"49ers Stunned by 12th Man, Renewed Offense"
In a stunning turn of events the 49ers fall to the surging Seattle Seahawks and a renewed offensive pass game not seen in the past 5 weeks. Russell Wilson after the game said, "The receivers and I emphasized accuracy and consistency this week. I feel the work really paid off." It did, to the tune of 254 yards on 22 of 30 pass attempts with 3 Touchdowns and 0 Interceptions. The offensive assault did not stop there as Marshawn Lynch put together another power running game with 97 yards and 2 touchdowns himself, including a classic 25 yarder breaking 5 tackles on the way to the end zone. Tom Cable's offensive line seemed to have the 49ers number yesterday providing wide running and passing lanes for the offense to operate with.
Seattle's Legion of Boom continued to prove they may be the best in the league. Both Byron Maxwell and Earl Thomas procured interceptions of errant passes. With Earl Thomas completing a pick 6 from the San Francisco 30 yard line. Not to be outdone Richard Sherman shadowed Michael Crabtree all day holding the recently hot receiver to 1 reception for 5 yards on 6 targets.
Though the Seahawks only recorded 2 sacks by Bennett and McDonald, it was apparent that Kaepernick was never allowed to get comfortable against the relentless pass rush and faltering running game. Kaepernick found limited success with intermediate passes to Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin, but never did get in any kind of flow. With 5 false start penalties the 49ers plan for dealing with the crowd noise would seem to have fallen flat in the face of a relentless amount of noise by Seattle's 12th man.
What was billed to be a show stopper turned into a yawner as the Seahawks seemed to jump on San Francisco early and never let up. The 180 yards passing by Kaepernick is misleading as 70 yards were thrown in the 4th quarter leading to 2 of 3 Phil Dawson field goals in the game. With Frank Gore being held to 20 carries for 42 yards, there really was no answer to the inspired play by the stout Seahawks defensive line.
After the Seahawks 42 - 9 victory over San Francisco, they will walk into the Superbowl with a lot of confidence no matter what team comes out of the AFC Championship Game today.
.... Something like that. Go Hawks!