NFC Notes: Mike Macdonald, Kyle Shanahan, Leonard Williams, 49ers, Seahawks

49ers

The 49ers fell to 5-7 with a loss at Buffalo in Week 13, making every game for the rest of the season critical for their playoff hopes. San Francisco HC Kyle Shanahan knows what they’re up against because of the disadvantages they put themselves in.

“It will be that way from here on out,” Shanahan said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “This is a hole we’ve put ourselves in and made it a lot tougher. If we want to get out we’ve got to do something special.”

Seahawks

Seattle took down the Jets in Week 13 and stands on top of a tight NFC West race. Seahawks DT Leonard Williams talked about their in-season exit meetings along with how it felt for him and QB Geno Smith to play a huge role in beating their former squad.

“We were really able to see where we’d been at individually throughout the year so far, and what expectations were coming back out of the bye week,” Williams said, via SI.com’s Albert Breer. “We talked about treating each game going forward as if we’re already in the playoffs. I think just going into it with a new mindset, treating each game as an entire situation to win, we’ve just been playing with a lot more urgency.”

“We tried to treat it like [another] game. They were just the next opponent in our way. During the game, that was the only time me and him said something to each other. It was like, Hey, we deserve this one. It was real short and sweet. That’s the motivation we needed today.”

• Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf has 6,095 career receiving yards which is the most of any player in franchise history through their first six seasons. (Seahawks PR)

Seahawks

Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald had great things to say about DT Leonard Williams after a game-changing pick-six in their Week 13 win. 

“I don’t know how this works, but if we can nominate Leonard Williams for Player of the Week, he’s just playing at an all-time elite level,” Macondald said, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “You know, to have a pick-six, I think they told me he was going about 17-and-a-half miles an hour, which was pretty fast for a man that size, so he’s playing out of his mind right now.”