Ohhhh, the weather HAS hit Seattle.

And the stands are empty!

The Jumbotron went out, the electricity in the entire stadium went out, the rain has been coming down in weird directions. The referee has walked around the field and declared it satisfactorily fit for play despite some drainage problems. The announcers are saying that we’re waiting for the players to come onto the field. And here they come.

They’re talking about a slippery field.

The wind apparently hasn’t come like the expected, although that really doesn’t make sense with their report of rain coming down from weird directions.

The Seahawks have come onto the field. Er … uh … hold that. The smoke is coming out of the tunnel but I don’t see any players yet. Is the tunnel on fire? All the players were lined up ready to come out but no one actually did. And yet there was tons of smoke! How weird! Well, eventually they made it out. No explanation of what was happening.

They said there are patches of the field buckling. They are saying the worst of the weather is yet to come. They are talking about suspending the game if the bubbles on the field reappear. It’s been raining heavily in Seattle all day. They asked where the bad spots are, but I guess the spots were all over the field.

The SeaGals are dressed!!!! (As opposed to wearing their usual uniforms!)

Oh, and they’re talking about a power surge just now in the stadium.

Now they’re talking about the wind coming in. They’re talking 80mph gusts if the forecast comes through. Chris Collinsworth says that’s a hurricane in Florida!

Seahawks to kick off. It goes into the end zone, “assisted by that gust,” the announcers said.

1st and 10 for SF at the 20. The fancy graphics used by the NFL Channel are neat but I’d rather see the game! Get ‘em off the screen! The first play is a run and a tackle by Hamlin.
2nd and 7 – Another run by Gore. Short gain.
3rd and 4 – And the rain is coming down hard. False start.
3rd and 9 – It’s a passing play. Falls incomplete.
4th and 9 – I think he is kicking into the wind. Oh no…Burleson made a HORRIBLE decision to catch the ball after it bounced on the turf. He got hit and the ball popped loose. Scramble, loose ball, SF touches it, we touch it, SF touches it, we touch it, there’s a big pile of bodies. WHEW! We got the ball! They’re saying 7 sets of hands touched that ball before Seattle recovered!

1st and 10 for Seattle at the 39. Hass threw an interception … and then Moore with SF dropped it! WHEW! That’s two plays. Two heart attacks.
2nd and 10 – Shaun to run. Gets back to the line of scrimmage.
3rd and 9 – Pass to Branch for a first down! Hooray!!! ?
1st and 10 - Shaun to run. Gets to the line of scrimmage again.
2nd and 10 – Shaun runs the ball for a gain of 3-4 yards.
3rd and 5 – Hass to pass, beautiful to Branch. Awww, they’re calling it incomplete. Sure enough, he dropped it. Rats. The announcers said it quit raining.
4th and 5 – Punt. The 49er fielded the ball and fell over backwards. This could be a comedy of errors if the ball continues to be as hard to handle as it appears.

1st and 10 for San Francisco at the 11. Running play by Gore. Short gain.
2nd and 7 – Smith to throw, nearly picked off. Falls incomplete.
3rd and 7 – Incomplete pass. We were coming after him on a blitz.
4th and 7 – Here comes the next adventure. We have to field a punt! Burleson is back, juggles the ball on the catch but hangs onto it.

How many commercials are they going to insert in this break? Sheesh.

1st and 10 for the Seahawks. Hass to pass. Goes short o Mack Strong who falls down, gets back up, and gets a couple of yards. Mack made 3 yards out of nothing.
2nd and 7 – Shaun to … uh … run? He got to the line of scrimmage. ENGRAM IS IN!! WAHOOO!!!!
3rd and 7 – Hass to pass. Goes to DJ Hackett! FIRST DOWN!!!!!
1st and 10 – Hass to pass. Goes to DJ Hackett again for another FIRST DOWN!!!
1st and 10 – It’s definitely raining again. Shaun to run for a loss. A sizable loss.
2nd and 13 – Hass to pass. Goes to Branch, bounces in the air and hung there waiting for a 49er to come down with it! Oh! The ball was tipped I think. I thought it hit Branch’s hands, but I don’t think so. Oh, that was scary before it hit the turf.
3rd and 13 – Hass throws into traffic to Stevens. Fans are booing, I think. Cris Collingsworth says it’s not a love chant!
4th and 13 – Punt. GREAT special teams! The ball is downed at the 5 yard line. Weeks batted it back into the field of play. That worked beautifully.

