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Seahawks make it look easy against 49ers

Feb 4, 2008 - 2:46 PM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The Seattle Seahawks got well at the expense of the woeful San Francisco 49ers.

Matt Hasselbeck threw a pair of touchdown passes and the Seahawks dominated all facets of the game in manhandling the reeling 49ers, 24-0, on Monday night.

Backup running back Maurice Morris rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown as Seattle (5-4) maintained a one-game edge over the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West and avenged a pair of losses to San Francisco last season.

The Seahawks recorded their fifth shutout on Monday Night Football, extending a league record they already owned.

"It's a great team effort," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "I told the guys that anytime you get a shutout in this league it's really something. Your defense played really well. We were able to pressure their quarterback. I was pleased with our defense and our offense was a little bit better."

The 49ers (2-7) suffered their seventh consecutive defeat under coach Mike Nolan, who was on the sideline one day after the death of his father, Dick Nolan, the longtime San Francisco coach who died on Sunday at age 75.

During the seven-game streak, the Niners have managed just 67 points and the offense turned in another atrocious performance. San Francisco did not get a first down until the final play of the first half.

It was frustrating tonight," 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. "We are better than that. Not taking anything away from Seattle, they played a great game tonight, but it was frustrating."

Holmgren had felt his offense was not good enough and vowed to return to his roots and throw the ball more to get his team out of its funk.

With his running game ineffective for most of the season and star running back Shaun Alexander inactive due to multiple injuries, Holmgren put the ball in the hands of Hasselback on Monday night, letting him line up in shotgun formation.

"I think it's great. I think it makes things a lot easier," Hasselbeck said. "We don't have a lot of experience with it. I am trying to use it and not abuse it so he doesn't take it away."

The nine-year veteran quarterback delivered even though he was without wide receiver Deion Branch, who sat out his fourth straight game with a sprained foot.

Hasselbeck finished 27-of-40 for 278 yards, two TDs and one interception. He hit tight end Will Heller for 1 yard to open the scoring in the first quarter and D.J. Hackett from 10 yards to push the margin to 24-0 in the fourth quarter.

"Matt has always had the ability to go to the shotgun and he really likes it," Holmgren said. "He's a little more comfortable in it now. I was not pleased with how we were running the ball."

Hackett hauled in eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown, as Hasselbeck completed passes to eight different receivers.

Starting in place of Alexander, Morris also caught three passes for 16 yards but he was more annoyed by committing a fumble on one of them.

It was pretty good but whenever you have a fumble, I'm not happy about it," Morris said. "I'm happy about the win. Overall I guess it was pretty good. We sprayed the ball all over the field and that kind of softened the run defense up and helped us do some positive things."

Conversely, Smith was 11-of-23 for just 102 yards as the 49ers went three-and-out on their first five possessions and never had the ball more than five plays until midway through the fourth quarter, when they had their first third-down conversion.

"No one said it was going to be easy and it's not," Smith. "We're all going to have to look inward to come out of this. We have to fight our way out. There is absolutely no question that I could have been better tonight. Without a doubt, I was not good enough."

Running back Frank Gore, who tore up Seattle's defense for 356 yards in two games last season, was limited to 72 on 13 carries.

San Francisco finally got their first first down as the opening half ended - and even that was in dispute.

Smith connected with Arnaz Battle on a Hail Mary pass that the receiver appeared to juggle and lose control of as he fell out of bounds. But with the half over, there was no reason to review the play.

Even Seattle's miscues turned out well on this night.

Josh Brown booted a 46-yard field goal for an apparent 13-0 lead with 8:46 left in the half, but a holding penalty on Heller took the points off the board and forced the Seahawks to punt.

No matter. Ryan Plackemeier dropped in a perfectly placed punt and pinned the 49ers at their 1-yard line.

Seattle forced a third straight three-and out and, after taking over on their 48 following a punt, Hasselbeck hit Hackett for 46 yards to the 6-yard line.

Two plays later, Morris scampered in from the 6 for a 17-0 lead with 5:17 left in the half. It was the first rushing TD of the season for Morris.

In the final two minutes of the first half, a penalty against the Seahawks for interfering on a fair catch set up San Francisco at Seattle's 31-yard line.

But on second down, safety Jordan Babineaux came in untouched on a blitz and leveled Smith, forcing a fumble that was recovered by teammate Darryl Tapp.

The 49ers had their best opportunity to break the shutout and get back in the game following an interception by Nate Clements early in the third quarter.

San Francisco drove to the Seahawks 1-yard line, but on fourth down Gore was swallowed up by a wave of defenders.

"That was big, especially after a sudden change like that," Seattle linebacker Julian Peterson said. "For us to make a stand like that was real big for us. Hopefully this will carry over for us and show everybody how dominant we can be."

One mistake finally did come back and bite the Seahawks. Brown connected on a 49-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in the half, but a false-start penalty negated the kick, and he missed a subsequent 54-yard attempt.

"Special teams, we have some work to do," Holmgren said. "We had six points taken off the board."