After Saturday's win over the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t leave any wiggle room after a nervy opener in Seattle. Asked if Jake Moody would keep the kicking job for Week 2, the 49ers coach said there’s “no question” the 2023 third-rounder remains his guy following San Francisco’s 17–13 win over the Seahawks. It was an emphatic vote of confidence on a day when the kicking game nearly swung the result the other way.
Moody finished 1-for-3 on field goals and 2-for-2 on extra points, a line that included a jarring doink from 27 yards just before halftime and a third-quarter attempt that was blocked when Seattle’s Julian Love split protection off the left edge. Moody steadied himself to bury a fourth-quarter try that tied the game 10–10, but Shanahan made clear the operation has to tighten up. “Obviously, I was disappointed that we missed two field goals,” Shanahan said.
“We missed one which was a big miss, especially we were inside the 10… Then the next one [Julian] Love made a hell of a move. … We got to clean up that protection. That’s everyone there. That one wasn’t Jake, that’s just the whole operation. But yeah, we’ve got to do better.”
The 49ers carried veteran Greg Joseph through camp to push Moody, whose accuracy dipped late last season (12-for-23 on FGs since Week 10 of 2024). For now, Shanahan is betting on a rebound — and on fixing the details around him.
49ers, led by Brock Purdy, pull out the win in Seattle
San Francisco needed that late field goal composure because the rest of the afternoon was a grind. Brock Purdy battled two interceptions — the second set up Jason Myers’ go-ahead kick with 3:24 left — but responded with a composed 68-yard drive, uncorking clutch throws to rookie Ricky Pearsall and tight end Jake Tonges.
With George Kittle sidelined by a first-half hamstring injury after an early touchdown, Tonges slipped free for the go-ahead 4-yard score with 1:34 to play. From there, the defense authored the final word. On second-and-5 at the San Francisco 9, Nick Bosa powered through newly paid right tackle Abe Lucas, strip-sacked Sam Darnold and fell on the ball to seal it.
In Robert Saleh’s first game back as defensive coordinator, the 49ers smothered Seattle’s run game, blitzed selectively to rattle Darnold and leaned on timely stops from Kalia Davis, Jordan Elliott, Fred Warner and Dee Winters. San Francisco dominated possession (37:58 to 22:02) and yardage (384–230), the kind of control that usually makes kicking drama academic — unless it isn’t.
The attrition was real. Kittle (hamstring) and Jauan Jennings (shoulder) were ruled out and will undergo MRIs, while Warner (face) and Trent Williams (ankle) briefly exited but returned. One positive: Christian McCaffrey looked spry after last week’s calf scare, piling up 142 total yards on a team-high 10 targets as the offense leaned on him late.
All of it set the stage for Shanahan’s postgame stance. The 49ers survived despite miscues in the third phase, and they’ll ride with the kicker they drafted to finish big games — with a clear mandate to “clean up” the parts around him.
