“Sometimes you eat the bar… and sometimes the bar, well… he eats you.” So said Sam Elliott’s cowboy in The Big Lebowski and it was certainly the case for the Seahawks today. After winning four straight and 15 of the last 17 matchups against the 49ers, Seattle came crashing back down to earth against their rivals. San Francisco crushed it from the opening possession and ended up with a 27-7 win on their home field.
Buy Seahawks TicketsHere are seven takeaways from an embarrassing road loss for the Seahawks.
1
Seattle's terrible tackling continues
The Seahawks were officially credited with 12 missed tackles in Monday night’s one-point win over the Broncos. The eye test suggests that number is going to grow this week. Seattle’s defenders had all kinds of troubling bringing down the Niners’ ball carriers, especially Jeff Wilson and Deebo Samuel. That helped the 49ers rack up 189 total yards on the ground plus two touchdowns.
2
Red zone defense still strong
While they had no success whatsoever stopping the Niners from moving the chains, the Seahawks defense once again held up pretty well in the red zone. After shutting out Denver last week they tightened up again near the goal line against San Francisco, holding their rivals to just 2/5 on their drives inside the 20.
3
The 49ers dominated in the trenches
A lot goes into winning or losing any football game, but losing the battle in the trenches is still the most sure-fire way to lose one. That was the case today, as the Seahawks got beat up on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Geno Smith was under consistent pressure in the pocket, getting sacked twice and hit nine times. Meanwhile, Rashaad Penny and Ken Walker had nowhere to run, leading to an average of just 2.5 yards per carry for each. On the other side, the Niners kept their quarterbacks clean and their backs consistently had massive holes to run through.
4
DT Al Woods came to play
The one exception to the rule for the awful line play was defensive tackle Al Woods, who was by far Seattle’s best performer on the field today. Woods used his surplus size and power to blow up several plays in the backfield, posting three tackles for a loss and one pass breakup.
5
WR Tyler Lockett had a day
Another rare positive from the Seahawks this week was wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who was basically their lone bright spot on offense. Lockett found a lot of holes in the Niners’ zones, catching nine of his 11 targets from Geno Smith and totaling a team-high 107 receiving yards. Nobody else had more than 35.
6
Offensive play-calling off-target
One reason the receivers couldn’t get into a rhythm was some highly-questionable play-calling by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. While he called a good game against the Broncos last week he never found his footing against DeMeco Ryans. Waldron’s lowest point came in the second quarter when he called for a trick play pass from fourth-string running back DeeJay Dallas. While Pete Carroll inexplicably defended the call the pass itself was atrocious and ended in an interception.
7
A flash of the future
We’ll end on a positive note since it’s still relatively early in the season and this is a young team. The highest point Seattle reached was on special teams when rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen blocked a field goal attempt that led to a touchdown, the first time that’s happened for this team in 10 years. Mike Jackson deserves credit for the run-back, but Woolen’s speed and length are clearly going to make a positive impact – hopefully for a long time to come.
