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Smith out early, Dilfer could not fill in 23-3 loss to Seattle
By Pearl Allison Lo September 30, 2007 |
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SAN FRANCISCO-It was a tough day for the San Francisco 49ers as they lost their starting quarterback Alex Smith early in the first quarter, and backup quarterback Trent Dilfer was sacked five times, and the Niners had five fumbles in a Seattle Seahawks rout of 23-3 this afternoon at Monster Park. Marcus Trufant of the Seahawks intercepted Dilfer twice in the game, which would be good for a touchdown and field goal for Seattle, and with the win, the Seahawks are now atop of the NFC West. The Niners now find themselves at 2-2, and with out their starting quarterback. Smith was injured on a sack by Rocky Bernard at 14:05 in the first quarter. “(I) wouldn’t put it on Trent’s shoulders entirely,” said Niners Coach Mike Nolan on the Niners play. “(Smith is) doubtful for next week. Nolan also mentioned penalties and turnovers as mistakes by his team. It was a rocky start and first half for San Francisco. Dilfer came in playing in for the first time since 2005. For the first two sacks in the game, the one on Smith and one on Dilfer, the recipients looked absolutely blindsided. The second one on Dilfer came from former 49er Julian Peterson at 3:15 in the first quarter. At first, both defenses were able to stop both offenses from getting much of anything as there was no scoring in the first quarter. Seattle was then able to get open looks by passing to the side and for the 49ers, starting far in their own territory soon caught up with them. Seattle moved 52 yards for the first score in the game, a 23-yard field goal by Josh Brown at 12:55 in the second quarter. Plays during the Seahawks’ possession included a play action to Seneca Wallace for 18 yards, a 12-yard pass to Mack Strong, and Shaun Alexander right up the middle for 6 yards. Dilfer made a nice pass right to Jackson for 16 yards, but SF had to move back because of a penalty. Dilfer’s second sack of the afternoon forced the 49ers to punt. SF continued their strong defense with another sack and Keith Lewis deflected the punt. However, another injury for the 49ers occurred to Vernon Davis’s replacement, Billy Bajema, who injured his right ankle. Peterson then sacked Dilfer again. There was another fumble but SF recovered. It got worse when Seattle got the ball back as on two plays, the Seahawks extended their lead to 10. The plays were a 65-yard pass to Deion Branch and a 17-yard toss straight to Bobby Engram in the end zone at 6:15 in the 2nd quarter. The 49ers made another fumble on the return but recovered. Bernard was injured on the next play and on the 2nd play after that, Dilfer was sacked once again. SF’s Walt Harrison had another close 49er interception in the end zone when Seattle threatened to score again. Brown and the Seahawks settled for a 31-yard FG at 1:00 left in the 2nd quarter. At the end of the first half though Dilfer was sacked again, the 49ers made a run for it as Michael Robinson ran for 28 yards right before the quarter ended. The second half was quieter but the 49ers started it off on the right foot, forcing a fumble and getting the recovery. However they went to the left foot when Dilfer threw an interception to Marcus Trufant. Seattle eventually scored when Marcus Pollard reached over the goal line to make the score 19-0 at 12:22 in the third. 49er Nate Clements made the first interception for SF at 6:28. This led to the first pts for the 49ers in the game as Joe Nedney kicked a 43-yarder at 4:40. Dilfer threw another interception to Trufant at 1:20. At 14:51, Brown hit his third FG for 25 yards and that was it. 49er offensive guard Justin Smiley commented that Seattle is a “better team then they were last year.” Game Notes: Peterson had 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. Tatupu was the leading defender for Seattle with 7 tackles, 1 assist and a forced fumble. The 49ers’ leading defender was Patrick Willis with 10 tackles and 2 assists. Gore had a total of 121 yards. Jackson had 3 receptions for 38 yards. |
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