49ers

49ers S Malik Mustapha made his season debut in week 6’s loss to the Buccaneers. San Francisco HC Kyle Shanahan was impressed by Mustapha’s performance. 

“He got about 20 plays and he looked good and moved around, flew around,” Shanahan said, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports. “He was ready for that moment, and I liked that we were able to get him in there, do all that stuff and get him out healthy. Hopefully, it’ll be closer to that this week.”

The 49ers also started S Ji’Ayir Brown over Jason Pinnock in Sunday’s game. Shanahan explained they wanted to get Brown and Mustapha more time in the lineup. 

“We thought Ji’Ayir Brown had been earning some time at safety and we knew with Mustapha coming back, we were going to start rotating and getting Mustapha in there so he could eventually take that over,” Shanahan said. “We know Mustapha is going to be one of the starters out there. It was nothing against Jason. We just knew we had to make a decision to rotate one of those guys with Mustapha and we went with rotating Mustapha and Sigle.”

Shanahan added that they feel comfortable with Mustapha, Brown, and rookie S Marques Sigle.

“I think we’ve got three guys who are capable, and those are what all those three guys are battling for,” Shanahan said. “I don’t think one guy’s fully taken it and run with it like Mustapha did last year. So that’s something that we’re going to continue to evaluate.”

• Shanahan said the team is hoping to get TE George Kittle back in practice this week. (Matt Barrows)

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon is in a difficult position of navigating the team through a four-game losing streak.

“It’s hard,” Gannon said, via ESPN. “That’s why I just told them I’m proud of them. I thought they battled, but we’re in a tough spot right now. Four in a row is tough, but we’ll be resilient. I’m confident in those guys to have a good week.”

Cardinals TE Trey McBride said it doesn’t feel as if the team has lost four in a row as they’ve all been close games.

“They’ve all been close,” he said. “It’s just frustrating losing the close ones, to not get that win, but I’m really proud of the team, how they came out. Obviously the Colts are a great team on a really good run and I felt like we should have won that game.”

Gannon said that the team left the game against the Colts feeling good about themselves and their ability to hang in the game.

“We’re a good team,” Gannon said. “I know their record is what their record is and ours is what we are. So, I’m not discounting that because our record shows that we’re not a good football team. But I do think the battle is there and we just keep sawing away. We’ll just keep sawing away.”

Seahawks

Seahawks WR Cooper Kupp said WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba is quickly becoming one of the best receivers in football with his ability to attack all three phases of the defense.

“It’s not an easy thing to do what he’s been doing knowing that we come into games with opportunities for him to get the ball at all three levels, and defenses know that he’s going to be a target,” Kupp said, via ESPN. “To consistently win over and over again when a defense, you know, is planning on trying to take him out of a game, it speaks volumes. It just shows the ability in the route running and being able to understand the offense well enough to be able to move around and be in different spots. He’s doing a really good job. He’s a really good football player.”

Smith-Njigba’s elite route running allows him to stretch the field even though he’s not the fastest player on the field.

“We got a certain look where I’m kind of alerting the post on that and was able to just throw it up and Jax made a great play tracking it,” QB Sam Darnold said. “That was something that we’ve worked on in OTAs, training camp, even this week in practice, and we made it come to life in the game.”

• Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker and CB Devon Witherspoon were each fined $11,593 for taunting.
• The Seahawks worked out four defensive players on Tuesday, including DB Clarence Lewis, LB Jesse Luketa, DB B.J. Mayes, and DB Doneiko Slaughter, per the NFL Transactions wire. 

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