For those that saw the SF/Seachickens game… what happened?

[Rovers]

I have also read opinions that Crabtree rounded off his route on the second INT, and that one was on him too. Consensus seems to be Smith fell apart after those 2 piks. Remember what Singletary did with Davis a couple of years ago? Maybe he shouldn't wait so long this time in getting on Crabtree.

[The Holy Roller]

San Francisco dominated the first half of the game, at one point late in the half, time of possession had to be about 10 to 1. It had the feel of a blow out early on, but in the other direction, San Fran only put 6 points on the board. Alex Smith played horrendous, It looked like he had regressed.

 

Seattle had trouble getting the running game going all day, but the passing game looked quite good, once they got rolling. Seattle's D was very impressive all day long, from the early bend but don't break to completely shutting the 49ers down. I'm asking the same question, even though it's never an easy place to play, they hadn't looked this good against anybody anywhere since the 2007 season.

 

I watched 98% of the game and this description is exactly what happened. Alex Smith was horrible. Seattle might be underrated. We'll see after they play on the road.

[Gopher]

Seachickens, hilarious, I see what you did there.

 

Anyway, I was at this game. Here are my observations.

 

1 - The crowd noise at Qwest Field REALLY gets to some QBs. Veteran guys rarely have a problem, but Alex Smith had 3 or 4 "Delay of Game" penalties, as well as a couple of costly false starts. Long amounts of yardage to convert when SF's only real success was coming over the middle of the field.

 

2 - Frank Gore was completely stuffed. Now some people may chalk this up to some sort of arbitrary SF mistake, but this was certainly an area where I just thought the Seahawks outplayed them. If you've payed any attention to the Seahawks in the pre-season, you've seen that not even Chris Johnson or AP did anything at all to them. Their D Front is really a strength of this team.

 

3 - The two picks by Alex Smith were VERY costly. One was a pick six by Trufaunt, the other was taken to the 17 yard line by Babs. This was run in on a bootleg by Hasselbeck the very next play.

 

4 - As mentioned previously, SF was only able to throw in the middle of the field, where the Seahawks gave them space. You could tell that Pete Carrol had the guys in zone almost the whole game, and tried to prevent the big play, rather than bat away every pass.

 

It put Alex Smith in a situation where he couldn't run, and couldn't go vertical for a big play. The Seahawks made Alex Smith beat him, and he just hasn't shown anyone that kind of talent.

 

 

So to answer your question, SF was overhyped in the preseason, and the Seahawks are better than people expected.

I think you're right on, for the most part, except that I don't think SF was overhyped as much as most people (myself included) just assumed they would win the division easily, by default. In other words, the NFC West is arguably (or maybe not even arguably) the worst division in football, right now. I can't see Arizona (with the losses of their QB's on BOTH sides of the ball... Warner and Dansby) contending for the division, and as much as St. Louis appears to be improved (or at least playing spirited, competitive football), they're not winning the division with a rookie at QB. If anything, I think yesterday just shows that SOMEBODY might have something to say about SF walking away with the division... that somebody being the Hawks. SF wasn't overhyped... A lot of people just assumed nobody else from the division would show up.

[Gopher]

Another huge mistake SF made was being cocky early. When they only had 3 points on the board, they kept going for it on 4th down instead of coming away with points, getting stopped by the Seahawks twice. Pretty bad playcalling by Singletary between this and not abandoning the run earlier.

For what it's worth, I don't agree with this entirely, either. SF went for it on 4th down twice in the entire game. The first time occurred early in the 2nd quarter, on their second drive of the game. They were up 3-0, had a 4th and 1 from the Seattle six yard line, and Smith threw an incomplete pass to FB Norris. I don't necessarily have a problem with that call... they had moved the ball pretty well that entire possession, including several positive runs by Gore. So, in my opinion, it was the execution of the play that failed there, not the call. That incompletion occurred at the 13:41 mark of the 2nd quarter.

