For one night, the Seattle Seahawks looked like the team we’ve grown accustomed to seeing over the last few seasons.
Seattle’s 20-3 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday felt like a reunion of sorts for head coach Pete Carroll.
“It’s like having the gang back together,” Carroll said, via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.
The Seahawks sacked Colin Kaepernick six times, held the 49ers to 142 total yards and eight first downs and rushed for 176 yards, including 122 from Marshawn Lynch. Seattle improved to 3-4, saving a season put on life support after losing four games in the fourth quarter or overtime during the first six games.
“It felt like a really normal Seahawk night tonight,” Carroll said.
The Seahawks have beat the 49ers four straight times and five of the last six, including the postseason. Thursday night’s 17-point win was the largest margin of victory in the rivalry since Seattle won 29-3 over San Francisco back in Sept. of 2013.
The 49ers dropped to 2-5.
San Francisco finished 1-for-11 on third down and held the ball for just over 21 minutes. Seattle dominated the game, chewing up yards on the ground and making stop after stop on defense.
Maybe this is the moment the back-to-back NFC champions comes back to life.
“You can’t get ahead of yourself,” said defensive end Michael Bennett, who had 3.5 sacks. “Just keep chopping and keep hitting that wood, and eventually that tree’s going to fall.”