Free Web NovelChapter 998: Chapter 998: The Undefeated Home Field
Chapter 998: The Undefeated Home Field
"Interception!"
"Russell Wilson has thrown his first interception of the game! The San Francisco 49ers’ number 38 safety, Dashon Goldson, has made the interception!" freewёbnoνel.com
"Wilson was too aggressive! He went for a 23-yard long pass when the opportunity wasn’t the best. His passing intention was exposed early. Dashon Goldson, who has been having a great season, got into position in advance and didn’t leave any room for wide receiver Doug Baldwin to catch the ball. He made the interception one step ahead!"
"Beautiful! This time, the defense has once again shown the same style as the 49ers’ defense from the first half of the season that swept the league, with their ability to predict the offense’s moves in advance! Russell Wilson’s decision was completely wrong. This interception is the rookie quarterback’s fault."
"Wow! Dashon Goldson is still running it back! This defensive turnover isn’t over yet! Goldson is running it back! Aldon Smith has made a crucial block, hitting linebacker Leroy Hill, who was trying to get into position! Goldson has a chance to keep running!"
"Patrick Willis and Ray McDonald are making blocks!"
"Brilliant! Willis has successfully cleared the way for Goldson! Goldson! Dashon Goldson is sprinting! He’s unstoppable! There are no Seahawks players in front of Goldson! The Seahawks players are trying to run back, but... they can’t catch him! Goldson! Goldson has run into the end zone!"
"Interception return for a touchdown!"
"The San Francisco 49ers have scored an interception return for a touchdown! Wow, the defense that made the league tremble in the first half of the season is back!"
"Lu Ke! Lu Ke is still moving!"
"Lu Ke has dodged a certain sack from number 79 defensive end Red Bryant! Lu Ke’s footwork in the pocket looks like a ballerina’s! It’s light and agile, soft and clever, concise and efficient. The arc of his footwork is truly a thing of beauty!"
"Lu Ke has found a space to pass again!"
"This is a... short pass! It’s a short pass! Not a long pass, but a short pass! Lu Ke has found Randy Moss in the middle with an 8-yard short pass! Moss has successfully shaken off his defender, cornerback Brandon Browner, and has found an open space in the middle to make the catch!"
"Moss is still moving forward!"
"Emergency stop! Moss’s footwork is amazing! He barely avoided a tackle from safety Kam Chancellor, and he found a gap in the zone defense. Moss is picking up speed! Randy Moss is picking up speed! There are at least three defensive players running back, but Moss isn’t giving up."
"Moss is still looking, Moss is still changing direction."
"Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree made a beautiful block! They have bought Moss more time to run!"
"Wow, Moss has crossed the 25-yard line! The 20-yard line! The 15-yard line! There’s no one in front of him! No one can stop Randy Moss! The Seattle Seahawks’ secondary defense in the backfield has made a serious positioning mistake! Against Randy Moss, who is historically the best at fighting against a zone defense, this mistake is fatal!"
"Touchdown! It’s undoubtedly a touchdown!"
"The situation is really bad for the Seattle Seahawks!"
The two offensive plays mentioned above happened in the first half of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter, respectively. The Seahawks’ offense and the 49ers’ offense were in direct contrast. This also showed the difference in how the two defenses were able to apply constant pressure and create problems for the opposing quarterback.
These two plays could be seen as a microcosm of the entire game.
The Seattle Seahawks showed excellent form. Their ground game and passing offense were both good, but their ground game was the main focus.
Marshawn Lynch had 26 carries and ran for 111 yards. Leon Washington also had 13 carries and ran for 47 yards. To show how incredible these numbers are, you just have to look at the numbers of the opposing quarterback: Russell Wilson only attempted 21 passes and completed 12.
In other words, they attempted 21 passing plays and 39 rushing plays in the entire game. That’s a difference of almost two times. This doesn’t even include Russell’s own six runs. If you include Russell’s runs, then the rushing plays were more than double the passing plays.
You can see from the rushing yards that the Seahawks’ ground game was still on fire, especially Marshawn Lynch’s "Beast Mode." He was completely overpowering the opposing defenders and gaining yards in an unreasonable way. Even though the 49ers’ ground defense used a crowd strategy, the results were still below expectations.
It wasn’t that the 49ers’ defense was bad. It was just that Marshawn was in great form. In addition, Russell’s read-option offense created a lot of problems.
