Don't look now, but Seattle's defense is back. A week after shutting down the Arizona Cardinals, the Seahawks D dominated the San Francisco 49ers to lead the team to a 19-3 win on Thanksgiving night.
Seahawks vs. 49ers 2014 final score: 3 things we learned from Seattle’s 19-3 win
The Seahawks dominated on Thanksgiving night to pull back into the NFC West hunt.
Unable to get any semblance of an offensive rhythm all night, the 49ers gained just 164 total yards. The Seahawks run defense, which has struggled at times since losing space-eating defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, held the Niners to just 64 yards on the ground and kept Frank Gore to a 2.8-yard average.
The Seahawks offense struggled as well, repeatedly stalling out in the red zone, but did enough to keep a comfortable lead for most of the night. Their only trip to the end zone came late in the first quarter when Russell Wilson found Robert Turbin for a 13-yard score to go up, 7-0. Kicker Steven Hauschka took over from there, nailing all four of his field goals.
Here are three takeaways:
1.) This game wasn’t as close as the score.
The Seahawks were forced to settle for field goals in the red zone three times, keeping what could have been a blowout to a competitive game most of the way. Seattle wasted a first-and-goal from the one early in the second quarter and had a touchdown pass called back on a penalty on the opening drive of the third.
The Seahawks out-gained the Niners, 379-164. They out-gained them on the ground, 157-64. They forced three turnovers and committed none of their own. And they did all of that despite committing 10 more penalties than the 49ers.
This was an absolute statement by the Seahawks, who look to be gearing up for a late-season surge. The rest of the league has been warned.
2.) We didn't get to see much Richard Sherman vs. Michael Crabtree.
This was the first time the Seahawks and Niners had met since last year’s NFC Championship, the scene of Sherman’s infamous “sorry receiver” tirade. The rivalry between corner and receiver has been simmering ever since, so there were expectations of fireworks on Thursday night.
But it fizzled out. Crabtree spent most of the night working on the left side of the formation, leaving Sherman to defend Brandon Lloyd and Boldin. Still, Sherman definitely had the better night. While Crabtree had just three catches for 10 yards, Sherman had two picks (the first to set up the Seahawks' only touchdown, the second to end the Niners' last-gasp drive in the fourth quarter) and came up just short of a third.
He was also quite cordial with the folks of San Francisco.
3.) The Seahawks are back in the NFC West race.
It wasn't long ago that Seattle was sitting at .500, and with the Cardinals racing out to a blazing hot start, it looked like the defending Super Bowl champs would be left scratching for a Wild Card spot. But after critical division wins over Arizona and San Francisco in consecutive weeks, the 8-4 Seahawks find themselves just a game and a half back. The Cardinals will likely push that back to two games with a win over the Falcons this weekend, but Pete Carroll's crew is closing the gap. And keep in mind they still have another game against Arizona in Week 16 to get even closer.
★★★
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