49ers linebacker Fred Warner has career night in loss to Seattle
Fred Warner and the 49ers came into Monday’s game against the Seahawks without a critical piece of their defense.
“Will” linebacker Kwon Alexander suffered a season-ending pectoral injury in the fourth quarter against the Arizona Cardinals last Thursday. That forced other players on the defense to step up.
Warner did just that.
The 49ers suffered their first loss of the season, 27-24 in overtime to the Seahawks on “Monday Night Football.” Warner finished the game with nine tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
“Kwon is an outstanding player and leader,” Warner said on what it was like to play without him. “It was a big loss when he got hurt. I knew I had to do my job (today) to the best of my ability.”
Warner had his first career sack in the second quarter on third down — that forced a Seattle punt. He also registered a pass breakup late in the half, which was also on third down. That play got the 49ers defense off the field and into the locker room with a 10-7 lead.
Warner kept the intensity coming out of the locker room and registered his second sack of the day on the Seahawks second drive, in the second half. That’s lots of seconds, but his play happened on third down — which was a theme.
His biggest play of the night came with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson dropped back to pass and was met on a cornerback blitz by K’Waun Williams, who forced a fumble. Seahawks right tackle Germain Ifedi had the ball in his hands for a moment, until Warner punched it out. DeForest Buckner picked it up and ran it back 12-yards for a touchdown.
“We needed to get the ball back,” Buckner said. “I saw Russell (Wilson) was wrapped up because the guys got to him. All of a sudden, I saw one of the linemen take the ball from him so I tried to wrap him up and take the ball out. I saw the opportunity to scoop it up and get us back in the game.”
“That was a crazy play,” Warner added. “They tried to run a tight end screen and Dre (Greenlaw) did a great job of sniffing it out. The tackle had the ball in his hand and at first, I was confused. Then I decided to take a shot at forcing a fumble. Buckner then made a hell of a play.”
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan liked what he saw.
“It was pretty impressive,” He said. “I’m not sure how it happened, but it was the play that got us back in it.”