 

Just over four minutes later (9:26 in the 2nd quarter), on their next drive, they converted a 4th and 1 with a 9-yard completion to Crabtree. This play started at the Seattle 28 yard line... In other words, it would have been roughly a 45 yard FG attempt. Anybody who follows SF knows that that is probably a 50/50 proposition for the aging Nedney. They were in no-man's land at the 28... Going for a 4th and 1 is not a no-brainer, but once again, I agree with the call.

 

In that same drive, exactly three minutes later (6:26 in the 2nd), the Niners appeared to be ready to go for it again... this time on 4th and 1 from the Seattle 1. However, Smith took a delay of game penalty, moving them back to the six yard line, and Nedney came in to hit his second FG as a result.

 

That's it... Technically, they went for it on 4th down twice. Converted one, failed on one (with a third aborted due to the delay of game). Personally, I have no problem with any of the three... one was converted (from an area where a FG was certainly no gimme), one failed, and another never happened. After those three drives, they were 1-2 on 4th down, and had six points. The rest of the game, in terms of offensive possessions, went like this:

 

INT

PUNT

INT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

 

None of the above possessions made it past the Seattle 40 yard line, and MOST of them ended well inside of SF territory. If you want to argue that they should have abandoned the run earlier, I'm fine with that. If you want to argue that poor execution failed them, in general and in the failed 4th down play, I'm definitely in agreement there as well. But, I don't think you can accurately say that their "cockiness" (at least in terms of how often they went for it on 4th down) is a major reason they lost the game.

[kpholmes]

Crabtree - 8 Targets, 2 Catches. 12 yards.

[Swampnuts]

I thought the D was great for the Hawks, but I was concerned with the running game. I'd like to see how the line looks in a few weeks with Okung and Pitts in there. That was the most fun I've had in a long time though, it looks like all the players have really bought into Carroll.

 

Mike Williams was impressive! I thought he scored on the long pass play and I was surprised it wasn't challenged. I really think the Niners went into Qwest yesterday thinking they had the game in the bag.

[Bier Meister]

San Francisco dominated the first half of the game, at one point late in the half, time of possession had to be about 10 to 1. It had the feel of a blow out early on, but in the other direction, San Fran only put 6 points on the board. Alex Smith played horrendous, It looked like he had regressed.

 

Seattle had trouble getting the running game going all day, but the passing game looked quite good, once they got rolling. Seattle's D was very impressive all day long, from the early bend but don't break to completely shutting the 49ers down. I'm asking the same question, even though it's never an easy place to play, they hadn't looked this good against anybody anywhere since the 2007 season.

 

 

this is close to my impression of the game. i am not an alex smith fan. he was efficient in the first half, but they did not get enough points when they needed to. gore not playing well/sea playing good run d did not help. smith is not a comeback type of qb. get them down a little and he'll make mistakes.

[Scare Tactics]

I expected this to be a close game, since it would be tough for the niners in that stadium.. Im surprised they were blown out though.. Ya we know Alex Smith isnt great, but thats not what concerns me.. I didnt see 1 play where the O-Line got any type of push.. They were either stoned in place or moved backwards.. This concerns me alot since this is supposed to be the strong point of the team.. Not only do we need to O-Line to be good, I think we need the O-Line to be borderline dominant this season, if not, its gonna be another long year..

[delfamdelfam]

they have a young offensive line and with that much noise in that stadium is was probably really tough on them, they'll probably do al ot better at home.

[bushwacked]

49ers are the better team

 

Based on what? Gore's 2.2 Yards per carry? Alex Smith's passing? Hasselbeck ability to adjust to Clements aggressive play after the INT, completing 16 of his next 20, and torching Clements deep on a couple occasions? Mike Williams outplaying Michael Crabtree?

 

Are you assuming that Alex Smith's play and Seattle's defense effort were anomalous?

 

Better teams usually don't get beat 31-6. San Fran was better in the first half and Seattle was better in the 2nd half. I'm skeptical that Seattle's D may fall off on the road, but the first unit has impressed all pre-season long and then yesterday. I'm a homer and all, but I'm not sure how you watch yesterday's game and come to the conclusion 49ers are the better team.

Edited September 13, 2010 by bushwacked

[gallagorilla]

hawks to the super bowl!!