They interrupted the game to give us the NFL news of the week. What’s up with that? Commercials aren’t enough?

Oh. Here come the commercials after the news. Sheesh, we could have taken a nap during this break.

1st and 10 for SF at the 5 – The crowd is LOUD! Running play to Gore. Short gain. Player down. 49er. We go to yet another break.

STUPID Vonage commercial (phone coverage). Microsoft commercial. Santa is stopped by the police on the next commercial for Home Depot. NFL Total Access ad.

Ut-oh. The center is still down on the field and they’ve got the cart out. Never like to see that. Oh, ouch, that was painful. They had to lift him onto the cart and they could barely do it. Oh, that was ugly. It looked painful. Oh, ouch, ouch. Poor guy. Eric H.

2nd and 8 – And the game goes on. Missed tackle but he’s still brought down before a first down.
3rd and 4 – It’s a run. No first down.
4th and 3 – Burleson to field it at the 45, gets about 10 yards on the return I think. We definitely have field position in our favor.

1st and 10 for Seattle – Shaun to run. Short gain. He’s got 6 rushes for 5 yards.
2nd and 8 – Hass to pass to Hackett again. Complete, first down.
1st and 10 – Shaun to run – GREAT RUN! We’re inside the 15. Shaun found some holes and kept going! WA HOOO!!! Burleson had some nice blocking.
1st and 10 – Hass to pass. Throws too far in the end zone. Flags. Holding on us. Phooey.
1st and 20 – Shaun to run. Great run! Is tackled, the ball comes loose, everyone touches it. They’re unpiling bodies now. Seattle kept the ball. Whheeewwww! Oh dear, oh dear. On replay, that was a great strip from behind by Walt Harris. Excellent defensive move. I don’t know how we came up with it. They say Burleson got it.
1st and goal from the 3 – Shaun to run. TOUCHDOWN Seattle!!!!! It took some effort but we did it!

Seattle 7
SF 0

If you had to judge momentum right now, you’d have to say all Hawks even without the TD. SF hasn’t had much offense at all. I hope it stays that way!

I love the Mac vs PC commercials.

Kickoff. Nice runback. San Francisco will start at the 26l
1st and 10 San Francisco – Flags. False start.
1st and 15 – Broken right tibia is the report on the injured center for SF. Gumble says he’s “done for the night”. No duh! 49ers to pass. Gore is running. Flag. Oops, the official says the flag fell out of his pocket!!! HOW FUNNY!!!
2nd and 5 – Gore to run. We missed tackling him for a loss and let him get a small gain instead.
3rd and 3 – Smith to throw but he throws it really low and the receiver can’t do anything with it once he catches it. The 49ers will have to punt. I don’t think the 49ers have had a first down yet.
4th and 1 – Short punt but good roll if you’re a 49er fan.

1st and 10 for the Seahawks. Hass to throw short to Burleson and I can’t believe he was able to hang on to that after the tackle.

And that’s the end of the first quarter. Time for yet more commercial breaks.

2nd and 5 – Shaun to run. Runs wide and turns it up.
3rd and 1 - Time-out Seattle. I’m not sure how full the stadium is but it appears to be much more full than it was when the game started. Hass to throw. Not sure what that pass was. It must have slipped out of Hasselbeck’s hands because the ball went high into the air and looked like it could come down in the hands of a 49er. Luckily for us the defender slipped before he got to the ball. The 49ers take a time out so we’ve got more annoying commercials.

Nissan Titan commercial. Motorola commercial. (Dungy telling the player what to say to his date in the car through the speaker in the player’s helmet. FUNNY!)
4th and 1 – Punt. Blocked. RATS!

1st and 10 from the 50 – Gore to run for a loss.
2nd and 13 – Pass to Davis and it’s good. Nice tackle right after the catch.
3rd and 8 – Smith to throw, too long. Nice attempt though.
4th and 8 – SF to punt. It goes into the end zone.

Nice tribute to Lamar Hunt who passed away yesterday.

