They didn’t get to 50 points for the third-straight game, so the Seahawks ' massive 42-13 victory against the 49ers Sunday night gave us a tiny tinge of disappointment. They could have tried, you know, taking over their final possession with 1:40 to play, but instead of Seattle trying to make NFL history against one of Pete Carroll’s biggest adversaries in Jim Harbaugh, he sent in backup quarterback Matt Flynn to kneel out the game.
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Either way, the Seahawks knocked off the 49ers in a game that was expected to be close but wasn’t, and they looked playoff-ready in doing so. They looked better than playoff-ready. They looked ready to make a deep postseason run. A Super Bowl run perhaps? Well, it’s too early to say that (even if the team was only a touchdown and two-point conversion away from becoming the first team in league history to score 50 points in three straight weeks).
But for every team we’ve watched lately that has impressed us with their performances -- the 49ers beating the Patriots in Week 15, the Packers destroying the Titans in Week 16, the Texans' solid victory against the Colts in Week 15, the Patriots dominating the Texans in Week 14 -- they’ve all been exposed sometime in the past month. The Falcons lost to the Panthers in Week 14. The 49ers lost to the Rams the week before that. In Week 12, the Giants beat the Packers by four touchdowns.
That’s the NFL’s parity, and that’s what the league wants.
But that’s not what the Seahawks have given us since Week 12. Since that 24-21 loss to the Dolphins, Seattle has been unbeatable. Not only that, the Seahawks have been unstoppable, outscoring their last three opponents 150-30.
A big reason for that has been the play of quarterback Russell Wilson. He’s moved himself into the discussion for offensive rookie of the year, and with his consistency throughout the season and his constant improvement, he would be a well-deserving winner. Against the 49ers on Sunday, going against the league’s second-best defense, Wilson was magical, converting 11 of 12 third-down conversions while completing 15 of 21 passes for 171 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
But Wilson is only one reason for Seattle’s late-season resurgence. As receiver Golden Tate discussed with us last week, the Seahawks are firing in every phase of the game. On offense, on defense, on special teams and with the coaching staff.
You saw that Sunday night. Scoring 42 points shows how well the offense is playing. The fact the 49ers scored just six points in the first 58 minutes of the game and coughed up a couple turnovers illustrates the effectiveness of the Seattle defense. Red Bryant blocked a San Francisco field goal and Richard Sherman scooped it up for a 90-yard touchdown return, showcasing the squad’s special teams. And the coaching staff clearly had this team ready to play with a game plan that choked San Francisco, which was overwhelmed in the first half and couldn’t make the necessary adjustments after the intermission.
San Francisco was a bumbling organization. Seattle was powerful and slick and ready to dominate.
“Everyone is doing their part now,” Tate told CBSSports.com earlier this week. “We're all executing our plays and staying away from turnovers and negative plays. It's showing. We're capitalizing. … We're still doing some growing. We're playing better than the week before, and then we go from there.”
That must mean the Rams, the Seahawks' Week 17 opponent, are really in trouble.
“It’s been coming together,” Carroll said. “We’re getting better. You can just feel it and see it. It’s coming to life for us.”
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