Seahawks defeat 49ers in a penalty filled game in week 13

The Seahawks defeated the 49ers on Sunday to move to 7-5. The game wasn’t perfect and the officials made sure of that.

The Seahawks won easily on Sunday. It just didn’t feel that way. At least, not for the most part. Seattle won 43-16 in a game that was penalty-driven. Did the NFL try to make sure this game was without controversy.

The NFL and it’s officials, during a large part of the second half, seemed to control the game. There were 20 penalties called in this game. That is unacceptable. The NFL needs to fix how closely it calls some games. Several penalties in this game were not good calls.

But let’s put that aside. The important thing is Seattle moved to 7-5 and are now in the playoffs, if the season were to end today. Next Monday the Seahawks play the Vikings and could basically seal their playoff fate with a win.

There were a lot of negatives for Seattle. 49ers quarterback, Nick Mullens, threw for over 400 yards. And he didn’t always do it during garbage time. Former-Washington Husky, Dante Pettis, caught five passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns. And like Mullens, Pettis didn’t do this during a time when the game was clearly in doubt.

Tedric Thompson missed a tackle that allowed a big 49er gain and Tre Flowers gave up one of Pettis’ touchdown, and a long one it was. Seattle has a lot to fix going forward to try to win against the Vikings and Chiefs.

But now for the good stuff

Bobby Wagner was an absolute freak in this game. Not only did he have 12 tackles and two tackles for loss and a sack, he also had a 98 yard interception return for touchdown. Wagner may have gotten upset that Luke Kuechly outplayed him last week in the Panthers game, but on Sunday, Wagner was the second best player on the field.

The best player? That would be Russell Wilson. Wilson threw just 17 passes for 185 yards but four of those throws were for a touchdown. And Wilson took just three sacks and only one which could be called his fault.

Wilson controlled the pace of play for Seattle and the 49ers could not stop him. The only concern is that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer did not use him more. Maybe Schottenheimer is saving Wilson more for the 49ers game in a couple of weeks?

Seattle ran for 168 yards against a good 49ers run defense. Chris Carson averaged 5.3 yards a carry and Rashaad Penny averaged 9.3 yards per. Seattle can run against anyone. D.J. Fluker did get injured late in the game, though, so how will that affect Seattle moving forward?

So the Seahawks won easily on Sunday. They were expected to and they did. Seattle is now 7-5 and currently the fifth seed in the NFC playoff standings. The Seahawks schedule is favorable to them making the playoffs. And once there, Seattle could make some real noise. Anything is possible.