The setting met the moment. Mike Macdonald talks about “chasing edges” in regard to all aspects of his football team. One edge they had yet to unlock was the multiplying force of Lumen Field. Yes, the Seahawks finished the regular season 6-2 at home. Yes, their last home game had been a miraculous win against their toughest opponent in overtime. The case could be made, though, that the Seahawks were losing an edge when playing at home due to some errors on defense that helped lead to 37 points for the Rams in that game. Not on Saturday. Not against the zombie 49ers. Home field advantage was fully restored as part of a joyous, gory, 41-6 dismembering of their bitter division rival. Good thing, as Seattle will need every edge they can muster to beat the Rams next week and return to the Super Bowl.
Much has been made of the invasion of opposing fans into Lumen Field in recent years. I wrote extensively on the topic after doing research into the complexity underlying the problem. Most of the problems are going to be difficult to address. One challenge that can be overcome is exerting more control over who seats are sold to. Progress has been made on two fronts on that issue. The Seahawks have exerted some pressure to sell tickets to friends and family or risk losing their season tickets in the future. I have created HBTix.com to give sellers a way to better understand who is buying your tickets. Both approaches seemed to have helped limit the number of 49ers fans in the stands for this game.
This is not meant as a victory lap or a humble brag hoping for recognition. All I care about is the Seahawks winning every damn game possible, especially at home.
Consider this a progress report. We are taking back our house. It was buzzing in there Saturday night. The crowd was in their seats well before kickoff. Red jerseys were few and far between. I had become accustomed to some opposing fan being within a few seats of me at big games. There were none anywhere close to me at this game. It made the experience so much more communal, so much more enjoyable, even before Rashid Shaheed sent a lightning bolt through the stadium.
Fans were not just there in larger numbers, they were there with the intention to work. Screaming started when the 49ers were in their huddle instead of waiting for them to reach the line of scrimmage. That has not really happened much since 2005 when the crowd advantage tortured the NY Giants into countless false starts. Fans came to lift their team. I felt it. Players felt it.
Even as Brock Purdy ran a marathon behind the line of scrimmage, and made some discouraging, improbable, completions, the crowd sustained their energy and intent. This felt like a family reunion (with relatives you’re happy to see).
The defense did their part, limiting the 49ers to just 6 points and avoiding some of the communication errors that plagued them against the Rams. This was a unique situation that allowed a bit of an apples-to-apples comparison of how the defense would perform against the same opponent on the road versus at home in back-to-back games.
The 49ers may have doubled their scoring output from 3 points to 6 points, but that required a 56-yard field goal to scrape over the upright. They never even entered the red zone. That was just the third time in Kyle Shanahan’s tenure that his offense failed to reach the red zone. One of those games was in torrential rain last season against the Rams, where both offenses struggled in the elements. There was nothing but clear skies in Seattle.
This is not conclusive evidence that the Seahawks have addressed their challenges of playing defense with a loud crowd, but it is certainly a good sign.
Opponents need some sort of edge against this defense because they are choking the life out of teams. They are allowing 6.3 points per game and 182 yards per game over their last three games. Over their last seven games, which includes the 37 points from the Rams, they are allowing just 11.6 points per game. Remove the Rams game, and it’s 7.3 points per game.
All the focus on the less explosive Seahawks offense caused many to miss the already elite defense getting better. You may hear about the Texans defense and the Broncos defense. None of them have been doing what Seattle has done.
They are defending well at all levels. Coverage is great. Run defense is moving toward historically good. Pass rush has been good, even if not dominating. They have held three straight teams (all playoff participants) to 128 or fewer passing yards and -0.59 EPA/pass or lower.
Ricky Pearsall played in this game. At least, that’s the rumor. He finished with 0 catches and 0 yards. Jauan Jennings boasted about wanting to face the Seahawks last week. He had 2 catches for 23 yards, and a drop forced by Tariq Woolen.
Christian McCaffrey tortured the vaunted Vic Fangio Eagles defense. He was held to 35 yards rushing and 39 yards receiving. It was suffocating. It was glorious.
As good as the defense was, the special teams deserves the spotlight. Jay Harbaugh, once again, found a weakness in his opponent and exploited it. Patrick O’Connell confirmed in the postgame locker room that Harbaugh had the Seahawks start with a single returner back on kickoff and 10 men upfield. They had not run that formation much, or maybe at all.