In fact, the 49ers’ defense had a great performance today. They did their best to put all the pressure from the ground game on Marshawn. Russell and Washington’s rushing efficiency was much lower than their season average. At the same time, the secondary defense put a lot of pressure on Russell’s passing. Even the usually weak cornerback line was playing tough.
Russell’s individual statistics showed this most directly: 12 completions out of 21 passes, 133 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, a quarterback rating of 68.34, and a PFF score of -1.6.
This performance was an improvement from the first time the two teams met this season, but his control of the details at crucial moments was still not good enough, especially in terms of passing completion rate and turnover control. Facing the 49ers’ tough defense, he still couldn’t break through their blockade.
Before this game, Russell’s season quarterback rating had reached 100.0, which was a top-tier performance.
Before 2010, no rookie quarterback in the history of the league had ever had a season average rating of over 100. Last year, Lu Ke significantly raised the rookie record. This year, two more rookies, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson, had an average rating of over 100. In other words, Russell’s average performance was even better than this year’s number one draft pick, Andrew Luck.
Although this was closely related to the Seahawks’ offensive system, which focused on the ground game, Russell’s performance was still recognized by the entire league.
However, in the two games he faced the 49ers this season, Russell’s performance was far below the league average and far below his usual performance. He completely fell apart in many areas, from passing to turnovers. It was a nightmare. Even though his performance in this game was better than in the seventh week of the regular season, it was still a disaster.
This shows that, first, the huge difference in his performance between home and away games shows the shortcomings of a rookie. Second, the 49ers’ defense is indeed powerful. Third, a divisional rivalry can never be measured simply by skill.
In the end, in this game, Russell had two passing touchdowns, and Marshawn and Leon each had a rushing touchdown. They also had two field goals. The home team scored a total of 34 points.
This was the Seahawks’ best performance in the four games they played against the 49ers in the past two seasons. If you compare it to the "23-48" loss at CenturyLink Field last season, you can see that they still couldn’t pose much of a threat to their opponents. But today, they scored over 30 points for the first time, which could be seen as a huge improvement.
But facing the 49ers, the Seahawks’ overall performance was still not good enough for them to win the game.
First, Russell’s two interceptions led to an interception return for a touchdown by the defense. Second, Marshawn fumbled the ball in the red zone. A touchdown was within reach, but the opponent took the ball, and their entire offensive drive was wasted. Another problem was that their special teams gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, which was done by Mario Manningham.
What was more fatal was that the Seahawks’ defense still couldn’t put enough pressure on the 49ers’ offense.
In this game, Lu Ke’s offense was very steady. He attempted 31 passes and had 26 runs, achieving a near-perfect balance between passing and running, and completely controlling the rhythm of the game.
In terms of rushing, Frank Gore had 12 carries, Kendall Hunter had 10 carries, and LaMichael James had four carries.
The overall rushing yards showed a rebound. The total rushing yards for the entire game was 122 yards. Their efficiency was even slightly higher than Marshawn Lynch’s individual stats. However, you can’t ignore the fact that Marshawn Lynch carried most of the pressure on his own, while the 49ers had three players sharing the pressure and constantly changing the rushing rhythm. The results were naturally different.
Most importantly, throughout the offensive drive, Lu Ke’s tactical combinations completely suppressed the opposing defense’s plans. Whether it was running or passing, he was always one step ahead, creating more space for the offense, which also improved their efficiency.
Lu Ke’s performance in the entire game was still steady: 22 completions out of 31 passes, 301 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions, a quarterback rating of 144.68, and a PFF score of 1.7.
Although it wasn’t a new season high, it was still a top-tier performance. His PFF score was even the second highest of the season. It was clear that Lu Ke had successfully minimized the negative effects of playing on the road and had also led the defense and special teams back on the right track.
In the entire game, the defense had one interception return for a touchdown, the special teams had one kickoff return for a touchdown, and the offense had five touchdowns. One was a rushing touchdown from Frank Gore, and the other four were passing touchdowns, from Logan Newmann, Ted Ginn Jr., and Randy Moss.
This was the same 49ers team that made the entire league tremble in the first half of the season!
When the referee blew the final whistle, the scoreboard showed "34-50," with the home team’s score first and the away team’s score second. The 49ers had once again taken a victory on the road.
"Undefeated at home vs. Undefeated for the season." The undefeated home streak was broken, and the undefeated season streak continued!
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