But I don't want to be Debbie Downer. The Seahawks played solid football Sunday, and they've done something they haven't done in quite a while; each time the 49ers seemed close to getting back in the game, the Seahawks slammed them down. It was a day of quick strikes, and it brought me tremendous joy. I can't recall the last time we were the ones putting up big plays for TDs, as opposed to watching other teams do that to us. It felt good.
Still, I'm nervous. We were playing a pretty bad team on their new head coach's first game. We beat them soundly, which would give me hope had we not also beat the Rams soundly and proceeded to lost the next three games. Our defense played well, and our special teams have shown significant improvement. Mare's been the man for us on both kick-offs and field goals. But, why did we win this game? Big plays.
Josh Wilson's pick and TD was sweet, and I sure we could've done something like that at Qwest. The faithful fans there needed to see something like that, and Josh deserved some love for it (by his account, that's his first TD since pee wee football). But, it wasn't enough to put the 49ers away, and they marched slowly down the field in the second half to score a TD. I emphasize "slowly" because, although our defense wasn't able to get off the field, they didn't give up anything big to the 49ers on that drive, and it took over half a quarter to get their points. When you're nursing a lead, sometimes that's good enough for the defense to do.
On the other side of the ball, the Seahawks weren't able to sustain drives of their own, so Leonard Weaver just decided he'd take matters into his own shiny green shoes. He took two short passes for TDs of 43 and 62 yards, which is unheard of not only for Weaver, but for the Seahawks in general. Congratulations not only to Weaver on his career game, but to all of those gutsy enough to start Weaver on their fantasy teams.
Next week, though, we've got the Eagles. Call it a hunch, but I don't believe the Eagles are going to allow our fullback to get over 100 yards receiving and two TDs. But, Weaver has shown us the way. Assuming our offense still won't be able to get anything going, we'll need three things to happen in order to knock off the Eagles at home:
1. The defense can't allow us to get in a hole. Our offense doesn't have the ability to come from behind, so we have to be in the game at all times.
2. Our special teams just need to repeat what they did today. Make the Eagles earn their points, and give our offense a head start.
3. We need big plays. If you can't put together long 70-yard drives, put together short 70-yard drives. Yes, it would be nice to give our defense a rest, but if they have to be on the field for 35+ plus minutes a game, at least put them out there with the knowledge that they're not doing all the work.
The Eagles are tough, but they're not unbeatable. I don't expect a win on Sunday, but I finally see that the Seahawks can find ways to win games, and that's enough to give me some optimism. At this point in the season, that's about all I can ask for.
Go Seahawks!
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