NFL News & Analysis

NFL Week 17 PFF ReFocused: San Francisco 49ers 26, Seattle Seahawks 21

The San Francisco 49ers held onto victory by the barest of margins in Week 17, beating the Seattle Seahawks in a 26-21 ball game to secure the NFC West title and the top seed in the NFC playoffs.

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PFF's ReFocused series features immediate takeaways from the two analysts who graded the game live. The two offer a detailed breakdown of the game's most notable performances before the grades and advanced stats are reviewed and finalized by Senior Analysts.

All of PFF's grades and advanced stats from this game and the other games played this week will be finalized and made available to ELITE subscribers within 24 hours of the final whistle. ELITE subscribers can view player grades, advanced statistics, positional snap counts and more in Premium Stats.

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Final Score

San Francisco 49ers 26, Seattle Seahawks 21

San Francisco 49ers

Jimmy Garoppolo finished the regular season with a strong performance. He was accurate throughout the night, he didn't put the ball in harm's way, and although he didn't throw any touchdowns, he did connect with Kyle Juszczyk on a big-time throw midway through the third quarter.

George Kittle capped off his regular season with an electrifying performance. He hauled in every target that was thrown his way, and he was a machine when it came to picking up first downs. Kittle also showed off his elusiveness on a run where Ziggy Ansah had him dead to rights in the backfield, only for Kittle to slip right out of reach and turn a loss into a seven-yard gain.

The Seahawks gave Richard Sherman the Nnamdi Asamoah treatment by barely targetting his side of the field. Instead, the Seahawks looked to pick on Ahkello Witherspoon, and when he went out, they focused on Emmanuel Moseley.

Seattle Seahawks

For the first half of the game, the Seahawks' offense looked as if they would never score against the 49ers, but they then exploded in the second half when they gave more and more pass plays to Russell Wilson. In the end, the game-winning drive failed by a cat's whisker, and the fact that they were unable to score on seven plays from inside the 49ers' 20-yard line will likely haunt them.

All the talk coming into this game was of the return of Marshawn Lynch, but in the end, the Seahawks ran out Travis Homer for the majority of the game. Homer gained 92 yards from scrimmage and was a safety net for Wilson when he needed a check down.

Seattle's pass-rush was lifeless on Sunday Night Football. They did manage to get to Garoppolo twice for a sack, but other than that, the 49ers quarterback faced very little pressure throughout the game.

Shaquill Griffin had a rough night in coverage. He gave up a handful of catches, didn't force any incompletions and missed more tackles than he actually made.

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