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San Francisco-Seattle: 9 Takeaways From The NFC Championship Game

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The Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history, preserving a 23-17 NFC Championship Game win over the San Francisco 49ers in the closing seconds, as Seattle corner Richard Sherman tipped a pass away from San Francisco receiver Michael Crabtree in the end zone, and created an interception to seal the game. Here’s the Notebook Nine takeways from the San Francisco-Seattle game…

    • *Seattle trails 17-13 and has 4th-and-7 from the San Francisco 35-yard line in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. I have no idea what possesses Seahawk coach Pete Carroll to go for it, rather than try and cut the lead to one. I don’t know even know to this day if it was a good idea. All we do know is that Russell Wilson’s strike down the middle to Jermaine Kearse for the go-ahead touchdown is the kind of play that legends are made from.


    • *I didn’t like the final 49er play call, the throw down the sideline and into the end zone to Crabtree. San Francisco had the ball just inside the Seattle 20-yard line, they still had a couple timeouts left and Colin Kaepernick was running wild. I would have preferred that San Francisco avoid the temptation to go for the quick strike and look for either short passes, or to roll Kaepernick out. This was not a play call that ever made me feel like it was going to work.
    • *Kaepernick will catch some heat for this three fourth-quarter turnovers, but I thought the San Francisco quarterback played a good game. I would actually use the adjective “excellent”, if not for the turnovers. But the final interception was not his fault. It was a combination of a big-time defensive play by Sherman and a little bit of bad luck off the tip. The 49er quarterback ran for 130 yards and had to carry the entire offense by himself against the NFL’s best defense. Rather than blame Kaepernick for the turnovers, we should be acknowledging that he was the only reason his team even had a chance in the end.


    • *Seattle’s defense completely shut down Frank Gore and the conventional San Francisco running attack. Gore carried 11 times for 14 yards. We know teams aren’t going to run successfully against Seattle, but you at least have to give a little bit of something to take the pressure off the quarterback. The Niner running attack, solid all year, was outmanned by Seattle.
    • *For the first half, San Francisco’s defense was returning the favor, and held Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch to 16 yards. Then Lynch got rolling and got 109 for the game. Even as he got his yards, it still never felt like Lynch was in a real running groove, but he was at least able to give his team something and it did seem like Seattle had momentum most of the second half.
    • *Doug Baldwin is the unsung hero for the Seahawks. There were two points in this game where it seemed like San Francisco was about to get control. The first was in the second quarter, when the Niners went up 10-0. Baldwin got open deep, caught a 51-yard pass from Wilson, and set up a field goal. Then, after Kaepernick had rifled a magnificent third-quarter touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin to put San Fran up 17-10, Baldwin returned the kickoff deep into 49er territory and set up a field goal. Baldwin ended the game with six catches for 106 yards.


  • *Russell Wilson just has the clutch gene in his body. You never get the feeling he’s in control of a game the way you might with Peyton Manning, but Wilson always seems to make the big throw, the plays to Baldwin and the 4th-and-7 being most prominent. As a college fan of Wisconsin, it will always remind of Wilson facing fourth down in the 2011 Big Ten Championship Game, rolling left and throwing a cross-field strike for a touchdown that put the Badgers in the Rose Bowl. Some guys just have “it” and Russell clearly does.
  • *The officials dodged a major bullet. San Francisco linebacker NaVarro Bowman had stripped Kearse at the one-yard line in the fourth quarter and recovered the ball. Replays clearly showed Bowman recovering the ball and being down by contact before the scrum ensued. A Seattle player ended up with the ball and officials kept possession with the Seahawks. This play was not reviewable, and my question is why not? How come everyone watching on TV can see that it should be 49er ball, but the officials are not allowed to go to the cameras, or the Niners to challenge? Fortunately, Seattle fumbled on the next play, but the league should revisit this silly notion of certain calls being unreviewable.
  • *Seattle’s win, combined with Denver’s makes this only the second time since 1993 that both #1 seeds have made the Super Bowl (2009, Indianapolis-New Orleans being the other). San Francisco’s loss ended a run of one team that had to play the first round winning the Super Bowl seven of the last eight years.

