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Seahawks vs. 49ers game thread
Posted
at
1:13 pm
by John Boyle
The Seahawks won the toss and will start with the ball. That's a change of strategy for Jim Mora, who in previous home games has deferred when winning the toss. He mentioned that he might reconsider that, saying he wondered if the offense's early-game struggles might have been caused by the offense getting cold on the sideline. We'll see if it pays off.
Wait, you're allowed to hand the ball off?
Both teams went three and out on their first possession, neither ran the ball once in the process. The Seahawks rushed for a season-high 170 yards last week, and the 49ers have Frank Gore, who rushed for 207 against Seattle earlier this season. Just saying.
Turnover
Matt Hasselbeck was sacked and fumbled on the Seahawks first play after the SF punt. The 49ers will start with the ball at the Seattle 20. Looking for good news, Seahawks fans? Hasselbeck's ribs appear to still be intact.
Seahawks defense comes up big, offense does not
Nice work by the Seahawks stopping the 49ers at the 1-yard line on back to back plays. The offense couldn't do much with that, however, gaining just three yards before punting again.
So far the Seahawks have had three possessions and have one yard of offense to show for it.
Also, forgot to mention this earlier, but in case you're not watching on TV, Jim Mora is wearing a Lakewood Police Department hat today. Classy move by the Seahawks coach.
Note to the 49ers: you only get three timeouts per half
Somehow San Francisco has managed to burn through all three of its first-half timeouts with 6:25 left in the first quarter.
Hard to argue with the result of that last one, however. After a time out Alex Smith hit a wide-open Vernon Davis for a 33-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 to make it 7-0. Despite the success of that play, it's a little odd that the 49ers have now had three plays of third or fourth-and-1 and thrown all three times. Seriously 49ers, did you forget the last game between these two teams?
49ers feel guilty about beating up on hosts, offer up a gift
From the what-the-heck-were-they-thinking department, the 49ers, who had held the Seahawks to negative 6 yards through four possessions, decided to get tricky on a punt return, and an attempted reverse handoff from Arnaz Battle to Brandon Jones was fumbled. Nick Reed recovered, leading to a very short field and an eventual Deion Branch touchdown catch. Yes, you read that right, I said a Deion Branch touchdown.
Oh, and Frank Gore still only has one carry three plays into SF's fourth possession.
Tied at 7 after one quarter
Amazing what a stupid trick play, a no-call on pass interference, and a ignoring your best offensive weapon can do for a team. Somehow, despite being out-gained 117-16, the Seahawks will start the second quarter tied at 7 with the ball. And I was wrong, Gore had two carries earlier, now he's up to three. Did I mention he had 207 yards against the Seahawks this year?
Seahawks take a 14-7 lead
After bumbling their way through most of the first quarter, the Seahawks offense just put together an 87-yard scoring drive to give Seattle the lead. Matt Hasselbeck went 7 for 7 for 72 yards on that drive, which ended with an 8-yard touchdown on a screen pass to Justin Forsett.
49ers strike back
That Seahawks lead didn't last long, and the 49ers pass attack drove 77 yards in four plays, all passes, to tied it at 14. Alex Smith hit TE Vernon Davis, who was simply too fast for David Hawthorne to cover, for 42 yards, then Smith connected with Josh Morgan for a 22-yard touchdown one play later.
The 49ers have now thrown the ball 21 times and ran it just three. So far, however, the near criminal neglect of a Pro Bowl running back seems to be working pretty well.
And while I understand that the 49ers are using a spread offense to make Alex Smith more comfortable since it's similar to what he ran at Utah, I gotta think he's pretty comfortable handing the ball off too. He was a high school teammate of Reggie Bush, after all.
Hasselbeck would like to have that pass back
Matt Hasselbeck just underthrew a wide open Nate Burleson, allowing Dre' Bly to catch up to Burleson and break up the pass. That was on third-and-three, so the Seahawks will have to punt.
The Hasselcat is back
One week after he busted off a 19-yard run, Matt Hasselbeck just matched his career high with a 23-yard gain. Two plays later he scrambled for two more yards. If he keeps this up Seneca Wallace may be rendered obsolete. OK, maybe not.
Hasselbeck couldn't avoid a blitzing Michael Lewis one play later, however, and that sack just put the Seahawks out of field-goal range. Jon Ryan, come on down. It's punting time once again.
Halftime stats
It's 14-14 despite the 49ers out-gaining Seattle 207 to 144.
Matt Hasselbeck is 11 for 18 for 84 yards and two scores, while Julius Jones leads all rushers with 36 yards on 11 carries. Alex Smith is 15 for 26 for 193 yards and two touchdowns. Frank Gore has four carries for 14 yards. Please someone explain that to me. In eight career games against Seattle Gore is averaging 109 yards per game. I can't think of any reason you'd want to give him the ball when it was fourth-and-goal from the 1. None whatsoever.
Punt, punt, punt
Isn't this exciting? We're just over five minutes into the second half, and we've already seen 12 punts this afternoon.
The punting this quarter is favoring the Seahawks, however, as they get the ball back at their 46-yard line. Let's hope something interesting happens soon.
So much for that. Looks like Seattle will punt again.
That's nine in a row
Punts, that is. The last nine possessions of this game have ended with the punter on the field. This is some fantastic football right now.
Hasselbeck OK
Matt Hasselbeck took a hard shot on third down of the last drive, but he's back on the field after--you guessed it--another punt. That's 11 straight possessions with a punt. Can somebody please, please score?
The third quarter mercifully comes to an end
It's still 14-14 after that stinker of a quarter. The Seahawks picked up their first first down of the half on the last play of the quarter, a 23-yard pass to Nate Burleson. The 49ers also had one first down that quarter.
Apparently Jon Ryan needed a break
Facing fourth down, the Seahawks lined up for a 53-yard field goal attempt, but Olindo Mare instead kicked a pooch punt that was downed at the 2-yard line. Perhaps the Seahawks decided Jon Ryan needed to take a series off from punting. The guy is probably exhausted.
Seahawks catch a huge break
Just when it looked like the 49ers were poised to end this game's scoring drought, Jordan Babineaux forced a fumble on a Frank Gore run and Josh Wilson returned it 43 yards to the San Francisco 41-yard line.
We'll see if the Seahawks can get anything out of it.
Seahawks take a 17-14 lead
Holy cow, somebody scored! It's now 17-14 Seattle after an Olindo Mare 25-yard field goal. That's Mare's 17th straight make, setting a new franchise record.
There's 5:30 left in the game. Can the D hold up?
Tie game
The 49ers have tied it at 17 with 2:57 to go. The big play for San Francisco on that drive was a 28-yard pass interference call against Marcus Trufant. That's eight defensive penalties on Tru in six games since coming back from his back injury. There's plenty of time for the Seahawks to drive for a winning score, but this hasn't exactly been a great offensive performance so far.
Branch drops the potential game-winner
Deion Branch wasn't likely going to score if he hauled in that long pass from Matt Hasselbeck, but Seattle would have had a chip shot field goal had Branch hung on.
Speaking of people with the same first name dropping the ball, Deon Grant just dropped an easy interception.
Seattle will get the ball back at midfield with 21 seconds left.
A Deon who does catch the ball
Deon Butler, the little used rookie, just came up with his biggest play of the season, catching a 32-yard pass that set up a 30-yard Olindo Mare game-winning field goal.
20-17 final. More to come after the game.
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