Hawks Stuff 49ers, Roll To Fourth Straight Win

Last season, the NFC Championship came down to an epic late January battle between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers at CenturyLink Field. On Sunday, while continuing their rise back toward the top of the conference, Earl Thomas and the Seahawks insured there would be no rematch between the two teams in January.

Led by the continued dominance of the Legion of Boom, the Hawks won their fourth straight game on Sunday, dismantling the Niners 17-7. The victory not only strengthened Seattle’s chances of making the postseason, it also eliminated San Francisco from playoff contention.

Once again, it was the defense that stood tallest for the Seahawks, limiting the 49ers to just 245 yards and one score. In two meetings over the last three weeks, Seattle outscored San Francisco 36-10. Furthermore, over the last four weeks, the Hawks have outscored opponents 79-27.

Earl credited Seattle’s month long surge to the bond between he and his teammates.

“I think the overall thing is the way we are playing for each other,” the star safety said. “We are pulling in the same direction, no resistance anywhere — it is so powerful when you can congratulate a guy because you feel you just made the play.”

Earl was everywhere congratulating his teammates on Sunday afternoon.

Marshawn runs for 15-yards. NOTE: Earl Thomas at the 35 yard line. (1/2) https://t.co/MHgMEojwoD

— jose rivera. (@Jose8BS) December 15, 2014

Earl Thomas runs 15-yards to stare down Marshawn Lynch. (2/2) https://t.co/NAurju1UIR

— jose rivera. (@Jose8BS) December 15, 2014

Gotta love @Earl_Thomas he is such a huge energy on that squad!!!

— Jason E Dill (@DaddyDill8) December 14, 2014

The passion that @Earl_Thomas has for the game of football is really something-an awesome thing to get to see each week. Lucky he's a Hawk

— Michael Hodgins (@hodge1916) December 14, 2014

As has become customary for the Seahawks, the defense suffocated the 49ers offense while Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson ate up clock and put up just enough points to cruise to victory.

ET III helped lead the way for the defense with nine tackles. One of those came on San Francisco’s first drive, and it may well have saved the day for Seattle.

Unlike the first meeting between the two teams, the 49ers moved the ball well against the Seahawks defense in the first half. On the third play from scrimmage, San Francisco running back Carlos Hyde broke out of the backfield for a huge gain. His chunk was reduced by a penalty, but the carry still put the 49ers on the 40.

On the next play, it was Frank Gore who broke into the Seattle secondary, where Earl wrestled him down after a gain of 15 to the Seattle 45.The tackle proved crucial, as ET III was the last line of defense that kept Gore from breaking off a run that would have at least put San Francisco in field goal range.

Instead, after the 49ers failed to gain on their next set of downs, they were forced to punt.

The Seattle offense took the field for the first time with the ball at their own 10, but couldn’t do much and had to punt back to the Niners after just one first down. However, the Hawks defense came up with a big three-and-out on the subsequent San Francisco drive, which quickly gave the Seahawks offense another chance, one they capitalized on.

Wilson connected with Doug Baldwin twice and Paul Richardson once during a nine-play drive, and the Hawks were aided by two 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalties on 49ers safety Eric Reid. The second of those advanced the Hawks into the red zone and though they were unable to move much further, they were close enough for Hauschka to kick a 38-yard field goal that gave Seattle a 3-0 lead.

But the Niners proved to be a little more resilient on the Seahawks home field Sunday than they had been 18 days earlier on their own home field at Levi’s Stadium.

After Seattle opened the scoring with the field goal, Kaepernick engineered an 11-play, 85-yard drive for the 49ers. A big chunk of that yardage came on the first play of the drive when Kaepernick scrambled and found tight end Garrett Celek open down the sideline for a gain of 31 yards that put San Francisco in business near midfield.

On the next series, the Niners picked up a huge third down conversion when Kaepernick found Anquan Boldin in a pocket in the Legion of Boom and the receiver made a catch for a 15-yard gain just a split second before Earl could get there to disrupt the play. That put the 49ers at the Seattle 40 and from there, they rode their running game.

