Seahawks, 49ers: First Half Analysis
By Anton at September 20th, 2009.When the Seahawks got the ball deep in their own territory with 2:51 left in the half, it was a perfect set up for a Matt Hasselbeck engineered two-minute drill. He completed four passes underneath, found Nate Burleson and Deon Butler for first downs, handed to Justin Forsett for a tough 13-yard rush and, eventually, Seneca Wallace found Julius Jones out of the backfield for the touchdown. Add the Mare extra point, and at halftime it’s 13-10 49ers.
A lot will be made about Frank Gore going wild in the first half. In total, he rushed for 113 yards in the first half; 79 came on one touchdown carry in the first quarter. So really, the Hawks defense is not doing all that badly against the run. On Gore’s long TD run, Aaron Curry took a bad angle from the backside and was subsequently blocked down allowing Gore to sprint through virtually untouched. Honestly, not a huge concern.
Also, Patrick Kerney, Craig Terrill and Lawrence Jackson all contributed sacks and two were to derail potential touchdown drives. Furthermore, the 49ers only converted two third-downs in the first half. The defense is depleted (Marcus Trufant, Brandon Mebane, Leroy Hill) yet keeping us in the ball game.
The defensive front is applying plenty of pressure and as long as Gore doesn’t bust another huge play, our defense will win the battle over the 49ers offense.
Offensively for the Hawks, other than the two-minute drive, our offensive was middling. I think the final two-minute drive provided a great example of what the Hawks are missing offensively — a true “field-stretcher.” In other words, if the Hawks believe Nate Burleson has deep-play ability, then he must be allowed to stretch the field and provide that threat. Otherwise, the Hawks will continue to dink-and-dunk down the field and a very good defensive team (Chicago Bears) will take that away in the second half.
Obviously, the Hasselbeck injury is a potentially HUGE development. He won’t be back in the second half while he nurses a rib injury.
NO MORE BIG PLAYS!
Tags: Brandon Mebane, Deion Butler, Julius Jones, Justin Forsett, Laurence Jackson, Leroy Hill, Marcus Trufant, Matt Hasselbeck, Nate Burleson
Anton
Anton Northwood is a Seattle resident who spends much of his time working on the Eastside.
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“NO MORE BIG PLAYS!”
And yet, before you can even post this article, Frank Gore runs ANOTHER 80 yard run for a TD, right at the start of the next half. Ooops.
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Terrible first half, Hawks! Got to get it together. What effect does having Hasselback out have on the Hawks’ chances for NFC West domination?
Evan: It’s important to remember at this point Hasselbeck’s injury is to his ribs. He took a big shot on his low-back so the immediate concern is that it’s his back. The word out of the locker room, however, is that he injured a rib. Nonetheless, to answer your question, Hasselbeck’s absence is HUGE. IF he is out, say, 2-3 weeks, it’s a manageable problem. More than that? I don’t know. Worse-case scenario, Seneca Wallace is one of the best back-up quarterbacks in the NFL and could start every week elsewhere — like in San Francisco
[...] point I made in my first half analysis was that the Hawks were victimized by the big play today (Gore’s 79-yard touchdown run) and [...]
[...] the player he did draft, Curry, a linebacker some liken to Lawrence Taylor, is being piled on for overrunning a Frank Gore touchdown run last week. Just one question: Did Curry overrun Gore’s multiple long jaunts in 2006, too? I [...]