1st and 10 for the Seahawks. Hass to pass. Goes to DJ Hackett for a first down again!
1st and 10 – Flags. We were off-sides. That made Hasselbeck mad.
1st and 15 – Hass to pass. Throws deep to Hackett in double-coverage. Hands on the ball but it falls incomplete. I think it might have hit him in the face!
2nd and 15 – Shaun to run.
3rd and 13 – Hass to pass. Has time. Scrambles. Coverage was good and there was nowhere to throw.
4th and 10 – Seahawks to punt.

More NFL news during the commercial break. I wouldn’t mind these breaks except that they last SO long.

1st and 10 for the 49ers from the 27 – Beautiful shot of the stadium. 49ers to pass, oops, nope, he scrambles and goes out of bounds No gain.
2nd and 9 – Gore to run, fights hard, gives effort, but doesn’t get much.
3rd and 4 – The rain is pouring again! Incomplete pass. Still no first down for the 49ers.
4th and 4 – Punt in the heavy rain. Burleson let it bounce, then fielded it anyway. That’s so scary! We’ll start deep.

1st and 10 at the 12 – Hass to Burleson. Complete.
2nd and 3 – Shaun to run. First down and more due to a really nice push from Shaun and the line. Shaun put a lot of effort into that one.
1st and 10 – Hass under pressure, passes to Hackett. It’s a catch!
2nd and 5 – Hass to throw. Incomplete but where are the flags? They were all over Burleson. I want a replay. Well, yeah, maybe, but I think it’s OK after all.
3rd and 5 – Hass throws to Hackett and we get a first down due to Hackett reaching for the yard marker!
1st and 10 – Hass to throw. Has time. Goes long. In and out of the hands of Hackett. The pass took a long time to get there.
2nd and 10 - Pass to Jerramy Stevens. COMPLETE!
1st and 10 – Shaun to run. Short gain.
2nd and 6 – Hass to pass. Complete to Hackett for a first down who points to the sky after every reception. I like it!
1st and 10 – Shaun to run and get CREAMED. Ouch.
2nd and 12 – We may be up by 7, but we need more points. Hass to throw. Has time. Why was Mo Maurice a wide receiver?!
3rd and 12 – Hass to throw. COMPLETE to Jerramy Stevens and it was a BEAUTIFUL catch in coverage!! I LIKE IT!!! Oops, on replay, he didn’t catch it. He dropped it. We better line up quickly. Nope, didn’t make it in time. That’s not a catch. It’s very clear that he dropped. Cris Collinsworth says the fans will be booing retroactively in a minute! ?
4th and 12 – I think we should go for it. Hey, why not? What do we have to lose? Oh well, we punted. It went into the end zone.

1st and 10 for San Francisco at the 20 – Nice run, bad tackling by us!
2nd and 3 – SF to run. Nice tackling this time around.
3rd and 1 – Gore gets it easily. BIG fight. Fists flying. Someone will be ejected. Oh, maybe the whole team! I can’t believe there won’t be an ejection from that. Fists flew. Pound, pound. No one is thrown out. Gore and Hamlin. It started with a face mask by Trufant.
1st and 10 – Smith to run after he has nowhere to throw.
2nd and 5 – Gore to run for a loss. Great coverage.

We’re at the 2 minute warning.

3rd and 5 – The rain has let up a little. The ball is thrown and it skips on the turf. The 49ers will need to punt.
4th and 5 – It’s a fake punt and it worked beautifully. The 49ers are in field goal range. They got 33 yards from that play.
1st and 10 – Pass. Complete. They said he got pushed out of bounds.

The play is being challenged by the upstairs booth people. Ut-oh. The ball shifted when he came down. He may not have had control of the ball. It certainly doesn’t look like he had control of the ball. It looks very clear to me that it should be an incomplete pass. We’ll see what happens. Here comes the call … OH, BAD CALL!!!!! BAD CALL!!!! I don’t like it at all!!! Boo! Hiss!

1st and goal AND they added 10 seconds to the clock. Incomplete pass. Oops. Flag. Procedural call.
1st and goal at the 14 – Gore, big loss on the play. Gore is going to hurt by the end of the game. Now they said the rain is coming again.
2nd and goal - :47 left in the half. Oh my gosh, the QB runs to the end zone and dives in. Wait! Flag. Holding, 49ers! WHEW!!! We lucked out on that one!!!
2nd and goal from the 27 – They tried a razzle dazzle pass play but Trufant was all over it.
3rd and goal from the 21 - The ball is thrown short and hits the turf. :08 left in the half.
4th and goal – 39 yard field goal attempt – It’s good.