Hyde picked up yards in chunks to move San Francisco into the red zone and Gore finished off the drive. The veteran back gained nine yards over the next three plays, then not only picked up a first down on 4th-and-1, but burst through for a 10-yard touchdown to put the Niners ahead 7-3.

The score would remain that way for the rest of the second quarter, and for the first time in nearly a month, the Hawks went into the locker room at halftime trailing. But according to Earl, the deficit was a wake up call for Seattle and the halftime break allowed them to regroup and reset their focus on finishing off the 49ers.

“We just had to accept the challenge and understand that they were going to try to beat us. It’s the NFL,” he said. “I think maybe since they had a lot of guys out, some guys thought [it would be easy]. But we got back on one accord.”

Seattle’s answer to the challenge, started on defense after the offense managed to pick up just one first down on the first possession of the second half. But Jon Ryan’s punt was downed at the four, putting San Francisco’s backs against the wall. With the 12th man at their backs and the Legion of Boom starting them in the face, the 49ers couldn’t do much to move the ball against Seattle.

They did pick up one third down conversion, on a six-yard pass from Kaepernick to Michael Crabtree on 3rd-and-5. Hyde broke off a 10-yard run and was again wrestled down by Earl on the next play, but the run was called back due to a holding penalty on the 49ers. Three plays later, Kaepernick was sacked at the San Francisco 11, forcing a punt.

The quick stop allowed the Hawks to successfully flip the field on the Niners as the Seattle offense took possession at their own 40 after the punt. From there, the Seahawks used a balanced attack to march down the field. Wilson opened the drive with a short pass to Lynch that gained seven yards. Then the Hawks went to the ground, where Lynch sandwiched gains of 13 and 15 yards around a one-yard run by Christine Michael.

After the second of those runs, Lynch was knocked out of bounds where Earl met him and delivered a message to the running back to finish the drive.

He got the opportunity to do just that after Wilson connected with Richardson for an 11-yard gain on 3rd-and-10 from the 24. Lynch ran for one-yard on the next play, then Robert Turbin came in and picked eight yards, setting up 3rd-and-1. The Hawks went back to Lynch and the Seattle star briefly appeared to be stifled at the line, but he cutback through a hole in the offensive line and bounced into the end zone for a score that gave Seattle the lead for good.

Though his passion is at safety, No. 29 loves every facet of the game. He is one of the most vocal teammates on the sideline when the Seahawks offense is on the field, especially in his admiration for Lynch, which he also took to Twitter after the game to share.

Thank GOD for @MoneyLynch dude is special!

— Earl Thomas (@Earl_Thomas) December 15, 2014

Earl his known for his ability to fire up his teammates with his words, or even just a look as he did for Lynch on the touchdown drive. But ET III also creates momentum with his actions, which he did not only from his position on defense Sunday, but through his play on special teams. The impact was evident on the kickoff that followed Lynch’s score when No. 29 flew down the field in coverage and wrapped up San Francisco returner Bruce Ellington short of the 20-yard-line.

Not many players as important to their defense as Earl is to his play special teams as well, but ET and Richard Sherman both work on Seattle’s punt and kickoff unit, roles they take pride in and one of the many things that sets Seattle apart from the rest of the league.

“We’re different. We live to a different standard,” Earl said after the game. “We don’t live like everybody else lives.”

On the heels of Lynch’s scoring run to give the Hawks the lead, Earl’s tackle further electrified the Seattle crowd and got the 12th man on their feet. But it might not have been Earl’s best tackle of the day.

Earl Thomas is everything. https://t.co/JpxwC3dv63

— jose rivera. (@Jose8BS) December 14, 2014

Earl Thomas coming in hot https://t.co/JHsWFrYRK8

— kenna city bruh (@FrickeCody) December 14, 2014

Though Earl is generally known for locking down Area 29, his run support was instrumental to the Seahawks defense limiting the 49ers to just 67 yards in the second half. Hits like that one discouraged the San Francisco running backs from going anywhere near No. 29, and that just resulted in plays made by other defenders.

