‘A Hard Team to Beat’ — Russell Wilson Hypes Up Seahawks’ Rival As a Top NFC Contender

Russell Wilson spent a decade helping make the San Francisco 49ers miserable. Now he is sitting on a CBS set explaining why his old NFC West rival might be one of the last teams anyone wants to see in January.

San Francisco improved to 3-0 with a 36-30 win over Arizona on Sunday, surviving another afternoon filled with injuries while Brock Purdy threw four touchdowns. Wilson, who spent his first 10 NFL seasons in Seattle, admitted he was not exactly thrilled to say it. He also could not ignore what the 49ers have built.

Russell Wilson Gives 49ers the Rivalry Compliment Nobody Wants To Give

“I also believe, and I don’t want to say this because I’m a Seahawks guy, and we just had JSN on, but this is going to be a hard team to beat in the NFC,” Wilson said.

‘A Hard Team to Beat’ —

Wilson then landed on the question that explains the concern.

“What do they not have?” he asked. “What do the 49ers not have? They got the quarterback, Brock Purdy, right?”

That is a pretty painful sentence for a Seahawks legend to say out loud.

Purdy has made the argument especially difficult to fight. He threw for 297 yards and four touchdowns against Arizona, giving him nine passing scores against one interception through three games. His start has already shoved him into the earlyMVP conversation, which felt borderline absurd a few weeks ago and considerably less absurd now.

San Francisco also has Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel around him, while Kyle Shanahan has spent years making defenses guess wrong for a living. Even when pieces disappear, the machine keeps moving.

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Brock Purdy Has the 49ers Looking Dangerous Again

The most impressive part of San Francisco’s start might be how little has gone according to plan.

Nick Bosa missed Week 3, and Mike Evans, Trent Williams and Dre Greenlaw all left Sunday’s win with injuries. Shanahan said Monday that none of those three new injuries are expected to be long-term, which is about the best possible news for a team already testing the limits of its depth chart.

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Meanwhile, Purdy’s livePFN QB Impact scores look like somebody forgot to turn the difficulty setting up. He ranks No. 1 with a perfect 100.0 grade through three games, completing 72.3% of his passes for 789 yards while adding 93 rushing yards and another touchdown.

That is why Wilson’s compliment carries some weight. He knows what a loaded 49ers team looks like because he spent the prime of his Seattle career trying to get through one.

Wilson may still call himself a Seahawks guy. Unfortunately for Seattle, being a Seahawks guy apparently does not require lying about San Francisco.

Three weeks in, the 49ers look deep, dangerous, and annoyingly dominant in the NFC race again.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.