In a sweet and bitter affair, the San Francisco 49ers convincingly Seattle Seahawks With a score of 27-20. In the process, the 49ers lost to starting quarterback Trey Lance for the season after Lance sustained an ankle injury in a quick attempt early in the first quarter.
There were a lot of raw emotions following this game and a lot of junk food, but I’ll start with the obvious feelings that are at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
Jimmy Garoppolo is back
Garoppolo’s return to the team before the start of the regular season provided a very valuable safety blanket, giving the 49ers a premium insurance policy at the quarterback in the event the glass breaks in the event of an emergency during the season.
This situation appeared much earlier than anyone could have expected. Losing a Lance is devastating, but having a capable backup with knowledge of crime and staff is probably the only silver lining you can take away from a tragic injury like this that happens to the future of your franchise.
Garoppolo came in and allowed the 49ers to weather the storm while the extra 70,000 at Levi’s Court absorbed the shock of watching their rookie blast off the field.
Garoppolo started 4/4 for 70 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown pass for a tight end Ross Doyle to push the 49ers’ lead to 13-0. Garoppolo’s final count streak was 13/21 for 154 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. It also included a quick touchdown on the midfielder’s offside that put the game out of reach in the late fourth quarter.
It was a clean game for the most part from Garoppolo, and if he can play at the level he did today, there is no doubt that 49 players are still on a similar path to winning a double in a playoff.
September 11, 2011
It was the last time the 49ers beat the Seahawks by double digits. It was a 33-17 win at Candlestick Park and the first game of the Jim Harbo era in San Francisco. Eleven years and 22 meetings between those teams since the last time 49 players managed to defeat the same level as they did today.
This “rivalry” was almost as one-sided as it has in the past decade, with Seattle winning 17 of their last 21 pre-game matches. The 49 players haven’t won a game by any margin against Seattle since their epic showdown in Week 17 to close out the 2019 season.
Except for the agonizing loss of Lance, this has been a game the 49ers and their fans have been waiting for for a long time. The members of the proud believers had been at the mercy of the Twelfth Man for a very long time, and this was a kind of victory that he felt marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.
Perhaps it’s the 49ers’ turn to dominate the next decade in this division match, and that’s likely to be the game to start you off.
Balanced just as all things should be
The 49ers attack ended Sunday’s win with 373 total attacking yards, and the splits on the ground and through the air were nearly identical. Shanahan’s attack ran the ball 45 times for 189 yards with a clip of 4.2 yards per carry, and it passed for 184 yards at an average of 7.7 yards per try.
The 49ers dominated the clock at this hour, controlling the possession time from 38:20 to 21:40. They had five drives during which they made no fewer than seven plays, and their ability to consistently maintain leadership despite the sudden mid-game change of match was certainly encouraging.
San Francisco made 25 first touchdowns and was converted in several attempts down fourth in this game as well. The only real drawback was the lack of advantage when the field shrunk, as they only finished this game in the end zone twice in their five attempts in the red zone. But overall, it was a balanced attack playing football that has been linked to the 49ers’ biggest success since Shanahan took charge.
This defense is a championship caliber
The 49ers’ defense managed to shoot effectively in this game, with Seattle’s only points in this game coming when he was blocked by a field goal for a touchdown late in the third quarter.
The Seahawks’ 49 players held 216 yards of attack in this game, a number that only shrinks to 185 if you remove the final drive of the game which was a non-significant time because both teams were essentially running around the clock.
Held at only 36 yards at 2.6 yards per carry, the Seattles’ passing attack wasn’t able to generate any kind of consistent cadence either. The pass rush gave Gino Smith bouts throughout the afternoon with Nick Bossa recording seven pressures and two kisses while terrorizing the tackles of a Seattle rookie throughout the afternoon.
Mooney Ward and Tashaun Gipson scored an interception, and Talanoa Hufanga continued his week with one distinction with another great performance. Javon Kinlaw, Eric Armstead and Kevin Givens had notable plays inside, and linebacker Dre Greenlaw was all over the field in the second tier.
This team is stacked on the defensive side of the ball, and we haven’t seen them yet in full force in the absence of Jimmy Ward. As of now, they’re looking every bit at a bit of a unit that could propel this team into a deep playoff in 2022.
They stayed out of their own way
Finally and most importantly, the 49ers managed to avoid the mistakes they made themselves that had wiped them out in Chicago the previous week. After being penalized 12 times in their first week of losing to the Bears, 49 players were tagged just once against the Seahawks.
When they’re not overcoming themselves, the 49ers are one of the toughest challenges in the entire NFL for any team to take the field against. After a terrible performance at the start of the year, they donned right-back and played clean football with a 20-point win over an opponent in the divisions.
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