After Earl’s tackle on the kickoff return, the 49ers quickly went three-and-out, including a big sack of Kaepernick on third down by Jordan Hill. The Hawks defense ended up with six sacks on the day, including three big ones in the second half, but defensive end Cliff Avril was quick to point out how the run defense opened up the Seahawks pass rush.

“It’s always great to be able to get sacks,” he said. “We’re fortunate enough to get six today and we have to keep chopping away. The big thing is, once you’re able to stop the run, you have to be able to get after the quarterback and we were fortunate enough to get after them today.”

After Hill’s drive-stalling sack, the Hawks offense began their subsequent drive with great field position in San Francisco territory at the 44, thanks to a 19-yard punt return by Bryan Walters. It didn’t take Seattle long to capitalize.

On the second play of the drive — the final one of the third quarter — Wilson fooled the entire San Francisco defense with an option read keeper that he ran for 19 yards to the 20 before being forced out of bounds.

On the next series, the Hawks got some help from the Niners when after a third down pass from Wilson that eventually fell incomplete, the quarterback was driven into the ground by 49ers linebacker Nick Moody. Moody was whistled for roughing the passer, setting up the Seahawks with 1st-and-goal from the 7. Two plays later, Wilson found Richardson in the end zone to stake Seattle to a 17-7 lead with 13:20 remaining.

San Francisco attempted to get back into the game on their ensuing possession, and put together a long drive that carried into Seahawks territory. But the Seattle defense stiffened just outside of field goal range. Earl came up with a huge open field stop of Alfonso Smith on a second down run, keeping the 49ers running back from moving the chains. Smith was stopped short again by Hill on the next play and on 4th-and-1 from the 38, the Hawks defense, led by a big wrap up from linebacker O’Brien Schofield swallowed up Niners fullback Bruce Miller short of the marker, forcing a turnover on downs with 5:30 remaining.

The Seattle offense quickly went three-and-out on the subsequent possession, but forced San Francisco to use two of their three timeouts in the process. Then, after taking over near midfield with 4:02 remaining, the 49ers went four-and-out, thanks in part to the sixth and final Seahawks sack of the day, by Bruce Irvin, which left San Francisco needing to convert on 3rd-and-18. Miller managed to get 14 yards on a pass from Kaepernick, but on fourth down, the Seattle pass rush forced Kaepernick out of the pocket and his pass fell incomplete.

Though Earl has been especially outspoken about the teamwork and chemistry on this Seahawks team, he isn’t the only one who is impressed with the unity. Defensive end Michael Bennett gave full credit to the entire defense and made sure not to accept any individual praise for himself.

“We didn’t give up any yards, we just played our way, we played team defense and that’s the way you play championship football,” Bennett said after the game. “Everybody was where they were supposed to be and make the play they were supposed to make. First half, we missed a couple tackles, but second half we came back and made sure we made those tackles.”

While ET III undoubtedly agrees with that sentiment, he does draw the line somewhere.

Earl Thomas when told Michael Bennett said all 53 players would be willing to jump off a cliff together: "That’s kind of extreme."

— Curtis Crabtree (@Curtis_Crabtree) December 15, 2014

However, the energy and effort shown by the Seattle defense over the last four weeks has been unrivaled this year, and Earl Thomas and his teammates show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. After the game, ET III once again showed how much he loves playing the game of football, not that anybody needed convincing.

Earl Thomas: “You’ve got to have a purpose in life, and this is a great purpose. Man, I feel so alive right now.” #Seahawks

— Stephen Cohen (@scohenPI) December 15, 2014

NEXT UP

Thanks to a win by the Arizona Cardinals (11-3) on Thursday night, the Seahawks (10-4) couldn’t move up in the divisional race with Sunday’s win. But next Sunday they will finally have a chance to do so when they go head-to-head with the Cardinals in prime time.

The two teams meet on Sunday Night Football with the NFC West hanging in the balance. With a victory, Seattle would overtake Arizona for the top spot in the NFC West with just one game left on the schedule. However, if the Cardinals win, they would clinch the division title, usurping the Seahawks who won it last year.

Kickoff of the de-facto NFC West title game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. PDT and the game will be broadcast nationally on NBC.