49ers Notebook: Nick Bosa agrees with controversial call; Drake Jackson not too impressed with Seahawks fans; Shanahan, Kittle on fancy TD play; Deebo reacts from afar

The 49ers locker room was a happy place on Thursday night, as one might expect it would be after a 21-13 NFC West-clinching win over the Seahawks at Lumen Field in Seattle.

The win was the first at Lumen Field for the 49ers since 2019, which was also the last time they won the division. It wrapped up a season sweep over the Seahawks for the first time since 2011 and marked the seventh consecutive win for the 49ers after starting out the season at 3-4. So it's no surprise there were plenty of talkative players on Thursday night and a lot of subjects to go through as we recap the postgame interviews.

There was plenty of discussion about quarterback Brock Purdy, as we've already gone through here and here. But while the subject of Purdy dominated the conversation once again after another fine performance, there were plenty of other items of interest, many of which we'll go through in this edition of 49ers Notebook. We'll start with Nick Bosa's thoughts on a controversial penalty, then we'll get into some words from Drake Jackson about the Seattle "12s," Kyle Shanahan and George Kittle's thoughts on the nifty touchdown that opened the 49ers' scoring in the game, Deebo Samuel's reactions to the win while he watched from home, and more.

Bad call?

Either Nick Bosa didn't agree with most observers that he was hit with a terrible call when he was flagged for roughing the passer on Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith Thursday night, or he just didn't want to let on publicly that he did.

The call came early in the third quarter and negated what would have ben a pick six from cornerback Deommodore Lenoir that would have put the Seahawks in a 28-3 hole. Social media erupted after the call, with fans and media from all sides showing frustration.


Bosa, however, said during a television interview after the game that the call was correct based on how those plays have been ruled in the past, then he more or less did the same when speaking to reporters during his postgame media session.

"I landed on him," Bosa said. "I don't know, I thought he still had the ball. So I was kind of thinking about when I was going to the ground whether he had the ball or not, and I forgot to roll off. I'm usually better at doing that. So it was a good call, I guess."

The Seahawks came away with a field goal on the drive to pull to within 21-6. Bosa also had a sack later in the drive.

Drake prefers The Faithful

Thursday night marked rookie defensive end Drake Jackson's first game at Lumen Field, and it sounded like he wasn't too overwhelmed with what he experienced from their fans.

Lumen Field is routinely regarded as one of the NFL's toughest places to play, with the Seahawks fan base (a.k.a. the 12s) known as one of the league's loudest. But Jackson said after the game that he thinks 49ers fans are more vocal.

"They say the 12th man and whatever -- I feel like our fans are louder than that. I'm not going to lie," Jackson said, via KNBR. "So it wasn't really anything for me."

The 49ers were in control for a good portion of the game, which may have led to the stadium being quieter than usual. But the fans still left an impression on tight end George Kittle, who has been through enough battles in Seattle to know that wins there aren't easy to come by.

"This stadium and these fans, they're fantastic," Kittle said. "You feel their hate, and you've just got to love it... it's just a fantastic atmosphere. It's always so loud. The fans bring it every single time. Being able to win here means a lot. I really learned that when we played with Joe Staley and he just talked about how hard it is to win here. He's had big games here where he's won. He's had big games where he's lost. So I just like kind of channeled my Joe Staley energy tonight. I definitely thought about that. I just remember when we beat them in '19 and Joe was crying coming off the field. You feel that and you realize how hard it is because you don't get to this situation very often."

Behind the 49ers' impressive early touchdown

Whereas the penalty on Bosa left social media fuming, the first 49ers touchdown of the game resulted in all sorts of Twitter praise for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. The play that got the 49ers the touchdown was one where Purdy faked two screens before throwing down the middle to Kittle, who ran in for the score. It wasn't the first time the 49ers called the play, but it might have been executed better than it has been in the past.


"It was actually perfect," Kittle said. "I've got to see the tape, but the way it sounded, I heard a radio call of it -- it's a fake left, it's a fake right, all the backers vacate the middle and I just kind of block, block, block and I go. We ran it against the Rams in 2018. I fake cut block on the front side, then I got up and ran. That one didn't score so we stayed up this time and it worked out a lot better."

Shanahan described the play as one where Kittle is supposed to fool the defense before sneaking downfield, then talked about what happened when they tried to do it differently than it was done Thursday.

"The play's called Hollywood because Kittle's supposed to do a good acting job," Shanahan said. "We've done it in the past where he falls down so they really forget about him. Sometimes I think it's too obvious when he falls down. The fall down's all good as long as you don't call it versus the blitz, but I've called it versus the blitz before, and he's sitting there laying on the ground while Nick Mullens is just looking for him to get up and it's not worth it to me. He did a good job acting without falling down on the ground and we had the right look."

Purdy's first crack at the play came without any reps during the week as he healed from an oblique injury. But Shanahan said Purdy shouldn't have needed any practice beforehand.

"You'd like to do that with all plays but we hadn't ran that this year yet," Shanahan said. "But all he's got to do is pump twice and throw it to the middle. It's just playing catch. You should be able to do that."

Of the Mullens version, Kittle said, "That's the only one I ever dove on, but it was definitely an all-out blitz and he got lit up for it. But it was a good play. I got some YAC on it."

Cheering from afar

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel was watching from home Thursday night after suffering knee and ankle injuries last week that are expected to keep him sidelined for a few games. But he was showing his support on social media during and after the 49ers' win.

Samuel posted this video that showed his humorous commentary as Kittle scored his second touchdown of the night.


Samuel also made a series of tweets praising his teammates, then made a post asking the team to save him a division champions hat.


The 49ers are expected to get Samuel back in time for the postseason.

A nickname for Jordan Mason

Running back Christian McCaffrey was a workhorse for the 49ers Thursday night, carrying the ball 26 times for 108 yards and a touchdown. But when the 49ers were trying to run out the clock late in the game, McCaffrey was watching from the sidelines while undrafted rookie Jordan Mason was getting the carries.

Mason delivered by tearing off a long run that allowed the 49ers to kneel on the ball and run out the rest of the clock.


McCaffrey was excited about the play and told reporters after the game he has a nickname for young Mason.

"I call him Mariano Rivera. He's the closer," McCaffrey said. "It was awesome. That guy runs so hard. For him to come in and finish the game like that was awesome. Obviously I had a big workload, but to get some fresh legs in there and close it like that was really cool. I was relieved. We won the game, so I was so fired up for him and our whole team."

Maybe Mason wasn't quite as impressed.

"To be honest, if I got the play back, I'd unhook the trailer," Mason said, per David Lombardi of The Athletic.

Uncle Sherm

The 49ers got to visit with and old friend Thursday night, as former cornerback Richard Sherman was in attendance as part of the coverage crew for Amazon Prime.

Sherman was clearly excited to watch two of his former teams in action, while those who played with him during his three seasons with the 49ers were happy to see him. One of them was tight end George Kittle, who spoke about what Sherman did for him while he was with the 49ers.

"Sherm, he meant a lot to me when he played here," Kittle said. "I learned a lot from him -- just like how to be a vet player, how to hold yourself, how to try to be great every single day. Every time you see him he's just got such an energy to him. You can tell how much he misses the game, but just how much he appreciates football and how much he loves football players. Every time you see him you get the biggest smile on your face and you can just feel his energy. So being able to play in front of Sherm always means a lot to me."

Sherman is in his first year of television work and last played with the Buccaneers in 2021.

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