The Seattle Seahawks are, once again, looking like one of the best teams in football. While their offense is still lacking a pronounced explosiveness without wide receivers Golden Tate and Percy Harvin, their defense was plenty to shut down their most hated rivals, 19-3, on Thanksgiving. Here's a few takeaways from Seattle's win over the 49ers:
- Thursday night will -- fairly or unfairly - be about Colin Kaepernick, but it's difficult to take away anything from Seattle's defense, which is the best in football once again (why did we think things would be any different?). Richard Sherman is one of the most intelligent cornerbacks to play the game. His preparation on both of his picks shined so much more than his athleticism. Oh, and that pass rush. There are probably three quarterbacks in football who could negate the Seahawks' power up front, and one of them (Russell Wilson) already plays in Seattle.
- This is an unsatisfying consolation prize for the 49ers, but having Aaron Lynch and Chris Borland on an already talented young defense bodes so well for the future. This team is good in the best division in football. It's hard to imagine how they'd be thought of in a different place and at a different time.
- As fantastic as Bruce Arians and the Cardinals have been, it's hard to imagine them mustering the firepower to hold off a Seattle team that can beat you in so many ways. How many different, near perfect blitz packages did San Francisco draw up on Thursday that were beat by smart check downs and available tight ends? The only thing we've wondered is how valuable it might be to save Marshawn Lynch a little for the stretch run.
- No team with the Niners' level of talent should have fewer than 100 net passing yards heading into the fourth quarter. We have a feeling that some of the play calling and protections will be questioned just as feverishly as Kaepernick's reaction to it. On several occasions Thursday, the 49ers made protection changes before the snap -- at home -- that were blown. What is a quarterback to do with four defenders in his face?
- Where do the 49ers go from here? After the game, CEO Jed York tweeted that the 49ers' performance was unacceptable. With as many rumors as there have been floating around the head coaching position, how does this impact any decisions moving forward?
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