Afterwards, Week One: Seahawks 31, 49ers 6

For about 20 minutes, the Seahawks looked like a team that had plenty of new faces, but a lot of the same results of the last two years. Then it clicked. Really clicked. And Pete Carroll left the field a winner in his return to the NFL. His triumph of the spirit was due in part to a defense that had two red zone stops while the offense sputtered to 11 yards on their first seven plays. Matt Hasselbeck got the day started with an interception on the Seahawks’ first play from scrimmage, giving the sellout crowd at Qwest Field an instant buzz-kill. A funny thing happened next; a defense that had been much-maligned during the preseason rose up and smothered the San Francisco offense, holding the Niners to a pair of field goals while harassing QB Alex Smith into a 9 of 21 stretch that included CB Marcus Trufant’s 32-yard interception return for a touchdown that broke the game open early in the third quarter. Seattle got two sacks of Smith (Dexter Davis and Red Bryant), holding...