Seahawks 7
49ers 3

:03 left so the 49ers will have to kick off. Hopefully we’ll just catch the ball and down it. No need trying to get fancy now.

Squib kick. Burleson fields it and goes down. It’s half time.

That was a really fast half time! Burleson fielded the kickoff and made a lot out of nothing. Injury on the field for the 9ers so I’m not sure where the spot will be, but Burleson nearly broke it. It’s Foreman on the turf, now standing up but not putting much weight on his foot.

1st and 10 for the Seahawks from the 47. Shaun to run for a short gain.
2nd and 7 – Hass under pressure. Gets the pass off to DJ Hackett for a big first down!
1st and 10 – Shaun runs for a loss.
2nd and long – Shaun to run for a nice gain.
3rd and 3 – Pass to Branch. Hass was under heavy pressure but got it off.
1st and 10 – Shaun for a loss. 2nd and ? – Pass to the end zone. Interception. Hass threw it to the end zone and they picked it off. Ohhhhh. Sad.

1st and 10 at the 27. Pass. Almost a first down.
2nd and 1 – Gore to run. They say he didn’t get it.
3rd and 1 – Short. It was a run again and we didn’t let them get close. Credit Wistrom twice on that series.
4th and 1 – Will they try another trick? They’re pretty deep. Surely they’ll just punt the ball. Surely… SURELY…! They punted! Burleson called for a fair catch when he had room to run. Holmgren scowled!

1st and 10 – Shaun for 2 yards.
2nd and 8 – Hass to Pass. Hits the hands of Branch and he drops it. Flag. Holding on SF!! WA HOOO!!!
1st and 10 – Shaun to run for a short gain.
2nd and 7 – Pass to Stevens. Looks like a first down. Yep, it is!
1st and 10 – Mo to run FAST for a first down! Love it!
1st and 10 – Mo to run again for a short gain.
2nd and 8 – Hass to pass. It goes short. Or was it long? The announcers said he overthrew Branch. I thought it was going to someone else.
3rd and 8 – Hass to pass. Has time. Trouble now. Sacked. 4th and 11 – Punt. Nice punt! Nice special teams play! Downed inside the 2!

Well, they decided that wasn’t good special teams anyway. They moved the ball to the 20! But oh well, we just socked them for a huge loss.
2nd and 14 – Pass to Gore for a nice gain.
3rd and 6 – Ball is tipped and it goes straight up. Ohhhh, we couldn’t catch it! Rats, rats! We were so close to an INT!!! 4th and 6 – Punt. Burleson fields it and is tackled quickly.

3:37 left in the 3rd.

1st and 10 – Shaun to run. Short gain.
2nd and 7 – NICE pass to Stevens! Complete!
1st and 10 – Pressure. Trouble. Hass throws it away.
2nd and 10 – Flags. Off-sides. I can’t believe how many off-sides penalties we have!
2nd and 15 – Hass to pass. Airs it out. GOOD defensive coverage. The ball falls incomplete.
3rd and 15 – Hass goes long again. Passes to Stevens. Through his hands.
4th and 15 – We’ve got to punt again. Flag. Unsportsmanlike conduct. A 49er went out of bounds and came back in to make a hit. The 49ers will be moved back half way to the goal.

1st and 10 for the 49ers. This would be a most excellent time for a defensive play that gives us a touchdown! That’s one of my favorite plays of the game! Seattle is beautiful even in the rain. Nice run to give the 9ers a bit of room.
2nd and 6 – Pressure on Smith but he ran to the sideline and got a pass off at the last second.
3rd and 6 – Ahhh, no fair!!! We let them go again! Wait. There’s a flag. Personal foul on the 49ers! They’re moved half way to the goal.
1st and 10 – All day to pass and it’s good for a gazillion yards. 60 yards in the air, according to Collinsworth. 54 yards on the play.

End of the 3rd quarter.

Are we going to lose this game?!?!?!

Aaaauuugggghhhh!!!

