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My hands are literally shaking as I type this - ridiculous game!
After building a considerable lead in the first half, the offense was mostly flat in the third and fourth quarters. Not ideal by any means, but you have to love how we started that game. Suddenly our ground game was viable, Jacquizz Rodgers trucking defenders as he went. The elder statesman Michael Turner was also very effective.
Despite two Matt Ryan interceptions, he led this team to victory, completing two absolutely clutch passes with less than 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Those 2 plays and the 41 yards they earned set up a go ahead Matt Bryant field goal.
On the defensive side of the ball, we gave up a lot of yards in the intermediate range. We needed to contain Seattle's infamous rushing attack, and I'm sure that's collateral damage the coaches expected. Marshawn Lynch was held to 46 yards on 16 carries, or 2.9 yards per rush. For all the talk about the read option, we handled it very well. Russell Wilson did some damage with his feet, but on the whole, it went much better than I'd expected.
Kudos to Matt Bryant for overcoming the proverbial icing and knocking down a 49 yarder with only seconds to play. The squib-kick-that-never-was did make for a scary few seconds, but we pulled it out.
Only minutes after the game ended, commentators are already crowning the 49ers. We're going to hear a lot about them this week, but we're in. And it feels darn good. Let's get it!