The Sports Xchange

RENTON, Wash. — A victory against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night doesn’t fix all of the Seattle Seahawks’ problems, but it moves them forward in the right direction.

The Seahawks dominated a hapless 49ers team in a 20-3 victory that helps ease the bad taste left from a pair of losses to the Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers the last two weeks.

“It felt like a really normal Seahawk night tonight,” head coach Pete Carroll said. “It was great to have an opening drive like that eat up a bunch of clock, and run the football and hammer it in and stay with the run to get it done. And just the feeling that here we go, we’re closing it out. We got the ball for the last three or four minutes, whatever it was, and we take a knee at the end of the game. That’s the way we’re supposed to finish these games.”

Seattle had squandered fourth-quarter leads in both losses to Cincinnati and Carolina, but the 49ers were incapable of mounting any challenge Thursday night. The Seahawks defense held San Francisco to just 142 total yards and forced more punts (9) than first downs allowed (8).

“It gets us back on track knowing that we’re the team we always knew we were,” linebacker Bruce Irvin said. “We didn’t finish the last couple weeks and this week we did a great job of keep pressing, keep pressing. We kept our foot on the gas the entire game until the clock hit triple zeros at the end.”

Seattle committed heavily to the running game early as the Seahawks drove 61 yards on 12 plays for an opening-drive touchdown. Marshawn Lynch received nine carries on the opening drive on the way to his first 100-yard game of the season for Seattle.

“That is Seahawks football,” receiver Doug Baldwin said. “We go with Marshawn. He leads the way. The style in which he runs, the style in which he leads in the huddle, that’s what’s important to us. That’s what helps us get to where we want to be. We’ll go as far as he takes us.”

Quarterback Russell Wilson had an efficient night as well, completing 18-of-24 passes for 235 yards and one touchdown.

The Seahawks have just one game in the next 23 days and have a chance to heal up before the start of the second half of the season.

REPORT CARD VS. 49ERS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B-minus. Russell Wilson was very efficient, completing 18-of-24 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown in the game. His 9.8 yards per attempt was the second-best mark this season for Wilson. However, two forced throws into coverage resulted in unnecessary interceptions.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B-plus. Marshawn Lynch posted his first 100-yard game of the season in rushing for 122 yards on 27 carries against the 49ers. The 176 yards total on the ground was the second best output of the season for Seattle.

–PASS DEFENSE: A. The Seahawks sacked Colin Kaepernick six times and held the 49ers to just 81 total passing yards. Richard Sherman tracked Torrey Smith throughout the game and held him without a catch.

–RUN DEFENSE: A-minus. Seattle held Colin Kaepernick without a rushing attempt for the first time in his career. Carlos Hyde and Reggie Bush combined for just 61 total yards.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus. Steven Hauschka converted a pair of field goals to remain perfect on the season. Hauschka is now 16-for-16 on field-goal attempts and 14-for-14 on extra points.

–COACHING: B-plus. After losing two straight games despite holding fourth-quarter leads, the Seahawks rallied with one of their cleanest performances of the season. The offense converted 21 first downs, which was tied for most this season for Seattle.