1st and 10 – 9ers to run. Short gain.
2nd and 7 – Smith to run. Gets the first down.
1st and 10 at the 22. Pass. Drop.
2nd and 10 – Running play and not much gain.
3rd and 10 – Time out 49ers. Pass. It’s good. Oh, good grief. It was in double coverage and we let them get it.
1st and goal – Gore to run for nothing. 2nd and goal – All day to throw. Touchdown. San Francisco takes the lead.

Seahawks 7
49ers 10

If we can’t win this game, we don’t deserve to win the division title.

The 49ers kick deep due to a penalty on the touchdown celebration. Burleson makes a great return. We’ll start at the 36 yard line.
1st and 10 - Shaun to run.
2nd and 9 – Nice pass to Stevens just shy of the first down marker.
3rd and 1 – Shaun to run and he didn’t get it. He’s a foot short.
4th and 1 – We are going to go for it. Shocking! We seldom do that! We’re not playing very well tonight. I’m nervous. I wouldn’t go for it the way we’re playing tonight. Mack Strong to run. I don’t know if he got it or not. It will be close. They spotted it short of the line. It’s short.

1st and 10 – Smith to scramble to avoid pressure.
2nd and 8 – Gore to run. Nice gain.
3rd and 3 – We let them get the first down. That is VERY disappointing. Very, very disappointing.
1st and 10 – Reverse. It works well.
1st and 10 – Nice run.
2nd and 5 – Another run.
3rd and 2 – Missed tackled. The 9ers are ready to score again.

Ut-oh. We’ve got a player down. Can’t see who it is yet. Commercial break again.

Eeks.

1st and 10 – Run. Bad tackling.
2nd and 1 – Smith, all day to throw. Finally throws it away.
3rd and 1 – Flag. Gore to run and he gets the first down. Ut-oh. Delay of game. Ohhh, bad move for San Francisco. I don’t know if it really helps us though.
3rd and 5 – We had a sack on the QB and we let him go. Oh my gosh. I don’t believe it. We had him wrapped up and somehow he got free and threw a touchdown pass. Ohhhh, that’s painful. Really, really painful. The most painful thing imaginable in a football game. We got burned.

San Francisco 17
Seattle 7

The boo birds are out in Seattle. I might join them!

I’m really surprised that Holmy didn’t go for the field goal when we had the ball. I admire him for going for it on 4th, but I think today was a lousy time to try it. We aren’t playing well; we were easily in field goal range. Three points would have tied the game. I won’t bag him much because I like the gutsy call but he didn’t call it at the right time.

We bobbled the kickoff. Good grief.

1st and 10 - Hass to threw. Complete. Branch.
1st and 10 – Hass to throw. Interception. Burleson fell down before he could catch the ball. Uh, yeah, he fell down because he was pushed. I would have expected a flag there.

1st and 10 49ers – Run.
2nd and who cares? – We took a time out to stop the clock. 3:20 left. Gore to run and keep running while we don’t make the tackle.
1st and 10 – Gore to break a long one. I thought it was going to be a touchdown.

Two Minute Warning.

1st and 10 – Gore to run.
2nd and 10 – Gore to run.
3rd and 8 - Oh dear, oh dear. They did a bootleg and we fell for it and the QB scored a touchdown with no one touching him. We were totally faked out. Totally. Totally, totally. Faked out. Embarrassed. Humiliated.

San Francisco 24
Seahawks 7

The 49ers are dancing on the sidelines. They deserve to dance.

1:42 left in the game.

Burleson to take the kickoff, and gets another nice run.
1st and 3 touchdowns to go – Hass to pass. Complete to Branch.
1st and 10 – Hass chased down for a loss.
2nd and 15 – WOW – ROUGH hit on Branch. Flag. Unnecessary roughness for a helmet to helmet hit.
1st and 10 – Sack.
2nd and 12 – Almost an interception. Hass wants a touchdown now for pride.
3rd and 12 – 0:18 left in the game. TOUCHDOWN SEATTLE! Jerramy Stevens went up for a jump ball and came down with the ball in the end zone.

San Francisco 24
Seahawks 14

It’s a little less painful this way. At least we had an answer to their embarrassing touchdown. We won’t be wasting a blank DVD to record this game, that’s for sure!

:09 left.

Seattle to kick off. On-side kick. 49ers recover it.

1st and 10 – San Francisco will take a knee.

San Francisco 24
Seahawks 14