The run defense up the middle was surprising to me as well. But if the whole game we only gave up one TD and two FG's that is a pretty good effort.

I'm still more concerned about our offense and how we can't seem to develop a consistent effort week in, week out on that side of the ball.

That's the bottom line.

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Particularly in the late second half they were running quick hitters and our defense was slicing upfield instead of staying at home. Just got a little aggressive which you can't really blame in that part of the game.

Surprised the hell out of me though, not used to seeing that.

Also Iupati is a beast, that was a beautiful pull he had, so nimble for such a big man.

From a 49er fan's perspective:

San Francisco's passing game stalled in the first half, in large part, because Seattle's physical corners were getting away with a lot of holding and PI, and at one point Alex Smith threw incomplete when a D-Lineman grabbed his face mask. Alex Smith also missed Kyle Williams a couple of times deep in the 1st quarter, but the number of times San Francisco's WR's were in a good position down the field prevented Seattle from jumping on the shorter routes.

At half-time, realizing the refs were not going to call many penalties on contact down the field, San Francisco made the necessary adjustments. The disadvantage of being overly physical on WR's routes is that the WR's have an easier time blocking, since they are in better position to do so. Usually when you see runs and check-downs going for decent yardage, it means that WR's are blocking CB's down-field.

Seattle's LB's are not terrible, but clearly are the weakest area of a very good, very physical defense. This gets hidden a lot of the time due to the speed and physicality of the D-Line and secondary, but when San Francisco was able to win on those levels, the LB's were exposed. They simply were not going to be able to stop the run without more help from the secondary and D-Line, while also trying to cover the short routes in the passing game.

As an added theory...

I think it might be the football gods at work.

You know how we never let Steven Jackson do anything against us? How he's been stonewalled against Seattle his entire career, even when our defense was nothing special?

Well, in payment for that luxury, the football gods have made us extra susceptible to Frank Gore.

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Okay, so maybe that pass rush is still an issue. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I wasn't happy with how well they ran the ball against us but I'm not concerned in general and I won't be unless I see other teams not named SF do it to us.

In specific though I'm am peeing in my pants worrying about them doing it to us when we play them next.

Won't happen in the CLink.

That is what a good o-line will do for you. The "experts" around here always think that we are ok, or even good, and we simply are not.

You saw what they did to our very good D-line.

Gore has always done that to us and they are always right up the gut.

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Seahawks + PC/JS + Russell Wilson + Jesse Williams = Superbowl

If only everything was as simple as just looking at a number and making a conclusion.

3 days of practice. (If that.) The 49ers can throw a lot of looks because of that beastly O-line, and our linebackers needed to see a lot more of it in practice. It wouldn't have solved the issue completely, but I have a feeling they would have stayed home a lot better.

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

Spot on. You're right, brother. That is exactly what happened.

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"Wilson will come in there pissing lightning and crapping thunder! Watch out!" ... Tech Worlds, 5/9/2012

Endzorn, 3 min. later... "Football aside, I would pay money to see that. I'm serious."

Moved to Seattle in 1980. Hawks fan for 33 years and counting.

It was a short week. Sunday's game took a toll on both sides. Not surprised at all that they were able to run the ball, same as us.

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Give me some damn skittles...

Did anyone else see the Seahawks run on the vaunted Niners run defense with similar results? Elite rushing offenses will get theirs. Both did last night.

2nd in the league in rush defense going in and the best rushing team in the league has a good day at home against them and now it's a concern??? What a ridiculous thread this is.

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"If I were Tarvaris Jackson and Matt Flynn, I'd be leery of this kid because if you give him a chance, if you give him a chance and look past his 5 foot 11 or 5-10 and a half or whatever it is, if you give this kid a legitimate chance to win the job, he'll win it" - John Gruden

I always hate seeing Frank Gore active against the 'hawks. I'm not exactly sure how well he's done against Seattle in recent years. It just ALWAYS seems like he has his best games against this team!


(A bit off topic) My friend was complaining about how frank gore is a mediocre fantasy player, and I told him he has two awesome fantasy games a season...the days he plays Seattle.

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Go Hawks.

SF was 'I think' leading the league in rushing offense with 179 yards per game average, I could be wrong though.

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"Are we rockin' and rollin' or what?!''

-- Seattle coach Pete Carroll, celebrating with his coaches after the Seahawks pulled off a trade with the Jets, netting running back Leon Washington on Saturday, via Seahawks.com

oh so i guess we should just accept getting gashed then. I got it.

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Since i was out to sea and couldn't watch the Carolina and Patriots game i rewatched them. The biggest runs i seen in those games? Right up the middle. I think the 49ers keyed on that and it is really becoming a concern to me. Now teams haven't been able to run sideline to sideline on us but where there is a significant run for a big gain it does seem to be up the middle without a doubt. Missed gaps shouldn't happen but i think the 49ers Heavy or Jumbo sets really confused our boys. I have faith PC and Bradley will get that fixed the next time around. I think we should have allowed our LB to play Man to Man coverage more because all the 49ers were doing was bringing 3 guys up through the middle of the formation using play action out of the back field in those full house sets. If the LBs are man to man that doesn't and should not happen. It's ok though i am pretty sure we will stomp a mud hole in their ass at Clink. Just need to get a couple victories going into the bye get the boys some rest and kick ass those remaining games most of which are at home. We have good shot at the playoffs if we pick up some wins before the bye.

No, but S.F. knew they weren't going to be able to throw on us, so they focused on the run even more. When you have an all-world O-line, you can do that, unfortunately. : /

I remember in the 3rd Q thinking 'Why aren't they throwing the ball to Vernon Davis?' Then after a cold hard look at things today, I realise it was possibly because they didn't have to.

Fair play to SF (as has already been noted) they found a weakness and exploited it. You have to give credit where it's due. Still say Harbaugh's a whiny little bitch though.