SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 12, 2010
Matt Hasselbeck passed for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Seattle Seahawks easily dispatched the visiting San Francisco 49ers 31-6 on Sunday.
Mike Williams had four catches for 64 yards and Deon Butler caught a touchdown pass for the Seahawks.
Things did not look so great at the start for the Seahawks, when Hasselbeck’s first pass of the game was intercepted and the 49ers worked their way to a 6-0 lead on a pair of field goals, but Seattle’s offense found its rhythm late in the first half.
Hasselbeck completed a 35-yard pass to Williams to get the Seahawks to the 1-yard line and then kept it for himself, rushing the last yard to put his team up 7-6 with 2:26 left in the half.
After Justin Babineaux intercepted Alex Smith with 1:33 on the clock, Hasselbeck needed only one play to find Butler on the right side for a 13-yard touchdown, pushing it to 14-6 going into the half.
It was more of the same in the third quarter, as Marcus Trufant intercepted Smith on the first possession and took it back 32 yards for the score. Another San Francisco punt gave Seattle the ball at the 49ers’ 45-yard line, and Hasselbeck completed five passes, finding Deion Branch on the last one for a 3-yard touchdown.
San Francisco was picked by most to win the NFC West this season, though Smith was seen as the obvious question mark on the team. The quarterback did little to silence the doubters on Sunday, finishing 26 of 45 for 225 and two interceptions.