Colts, Titans, Ravens , and Jets are a different story, but Seahawks, no. 

I didn’t get to see the game against the 49ers, but I did follow the drives on the online Gamecenter because I have the 49ers Defense on my fantasy team.  I was wondering what the heck was going on at half time because they were getting killed by the Seahawks.   What I noticed was that Seattle was the 49ers offense doing nothing.    This gave Seattle short fields to work with.  The Seattle defense was able to get off the field quickly as well and stay fresh.  San Francisco was forced to rely on Smith in the second half and abandoned their primary weapon, RB Frank Gore.  He only ran the ball four times in the second half.  All of the other offensive plays for San Francisco were passes. 

 Enter Alex Smith

So the question that comes to a lot of people is' how did Seattle do so well?   The answer is Alex Smith. First pick of the 2005 draft. He single handedly scuttled the San Francisco offense and by the time the 49ers looked up they were down by three touchdowns.   The Seahawks kept getting gift after gift from Smith.  He was horrible on third downs.  He only converted one third down the entire game.  San Francisco was 1/15 on third down.  

Fools Gold

Seattle only had 170 passing yards and 77 rushing yards.  Looking at those numbers you wouldn't think they equate to 31 points.   Denver would have easily scored 31 points on such an opportunistic game against such a poorly executing teamas San francisco.   The Seahawks are far from the giant slayers that they seemed to be taking down the 49ers, who were highly regarding in the preseason predictions.  Seattle’s offense will have a hard time cracking 20 points against a decent Denver defense.  More importantly Kyle Orton will not give the same opportunities that Alex Smith gave to Seattle.  Orton flat out is a much better QB and plays in a better offensive scheme.  

Seattle’s Drives and Scores

1st Quarter

INT on first play

3 & out

2nd Quarter

3 & out

SEA 36 – TD (defensive holding penalty on 3rd and 4 extended the drive)

SF – 13 – TD (Alex Smith throws his INT setting up)

3rd Quarter

INT returned for a TD  (2nd INT for Alex Smith on the third play of the second half)

SEA – 40 – TD (San Francisco committed two penalties)

3 & out

Punt

4th Quarter

3 & out

SEA 26 - FG  (Only scoring drive with assistance of a penalty or INT for a short field)

Summary

1 = INT

4 = 3 & outs

2 = TD drives assisted by penalties

1 = TD set up by an INT

1 = TD returned by defensive INT

1 = FG