NFC Championship Game Preview: San Francisco-Seattle

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The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers have been in what has seemed like a Cold War-style arms race since the end of last season. Now it’s come to a head when they battle for the NFC Championship on Sunday evening in the Pacific Northwest (6:30 PM ET, Fox). Here’s the Notebook Nine, our key thoughts to take into the San Francisco-Seattle war…

    • *Our relevant numbers are 42-13 and 29-3. Those were the scores Seattle won by on San Fran’s two previous visits to Century Field. By contrast, the 49ers’ victories in their own home field were close. This suggests that Seattle is better on a neutral field, and that San Francisco has a lot of improving to do just to be competitive in Sunday night’s venue.


    • *Of course it was the 49ers, not the Seahawks, that made the Super Bowl last season, and there’s nothing else in these teams’ resumes that suggest a wide gap. Hence, Las Vegas is playing it safe. Seattle is a cautious 3 ½ point favorite. The Over/Under is 40, so that plays out to a 22-19 final. Let’s just round it to a good football number and say 20-17 or 23-20 Seattle is where Vegas sees this game falling.
    • *For cities on the West Coast, the historical rivalry is surprisingly thin. Until the last two years, the 49ers-Seahawks had never played in big games against each other, and this is their first playoff meeting. There’s no baseball animosity between the two markets, with the Mariners and Giants in separate leagues. When Seattle had the NBA Sonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) there were a couple NBA playoff meetings with Golden State, but both in the early rounds. There’s no epic college football lore between Washington/Washington State and Cal/Stanford. This is a fresh chapter of sports hate that we’re writing here.
    • *Can Colin Kaepernick play consistent and efficient football? Both teams are strong in all phases of the game, and especially on defense. The one exception is that while Kaepernick makes big plays, he’s not very efficient. To win this game he will surely have to execute some move-the-chains throws.
    • *Can Seattle protect Russell Wilson? The Seahawks’ pass protection has left a lot to be desired over the year and they didn’t look particularly in last week’s win over New Orleans. There’s a buzz in the media right now about how the Seahawks tend to play it safe. That might be less a commentary on Wilson then on the ability of the offensive front to give him some time.


  • *When you play defense and run the ball like Seattle does, it often doesn’t matter whether you open up the offense, which begs the question—can San Francisco force the Seahawks to break character? It’s one thing to make some big plays in the passing game off play-action when everyone is respecting the running of Marshawn Lynch. It’s another to do it if you fall behind against a tough defense.
  • *If big plays on offense end up a deciding factor, will Percy Harvin be able to play? The fragile, but explosive, Seahawk receiver, left the New Orleans game with a concussion and has still not been cleared as of Friday morning. Even with Harvin, Wilson still has fewer weapons than Kaepernick. The 49ers come at a secondary with Michael Crabtree, Anquan Boldin and tight end Vernon Davis. All Wilson has is Harvin.
  • *San Francisco’s defense is at its best when outside linebackers Aldon Smith and Ahmad Brooks turn loose and attack. But that’s a big risk when you have a power back like Lynch that can make big plays if he gets to the second level. Do the 49ers get out of character and respect the run first, or do they play their game and just let it ride?
  • *Is the Pac-12 now the cradle of coaches in the NFL? San Francisco’s Jim Harbaugh and Seattle’s Pete Carroll are carrying their rivalry from Stanford-USC. You had Chip Kelly come out of Oregon and have success with the Philadelphia Eagles this year. UCLA boss Jim Mora Jr. is a former (and probably future) NFL head coach. David Shaw, Harbaugh’s successor at Stanford, has an impressive NFL resume as an assistant and could head back to the pros.


I’m picking the 49ers with the points and I’m leaning their way for the outright win. I just feel like San Francisco is the peaking team right now, and have looked the part of Super Bowl favorite far more than top-seeded Seattle has in recent weeks.

My concern is that Kaepernick makes some early mistakes, the game gets away and it turns into another typical Niners-Seahawks game in Century Field. But if Kaepernick gets settled in, he and the rest of the SF offense are much more likely to make the game-changing play than their Seattle counterparts.

Another concern is historical—I also picked New England to win at Denver, and if by some miracle, I was actually right both times, this would make it two years in a row that road teams have swept Championship Sunday, a circumstance that has never happened. In this case though, I’m afraid if I split the difference I’ll just end going the wrong way and finishing 0-2. And there is a first time for everything.