It worked.
Shaheed took the opening kick back for a touchdown, avoiding the cheap shot tripping attempt by the 49ers kicker. The game was over at the point, even if nobody knew it. The 49ers were incapable of scoring even 7 points in this one.
Harbaugh has done this repeatedly with punt blocks, kick blocks, returns and even a kickoff touchdown recovery way back in Week 2 against the Steelers. He has been a central part of the Seahawks becoming this 15-win powerhouse.
Who knows how the game would have gone if the Seahawks offense took the field first. Maybe they would have scored as well. Maybe they would have struggled early and San Francisco would have gained confidence. We will never know. What we do know is the Seahawks special teams are a weapon few teams have in their arsenal.
Once the offense did finally take the field, they put together a quality drive that stalled at the 49ers 13-yard line, but did result in points. They scored on their first two possessions, and three of four in the first half. They wound up scoring on 6 of their first 7 possessions.
They did it without needing to rely on Sam Darnold’s arm thanks to a run game that has emerged as one of the best in football. Seattle has rushed for over 160 yards in four straight games. The 49ers were desperate to stop the run game after yielding 180 yards in Week 18. They stacked the box over 44% of the time, massively above their season average. It didn’t matter.
Seattle run over, around, and through their defense for another 175 yards. Ken Walker III looked like the dynamic weapon I have believed him to be since touting him as an Offensive Player of the Year candidate in training camp. Walker attacked the line of scrimmage with an aggression we have not seen in his NFL tenure. He hit holes, found weak spots, and broke tackles all night. Every time he took a handoff, it felt like he was a threat to go the distance.
Some credit goes to run game coordinator, Justin Outten, who took over the running back room when Kennedy Polamalu left the team a few weeks back. Both Walker and Charbonnet appear to be playing their best football since that change. Robbie Ouzts also seems to have taken a step forward. It is probably not a coincidence that Eric Saubert returned from injury to help with the blocking.
Whatever the reason, Seattle has now found a threatening run game that was simply not part of their repertoire earlier in the season. It was just a few weeks ago that Macdonald said, “It’s getting pretty late to figure it out.” Better late than never.
That, combined with an also improved screen game, has given the Seahawks offense enough variety to challenge defenses who have committed to slowing down Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the explosive passing game. I was hoping to see that return a bit more in this game, knowing San Francisco would be more focused on stopping the run, but it did not.
There was a deep shot to Shaheed that fans have been clamoring for, but it was not close to complete. Still, the pass game had some nice moments. The touchdown pass to JSN was gorgeous. Multiple completions to Cooper Kupp were critical to sustaining drives. The run game allowed Darnold to carry less weight with his injured oblique.
Drew Lock did get to play, but not for the reasons so many were worried about. It is rare to blowout a playoff opponent so bad that you can insert your backup QB with plenty of time left to play. It is even more rare to do it against a divisional opponent that won 13 games and ousted the Super Bowl champs a week prior.
That is who this team is. They are capable of more.
The Rams scraped by the Bears in overtime a day after the Seahawks took care of business. They played an overtime game on the road and will have one fewer rest day than Seattle. Maybe that will matter.
What is crystal clear is that this will be an absolute dogfight on Sunday. Forget about how good the Seahawks have looked lately and how middling the Rams have been. These are the two best teams in football. They have elite players, elite coaches, and are brimming with confidence.
This is very reminiscent of the 2013 NFC Championship between the Seahawks and 49ers. The past did not matter in that game. Both teams traded haymakers. Seattle trailed in that game. They fumbled on the first play. They needed a 4th down touchdown pass and a fingertip pass breakup in the endzone to come away with the win despite being the most talented team in franchise history.
They were better than the 2014 Green Bay Packers, but they had to overcome 5 turnovers to pull off the most unlikely playoff win ever.
These games are not easy. There is no Jarrett Stidham in this game. Seattle will have to play their best game of the season to make it to the Super Bowl.
They enter with the most complete team in the sport, a rejuvenated home field, and new weaponry. The Seahawks have earned the right to compete in this game. They will approach it with the same process and focus they have attacked every opportunity. Edges have not just been chased, they have been secured. The Rams are about to find out just how sharp those edges have become.