Seattle laid its claim for the NFL throne in the exact way it did during its dominant run toward the NFC’s No. 1 seed: by ferociously pummeling their opponent without mercy.
The Seahawks’ offense had a productive, albeit somewhat ugly game Saturday night against the San Francisco 49ers, but Seattle’s defense (and special teams!) stole the show in this 41-6 divisional round wipeout. Now Seattle is a game away from getting back to the Super Bowl for the first time in over a decade.
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It’s a playoff position star defender DeMarcus Lawrence, who had a strip sack of Brock Purdy late in the second half, hasn’t seen in his career after spending 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. His prophetic words from last March about leaving Dallas for Seattle in free agency made a comeback on social media after the Seahawks’ emphatic win. And they’re bound to have some staying power this coming week as the Seahawks prepare for the NFC title game. But what else stuck out for Lawrence that symbolized this tenacious defense was the new necklace he sported postgame with the initials: MOB.
Mission over bull****.
“Yeah, brand new MOB necklace, man,” Lawrence said. “You know, just letting the world know how we coming, you know.”
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In a league where offenses and quarterbacks are the stars of the show, Seattle has built a defense that’s just as compelling as the biggest, flashiest arms in the NFL and they showed that they’re absolutely good enough to ride to a title.
Seattle didn’t even let the 49ers get into the game, doing the same thing it did during the Week 18 regular-season finale when it stifled the 49ers’ running game, which subsequently forced Brock Purdy to be a dropback passer and throw into the teeth of an immovable defense. This weekend, the Seahawks held the 49ers to 28 yards on 11 designed runs in the first half, and again forced the 49ers to play a style of football they don’t want to play.
Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori (3) reacts after recovering a fumble in Saturday night’s blowout against the 49ers. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The Seahawks forced their second turnover on downs of the night to open the third quarter, the offense rewarded the defense with a field goal and the 21-point deficit was too much against Seattle’s marauding defense.
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This is the kind of performance that No. 1 seeds should have against weaker opponents in their conference. Not that the 49ers are a bad team, they’re just an absurdly injured one. But this level of domination has set the bar incredibly high for whoever wins the frozen showdown between the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams. In a season when head coach Kyle Shanahan had all the answers as the 49ers’ lineups shifted and became more depleted, the Seahawks were all over everything he tried to throw out. Not only are they talented, they’re incredibly well-orchestrated with second-year head coach Mike Macdonald pulling all the strings on defense.
The 49ers didn’t even reach the red zone in this game and this was an offense that ranked top-three in most standard and advanced metrics over the back half of the season. It’s not like the Seahawks have been padding their stats against the worst teams that the league has to offer. This status is earned through trial. The only offense to put up over 20 points on Seattle over the final nine weeks of the season has been the Rams (the Titans scored 24 but they had a 90-yard punt return touchdown). They’ve given up 75 points since Week 13 with 37 of those points, legitimately half, coming against the Rams.
Teams need to be as dialed in, talented and well-coached as the Rams to really score against this defense. The run the Seahawks are on will go down in the record books as an all-time finish if they can maintain this level of defensive dominance against one of two of the better offenses in the NFL. In the Rams’ case, they’re probably just the flat-out best offense period this season.
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That creates a potentially fascinating third matchup between the Seahawks and their division rival Rams, but L.A. still has to get there first. Caleb Williams and the Bears are no pushover at this point, but when Seattle stuffs Shanahan and the 49ers in a locker for the second time in three weeks, it’s hard not to feel like this is the current favorite for the Super Bowl. Seattle’s defense is really that good and it has one of the elite special teams units in the entire league, as shown by Rashid Shaheed’s 95-yard opening kickoff return for a touchdown.
The health of the Bears or Rams will likely create a tougher test than what the 49ers were able to muster, but this defense is playing as well as a unit possibly can in the modern NFL and the Seahawks seem to be getting better each week. No matter who shows up to face the Seahawks next Sunday, the only thing louder than Lumen Field will be the boom this defense brings seemingly every single play.
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