Driven Hawks keep on rolling
SEATTLE – The Seattle Seahawks refuse to play the role of complacent champions.
After clinching the NFC West division title with an impressive shutout win over Philadelphia last Monday, coach Mike Holmgren’s high-flying Seahawks returned to Qwest Field on Sunday and delighted a crowd of 66,690 by stoning the hapless and uninspired San Francisco 49ers 41-3.
Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw for 226 yards and four touchdowns, running back Sean Alexander rushed for 108 yards and another TD and Seattle’s young defense came up huge once again as the Seahawks (11-2) won a franchise-record ninth-straight game and inched closer to clinching home-field advantage for the upcoming playoffs.
“Complacency? Not this team,” offensive tackle Walter Jones crowed following Seattle’s second-straight lopsided win. “This team plays tough and hard no matter what the situation.”
There was certainly no arguing that point on this day, as the Seahawks drove 65 yard for a touchdown on their opening possession and never took their foot off the throat of the struggling 49ers (2-11), who have now lost six straight games.
With the ultra-efficient Hasselbeck completing 21 of 25 passes and throwing touchdown passes of 28 and 7 yards to Bobby Engram, 21 yards to Joe Jurevicius and 8 yards to Jerramy Stevens, the Seahawks offense amassed 438 yards.
And the defense complemented the offensive outburst by making life absolutely miserable for Alex Smith, the 49ers rookie quarterback, who completed just 9 of 22 passes for a paltry 77 yards.
“They were aggressive the whole time,” Smith said of Seattle’s swarming defense, which limited the 49ers to eight first downs, a team record-low 113 yards of total offense and a 39-yard second-quarter field goal by Joe Nedney. “They were coming after me that whole night, but I’ve got to expect that. Every team is going to play me like that.”
Seahawks free safety Marquand Manuel said the plan coming in was to make Smith beat them.
“They have a young (quarterback), and we were trying to stop the run and put the game on his shoulders,” he explained. “And that’s what we were able to do.”
It was the second straight game that Seattle’s defense, which pitched a shutout in last Monday’s 42-0 rout of Philadelphia, held an opponent without a touchdown. And the Seahawks’ spiced up Sunday’s effort by picking off a pass, forcing three fumbles – only one of which they recovered – and sacking Smith four times.
“Our defense is playing great,” said center Robbie Tobeck. “I can’t say enough about the young guys on our defense. Those two rookie linebackers, Leroy (Hill) and Lofa (Tatupu), it’s unbelievable how great those guys are playing. And the reason they’re playing so good is the way they’re approaching the game. Those guys study, they practice hard and they work hard during games.”
Hill and Tatupu combined for 10 tackles and a sack, and were instrumental in holding 49ers running back Kevan Barlow to 33 yards on 11 carries. Defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs finished with four tackles, two of them sacks.
“Our defense is playing real well right now,” Holmgren said. “Giving up three points in two weeks, that’s pretty good.”
And the Seahawks’ offense did its part by controlling the football and putting together several long scoring drives.
“They simply beat out butts today, hands down,” said 49ers linebacker Derek Smith. “We could not stop them. We put ourselves in a bad position in the early part of the game, and it got out of hand.”
“It was a lot of fun,” said Alexander, who reached the 100-yard mark for a team-record ninth time this season, breaking the record set by Chris Warren in 1995. “The team has set high goals – even higher than mine. It’s a great, great feeling to be with guys that love doing what they do.
“I think Bobby (Engram) said it best about two months ago. He said, ‘We don’t have to try to do anything outside our own box. Everybody just do what they do best, and we’ll see what happens a few months from now,’ and we rattled off nine straight wins.”
A tenth straight at Tennessee next Sunday, coupled with losses by the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears, would give the Seahawks a first-round playoff bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Which is one more reason why the Seahawks are not about to get complacent.
“It feels good,” Tobeck admitted. “We’re winning games, but nobody in this locker room talks about a streak or anything. We talk about what we’ve got to do this week, who our next opponent is and how we’re going to approach the game.
“We have such a great home-field advantage. It sure would be nice to have any team in the playoffs that wants to make it to the big dance have to come through here and play in front of our fans.”