I sat next to NFL Network’s Jim trotter during Monday nights game between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. A couple of hours after the game had ended, he was talking about how the Seahawks linebackers were picking up Jimmy Garoppolo’s checks at the line of scrimmage, and that allowed them to have success. I have only re-watched the first half so far, but you can clearly see K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner rob all routes over the middle of the field, which forced Jimmy G to scramble. On Tuesday morning, Trotter shared:

Interesting insight from the Seattle locker room after OT defeat of the 49ers: If it looked like the D had a good read on Jimmy G late, LB Bobby Wagner told me it was in part because he and KJ Wright began picking up on Jimmy’s checks. ... — Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) November 12, 2019

Read the entire thread if you haven’t already.

Here’s Wagner:

“They’re a team that runs so many different things that it’s hard to get a tendency, but I felt like the last couple of times that we played them, we were able to figure out what they were doing. Because they run so many different things, it’s a game where you have to be disciplined, and you just have to read your keys. It becomes kind of like simple football: Read your keys, and it will take you to the football. Once we started reading keys, me and KJ started hearing the calls and picked up on the checks he was making, and it allowed us to break faster.” Garoppolo told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he hadn’t seen that report and that “we’ll just have to work harder, I guess.”

On playing for a tie

For whatever reason, plenty of fans Monday night felt like the 49ers should play for the tie. If you’ve been around anyone that has an ounce of competitiveness in their bones, you know that was never an option. As Herm Edwards famously said, “you play to win the game.”

Garoppolo said, “It’s hard to play for a tie. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.”

Another veteran in the locker room said, “Winning the game would give us the best chance at the one seed.” That’s the perfect answer.