12th Man Rising
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Seahawks find their finish, dominate 49ers

By Dan Viens

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Make no mistake about it, this was a pivotal game for the Seattle Seahawks. With 18 teams in the league currently sporting losing records, falling to 2-5 wouldn’t have been the death knell it’s been in years past, but it may have put the final nail in the coffin of the Seahawks mojo.

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Instead, they laid an impressive smack down on the 49ers, beating them 20-3 at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara.

For this one, Section 114 was replaced by….. my workplace. I watched it unfold with about 120 of our faithful regulars at Ozzies. Most were decked out in Seahawk gear. Only three were brave enough to show up in red. Most were confident before kickoff, but I can’t say the same for yours truly. The four 4th quarter come-from-ahead losses had taken their toll, and I would classify my pregame mindset as……… pessimistically hopeful, if that’s such a thing.

But this…. this was the kind of performance we’ve been waiting to see from this team. This was the first three quarters of the Cincinnati game, but with the 4th quarter deleted, edited, and pasted back in as something much more like we have come to expect from the Pete Carroll-era Hawks.

The defense dominated. Just when I was beginning to think our lack of depth up front was starting to take it’s toll, Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett stepped up with their best games of the year. Colin Kaepernick was mugged throughout the game, and on the rare occasion he had time to throw he was more likely to hit a bystander than an open receiver.

On offense, Marshawn Lynch looked healthy, and pissed. He racked up over 100 yards for the first time this year and his pound-it-again-and-again goal line offensive stand TD to begin the game may have excorsized some of the Seahawks red zone demons.

Russell Wilson threw a pair of interceptions but was mostly outstanding, as the Hawks won the time of possession battle 38 minutes to 22. He underthrew Tyler Lockett, slightly….again……but the rookie WR hauled in this 43 yard bomb for his first NFL touchdown reception.

In short, tonight’s game was just what the doctor ordered. It keeps the Seahawks no worse than two games behind the division-leading Arizona Cardinals with both matchups between those two teams still on the schedule. And now they get 10 days to recoup, get healthy, and face a Dallas Cowboy team on the road without Tony Romo, and presumably without Dez Bryant as well.

In the Bay Area, the home team narrative may very well be doom and gloom. The Seahawks avoided similar conclusions by getting back to a familiar brand of football. They may have saved their season in the process.

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