Seahawks beat 49ers in week 8 with relative ease

The Seahawks defeated the 49ers in week 8 to move to 6-1.

The Seattle Seahawks came into week 8 with only one healthy running back against a 49ers defense that seemed to be better in the last two games. But that one healthy running back, DeeJay Dallas, made a huge impact.

So did D.K. Metcalf. Metcalf was uncoverable for most of the game and ended with 12 catches and 161 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was thrown those passes by Russell Wilson, of course, who was coming off a not-great game and played nearly flawlessly against the 49ers. Wilson now has 26 touchdown passes on the season in 7 games. His MVP campaign is still well underway.

And to be fair, by the middle of the third quarter this game was not in doubt as Seattle held a 27-7 lead. For 12s used to last-second victories (and one recent loss), this game was beautiful to watch. Sure, the 49ers cut it to 30-20 but even then had slim hopes of actually getting back to even.

For the first time in forever, Seattle defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr. called a good game. At least through three quarters. At one point Metcalf had 144 total yards himself compared to the 49ers 11 as a team. Seattle brought decent pressure, stopped the run well enough and covered 49ers receivers and limited their yards after catch. It was the best the Seattle defense had looked in years.

End of game stats were meaningless

By the end, if someone had purely looked at the statistics, they would have been misled. While the Seahawks were playing prevent defense (trying to prevent their own victory?), 49ers backup quarterback Nick Mullens (starter Jimmy Garoppolo left the game injured in the third quarter) threw to wide-open receivers over the middle of the field. Seattle might have just needed to stay with aggressive defense but they didn’t and it didn’t matter.

Now Seattle will go into week 9 against the Rams and should be getting healthier and even better. Chris Carson is likely to return as well as safety Jamal Adams and defensive tackle Damon “Snacks” Harrison. Seattle showed on Sunday they have Super Bowl potential even against an injured 49ers team.