SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jalen Sundell is a cigar guy. He enjoys one now and again. And amid the haze of celebratory cigar smoke inside the Seahawks locker room at Levi’s Stadium, one may have never been sweeter for the center of the team.
Not only were the Seahawks celebrating their first NFC West title since 2020. They were doing so after a night where the offensive line and the run game paved the way toward a division-clinching victory.
“I think everything is just clicking for us,” said Sundell, who procured the 75 or so cigars that were being enjoyed late Saturday night. “We’re all bought in to the scheme that we’re trying to do and the more reps we’ve been getting the better we’ve been getting.”
In the biggest game of the season, it was in large part the Seahawks offensive line and run game that controlled what took place in the 13-3 victory over the 49ers that clinched the NFC West title and home-field advantage through the NFC playoffs.
Yes, Seattle’s defense played a significant role in shutting down a San Francisco offense that had put up 214 points in the past six games, only to be held to one Eddy Pineiro field goal.
But the Seahawks were able to play a style of complementary football they can only hope to replicate moving ahead in the playoffs. Play nasty defense. Effectively run the ball. Control possession and choke the game from their opponent.
It worked pretty well against the 49ers.
“Every team preaches, especially in beginning of the season, that you want to be good in all three phases of football. And now being on a team that has that, I can really see the impact that has in games,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “There's times where one side of the ball is maybe lacking in certain areas and we're just not getting the job done, and we can always count on another side of the of the ball to pick it up. This team is just special.”
The two-headed combo of Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker III rushed for 171 yards against the 49ers and controlled the game from the outset with the success on the ground. The Seahawks rushed for 88 yards in the first quarter and 115 in the first half.
Charbonnet provided the big run late in the first quarter with the only touchdown of the game on a 27-yard scamper, but Walker had perhaps a more important run in the third quarter. On a third-and-17 that might be a surrender play for most teams, Walker raced for 19 yards and a first down. The conversion allowed Seattle to drive down for a Jason Myers field goal that extended the lead to two scores in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.
“There was an open lane. Me and [AJ Barner] were going across and I just felt like I could cut back, so I started cutting across the field. When I looked up, I had a first down,” Walker said.
Walker’s big run on third-and-long was the fourth time this season the Seahawks have converted a third-and-15 or longer on a designed run play. The other three times it’s happened this season where a team has converted third-and-15 or longer by running the ball league-wide were scrambles by quarterbacks.
Walker finished with 97 yards rushing and Charbonnet added 74 and the touchdown. Throw in another 9 yards from quarterback Sam Darnold, the Seahawks finished with their second-highest total on the ground this season.
It was an impressive number, especially the other stats where Seattle dominated in large part because of the run game.
— The Seahawks won the time of possession battle by more than 15 minutes (37:48-22:12).
— Seattle had more first downs rushing (10) than the 49ers had first downs total (nine).
— The Seahawks ran 25 more plays than the 49ers and finished with more yards rushing (180) than the 49ers had total yards (173).
Or, as rookie safety Nick Emmanwori said, “the O-line was busing their (expletive) out there. They made plays all night.”
While Emmanwori was probably right, there was a little more to it than that. Let fellow rookie Grey Zabel explain.
“They were playing a lot of nickel tonight which gave us a lighter box to be able to run the ball. And then when you got a quarterback like Sam Darnold, they have to respect the pass. They have to respect the deep ball,” Zabel said. “So you can probably see during the game, those linebackers are freezing a little bit, maybe taking a step back. And I think that just allows everybody to just be able to get on their blocks a little bit quicker, move the line of scrimmage a little bit more. And kudos to our running backs. They played a hell of a game.”
The performance against the 49ers has been part of the building importance of the run game to Seattle’s offense. It was clear early in the season that Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were the catalysts to what the Seahawks were accomplishing offensively. As defenses adjusted and Darnold made some mistakes, the emergence of the run game has become that much more important.
Saturday was the third straight game the Seahawks rushed for 160 or more yards as a team. The last time that happened was the 2021 season and it’s only the eighth different season in franchise history with three straight games hitting that mark.
“The offensive line, the tight ends, receivers, like everybody on our offense we're continuing to communicate with each other throughout the week on what runs we like, communicating on different looks that the defense can present to us,” Darnold said. “I just think the communication and the cohesiveness of that group up front is continuing to get better and better all year.”
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