Despite their inconsistent play and a rash of key injuries, it remains very simple for the Seattle Seahawks: A win over the San Francisco 49ers yesterday would secure a third straight NFL division title.
The Seahawks would also be assured of a home playoff game next month.
Winning the NFC West has been a foregone conclusion for Seattle from the start of the season in their mediocre division.
PHOTO: AFP
However, San Francisco will not be a pushover.
Less than a month ago, Frank Gore slashed through the Seahawks' questionable run defense for a San Francisco-record 212 yards rushing in the 49ers' 20-14 victory that made the defending NFC champion look anything but formidable.
"I think we'd like to tackle him this time," Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said.
Seattle will have both last season's league MVP Shaun Alexander and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck together this time. Alexander played his first game after missing six games with a cracked foot when Seattle played at San Francisco, and Hasselbeck was missing the last of his four games with a knee sprain.
Since that breakthrough victory, the 49ers haven't won. Quarterback Alex Smith has become erratic, coverage mistakes are festering in the defense, and a lack of overall sharpness has made the positive feelings from their win over Seattle a memory. And now comes a short week, with only three days of preparation and travel, to prepare for the Seahawks.
On Saturday, quarterback Tony Romo will try to rebound from a poor performance and keep the Dallas Cowboys pointed toward the playoffs when they visit the banged-up Atlanta Falcons.
Dallas appeared to be sailing toward a division title under the direction of Romo, who replaced Drew Bledsoe at midseason and won five of his first six starts. He was ordinary, however, in a 42-17 loss to New Orleans on Sunday.
While the Cowboys defense was also in disarray, Atlanta may not have its top two tailbacks after last week's 17-6 victory over Tampa Bay.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later