Sleepless in Seattle isn't just a movie anymore, it could also describe Seahawks fans who spent Sunday night celebrating the Seahawks 42-13 win over rival San Francisco. The win clinched Seattle's second playoff berth in coach Pete Carroll's three seasons.
The Seahawks used NBC's national television stage to show that not only can they hang at least 40 points on the Arizona and Buffalo's of the league, they can do it to the NFL's No. 1 scoring defense. San Francisco went into Sunday's game only surrendering 15.6 points per game.
For the third straight week, the Seahawks played almost perfect, which led to almost perfect grades.
Offense: A+
The 49ers went into Sunday night's game with the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL and the No. 2 defense overall, but that didn't scare Russell Wilson or Marshawn Lynch or Doug Baldwin or anyone else on the Seahawks' offense. Wilson threw a career-high four touchdown passes and the Seahawks scored 42 points -- the most points the 49ers have given up this season and the most they've allowed under Jim Harbaugh. Wilson was 15 of 21 for 171 yards and continued his late run at the offensive rookie of the year award. The third-round pick has 25 touchdown passes, one short of tying Peyton Manning's rookie record of 26 set in 1998. Besides Wilson, the offense also got a stellar effort from Lynch, who ran for 111 yards and scored two touchdowns, including one on a 9-yard catch in the first quarter. It was only the third touchdown catch of Lynch's career. Baldwin had a big game too, with the first multi-touchdown game of his career. Baldwin caught four passes for 53 yards and two touchdowns. Previous game's grade: A+
Seattle QB Russell Wilson improved his rookie of the year case with four touchdown passes vs. the 49ers. (US Presswire) |
Defense: A
In the Seahawks' October loss to the 49ers, the biggest problem for the defense was stopping San Francisco RB Frank Gore (131 yards) and the 49er rushing attack (175 yards). That wasn't a problem on Sunday. The Seahawks limited the 49ers to 82 rushing yards and held Gore to 28 yards on six carries. The low rushing totals were because the 49ers were forced to throw after falling behind 21-0, but they couldn't do that either. San Francisco QB Colin Kaepernick was only 19 of 36 facing a heavy rush. On most occasions, Kaepernick had nowhere to throw the ball, thanks to stingy coverage from what was supposed to be a depleted Seattle secondary. The Seahawks limited Kaepernick to 244 yards and only a 72.0 QB rating despite the absences of CB Brandon Browner (suspension), Walter Thurmond (injury) and Marcus Trufant (injury). Previous game's grade: A
Special teams: A+
The Seahawks didn't attempt a field goal and Jon Ryan only punted once, but this unit still gets an A+ and that's thanks in large part to Richard Sherman and Red Bryant. Niners K David Akers lined up for what looked like a chip shot 21-yard field goal in the second quarter, but a funny thing happened to the ball on the way to the uprights: It was blocked by Bryant. Sherman then scooped up the ball and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown that put the Seahawks up 21-0. Sherman's return was the third-longest of a blocked field goal in NFL history. Previous game's grade: A-
Coaching: A
The Jim Harbaugh-Pete Carroll rivalry isn't going to get any friendlier after the Seahawks' 29-point win, which came on Harbaugh's 49th birthday. Offensively, the Seahawks mixed things up so much that they mixed the 49ers up. Not only did the offense show the pistol formation, but the Seahawks continued to effectively use the zone-read option that they introduced midway through the season. Previous game's grade: A
For more up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Seahawks blogger John Breech follow@JohnBreech and @CBSSeahawks.