a pass intended for wide receiver Ricky Pearsall on a second-and-13 snap at the San Francisco 27-yard line gave Seattle possession at its 47-yard line. The Seahawks turned the takeaway into a field goal for a 13-10 lead with 3:24 left to play.
“Josh is ready to go,” Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said during his Monday press conference. “He’s always going to be a big part of the game plan. He’s competing for more snaps, and I thought he played a tremendous football game. Played physical, played smart, played disciplined, finishes plays right. I thought he played a great game.”
There aren’t that many more snaps that Jobe could play, though, based on Sunday’s game. Jobe played 61 of the Seahawks’ 76 defensive snaps against San Francisco.
As they have for the previous two seasons, the Seahawks used Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon as their starting cornerbacks. When Seattle went into its nickel alignment on Sunday, Witherspoon moved to slot corner, and Jobe stepped into the opening on the outside.
More snaps would mean using Jobe as a starter in Seattle’s base defense.
“Look, you go out and you produce, why would we not play you?” Macdonald said.
Woolen had a tougher day in the Seahawks secondary on Sunday. He allowed three completions on four targets, which produced 73 yards and a touchdown. He also got called for two penalties.
After Jobe’s interception and Seattle’s subsequent field goal, Pearsall beat Witherspoon for a 45-yard gain to the Seattle 22-yard line.
Five snaps later, 6-foot-4 tight end Jake Tonges outjumped the 6-foot-0 Witherspoon for a touchdown reception as San Francisco took a 17-14 lead with 1:34 to play. According to Next Gen Stats, the completion was the most improbable of any in the NFL’s 16 Week 1 games, with only a 14.7 chance of success.
“I really believe Riq was trying to attack the football,” Macdonald said. “I would have loved, we would have all loved him to make the play, and I guarantee Tariq Woolen is the No. 1 person that wishes that he made the play, too. And he’s made plays like that. I’m thinking of the Rams game last year in two-minute or the first game last year in Denver when he made the play on the overroute. I mean, he’s made some tremendous plays for us. Made a great play in the red zone there on the goal line (in the fourth quarter on Sunday).
“Unfortunately, the two plays that he wants back are the ones near the end of the game. So one’s a technique thing, and I think the other thing is just maybe putting yourself in a better body position where you make the play and not the other guy. But the other guy made a great play, too.”
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The interception was the second of Jobe’s NFL career.
Jobe was a starter in the Alabama secondary in his final two seasons with the Crimson Tide, including for the 2020 undefeated CFP national-championship team. But he entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie.
Jobe made the Philadelphia Eagles roster, played in 11 regular-season games and Super Bowl LVII in his first season in 2022. In 2023, he played in every game, with three starts, for Philadelphia and was one of the NFL’s most active special-teams players with 323 plays.
In 2024, the Eagles cut Jobe when they reduced their preseason roster to the regular-season limit of 53 active players. Jobe joined the Seahawks as a practice-squad member and did not play in the first six games of the 2024 campaign.
Jobe made his Seattle debut as a practice-squad elevation on Oct. 20, 2024, in a 34-14 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, and he played in the Seahawks’ next two games in that manner, too.
Because a practice-squad player cannot be elevated to active status more than three times in a season, Seattle signed Jobe to its 53-man active roster on Nov. 11 so he could keep playing. Over the next six games, he started five times before landing on injury reserve for the season finale after sustaining a knee injury.
In 2024, Jobe played 443 defensive snaps – 191 more than in his first two seasons combined. He recorded 37 tackles, including 29 solo stops, intercepted one pass and broke up seven.
Jobe was on course to become at least a restricted free agent during the offseason. But six days before reaching that point in March, Jobe stayed with Seattle for a one-year, $2 million contract.
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