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Week 4 Game Recap: Seattle Seahawks 23, San Francisco 49ers 3
What you need to know
| Seattle Seahawks |
Led by an aggressive defense, the Seahawks took control of this game early and never relinquished it. Matt Hasselbeck had a good afternoon, spreading the ball around to nine different receivers as he completed 23 of 31 passes for 281 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Deion Branch was his primary target, hauling in seven balls for 130 yards against the 49ers. Bobby Engram caught a seventeen yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, one of four passes he took for 53 yards on the afternoon. Nate Burleson was relatively quiet with two receptions for ten yards. The Seahawks did a good job of getting Seneca Wallace involved in this game, though he caught only pass for eighteen yards.
Tight end Marcus Pollard caught Hasselbeck's other touchdown, one of two balls he pulled in for 23 yards. The running backs were very involved in the Seattle passing game, with Leonard Weaver leading the way with four catches for 26 yards. Fellow fullback Mack Strong added a twelve yard reception, while halfbacks Shaun Alexander and Maurice Morris each pulled in one pass, going for five and four yards respectively.
Though the Seahawks led for the majority of the afternoon, they were unable to get the running game completely untracked, with Shaun Alexander gaining just 78 yards on 25 carries. Maurice Morris returned from an injury to carry the ball late in a decided game, pickup up 13 yards on five attempts, while Leonard Weaver added six yards on three carries. Both Matt Hasselbeck and Seneca Wallace finished with negative yards, losing three and one yard each.
| San Francisco 49ers |
A hard hit on the first series of the game knocked Alex Smith out with a shoulder injury and forced Trent Dilfer into the game after one incomplete pass by Smith. Dilfer found the Seahawks pass rush to be too much as well, completing only 12 of 33 passes for 128 yards and two interceptions. Running back Frank Gore led the team in receiving yards with 42 yards on three catches. Wide receivers Darrell Jackson and Arnaz Battle each caught three balls as well, with Jackson gaining 38 yards to Battle's 19 yards. Taylor Jacobs served as the third receiver and chipped in one catch for 14 yards. The presence of Vernon Davis was clearly missed from this offense, with Delanie Walker catching just one pass for seven yards. Maurice Hicks added an eight yard catch out of the backfield as well.
Frank Gore showed great strength in breaking tackles and finding the open hole, but was clearly not given the ball enough, handling it for just sixteen carries for a total of 79 yards. Michael Robinson broke off a 28 yard run, while Maurice Hicks added two yards on two carries. Given the ineffectiveness of the 49ers passing game and aggressive pass rush, it is somewhat surprising that even despite being behind that San Francisco did not attempt to run the ball more in this game.
What you ought to know
| QB Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 23 - 31 - 281 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - -3 - 0 |
Hasselbeck led an efficient game, utilizing all of his resources and finishing with a passer rating of 88.2 with an average gain over nine yards per passing attempt. Hasselbeck's interception came on a sideline route where Nate Clements was blanketing his receiver and Matt made a poor decision.
| RB Shaun Alexander, Rush: 25 - 78 - 0, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Alexander averaged just over three yards per carry and was kept out of the end zone in the 23-3 win. Alexander had just one carry from inside the five yard line, a third and a goal attempt from the three yard line where he was stuffed for a two yard loss.
| WR Deion Branch, Rec: 7 - 130 - 0 (11 targets) |
Branch was very active all afternoon, and came up with a 65 yard catch to help setup teammate Bobby Engram on his touchdown catch.
| WR Bobby Engram, Rec: 4 - 53 - 1 (7 targets) |
With his touchdown catch on the afternoon and multiple catches over fifteen yards, Engram showed his versatility as a receiver to play a position other than the slot and make catches directly over the middle of the field.
| WR Nate Burleson, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (3 targets) |
Burleson was relatively quiet in this game with two short grabs, but was targeted once on a deep ball.
| TE Marcus Pollard, Rec: 2 - 23 - 1 (2 targets) |
Pollard hauled in his touchdown pass at the three yard line and took it in for his first touchdown of the season. Pollard was only targeted twice in this game, though Matt Hasselbeck did a good job of spreading the ball around all day.
| PK Josh Brown 3 - 3 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 11 points |
Brown was good from 23, 25 and 31 yards out in addition to two extra point attempts.
| SEA Rush Defense |
The Seahawks somewhat struggled to tackle Frank Gore at times throughout the game, but working with a lead, limited Gore to just sixteen carries on the afternoon. They forced Gore to fumble twice early in the game, recovering one.
| SEA Pass Defense |
The pass rush made life difficult for both Alex Smith, forcing him out of the game, and Trent Dilfer, who combined to complete 12 of 34 passes on the afternoon. Between the two, they were sacked six times in the first half of the game, including three times by Julian Peterson. Dilfer also threw two interceptions to Marcus Trufant.
| QB Trent Dilfer, Pass: 12 - 33 - 128 - 0 TD / 2 INT |
Dilfer struggled mightily all afternoon, averaging less than four yards per passing attempt, and completing just 36% of his passes. Dilfer was also sacked five times and fumbled the ball twice (losing one) in addition to his two interceptions. The 49ers did however have three completed receptions called back due to offensive penalties.
| QB Alex Smith, Pass: 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 TD / 0 INT |
Smith was sacked hard on the first series of the game and exited with a shoulder injury.
| RB Frank Gore, Rush: 16 - 79 - 0, Rec: 3 - 42 - 0 (5 targets) |
Gore fumbled the ball twice early in the game, though recovering one of his own fumbles deep in his own territory. After these mishaps, Gore held onto the ball tight and showed good power in breaking tackles, averaging just under five yards per carry against the Seahawks defense.
| WR Arnaz Battle, Rec: 3 - 19 - 0 (9 targets) |
Once Trent Dilfer entered the game, Jackson and Battle split targets, though Battle was utilized primarily on underneath routes.
| WR Darrell Jackson, Rec: 3 - 38 - 0 (10 targets) |
Jackson was the primary target for the 49ers, though he couldn't get behind the defense for any long gains, as Trent Dilfer was frequently forced to get rid of the ball quickly due to the Seahawks pass rush.
| TE Delanie Walker, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (5 targets) |
With Vernon Davis out of the lineup, Walker played the role of the primary receiving tight end. Walker was able to split behind the linebacker down the sideline deep in Seahawks territory, however was just slightly overthrown on a ball that would have gone for a touchdown pass.
| PK Joe Nedney 1 - 1 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 3 points |
Nedney connected on his only field goal attempt from 43 yards out to extend his league leading streak of eighteen consecutive field goals made.
| SF Rush Defense |
The 49ers were fairly effective in shutting down Shaun Alexander and the Seahawks rushing attack, especially given that the Seahawks led for the majority of this game. As a group, he Seahawks gained just 93 yards on 37 carries.
| SF Pass Defense |
The pass defense of the 49ers was not able to consistently keep pressure upon Matt Hasselbeck, who utilized both short passes to his running backs as well as deep passes, spreading it around for 281 yards. The pass rush garnered only two sacks, but came up with one interception on an ill-advised pass in the second half.
