SEATTLE, Washington, 28 September 2004 — The San Francisco 49ers were held scoreless for the first time in almost 27 years Sunday as Seattle stretched their own National Football League winning streak with a 34-0 victory.
Shaun Alexander scored three times as the Seahawks posted their 10th straight win at home — the league’s second longest home winning streak.
They became the first team to shut out the 49ers since Oct. 9, 1977, when Atlanta beat them 7-0. San Francisco’s league-record streak without being held scoreless ended at 420 games.
“We turned the ball over early in the game and put ourselves in a hole and couldn’t get out,” said Niners coach Dennis Erickson, a former Seahawks coach.
The Seahawks are out to a 3-0 start for the second straight year. They forced Niners quarterback Ken Dorsey into four turnovers, the first two leading to 10 first-half points.
“This game hurts your pride more than anything,” said Dorsey, who took over after starter Tim Rattay injured his shoulder in week one of the season. “We didn’t go out and execute. I honestly can’t remember a game when I played this badly.”
Meanwhile, Matt Hasselbeck completed 21-of-30 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He found eight different receivers and hit Itula Mili with a one-yard scoring pass on the first possession of the second half to make it 31-0.
The Seahawks have outscored their opponents, 65-13 through the first games of the season. And for the first time in club history, they have held opponents to seven points or less in three straight games.
The Jacksonville Jaguars also moved to 3-0, but it was no runaway win. Fred Taylor ran one yard for a touchdown with nine seconds left to lift the Jaguars to a 15-12 victory at Tennessee.
It marked the third straight week that Jacksonville made key plays in the final minute to earn a win, this one snapping a five-game losing streak to AFC South division rivals Tennessee.
The Titans, who opened the season with a win at Miami, have now lost back-to-back home games against division rivals Indianapolis and Jacksonville. The Jaguars defense sacked Titans quarterback Steve McNair three times, sending him out of the game with a bruised sternum in the fourth quarter.
Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, who shared Most Valuable Player honors with McNair last season emerged with the victory in a showdown with another Pro-Bowl quarterback, Brett Favre. Manning threw for 320 yards and five touchdowns in the first half, when the Colts erupted for 35 points en route to a 45-31 victory over Favre’s Green Bay Packers.
Manning and Favre meeting for just the second time, put on quite a show. Manning was unstoppable in the first half, completing 23-of-31 passes. He finished 28-of-40 for 393 yards.
“We knew we were going to have to score some points,” said Manning. “Our offense felt challenged this week going against their defense and also trying to stay ahead of their offense, trying to outscore them if we had to. Their offense is capable of creating sustained drives or they can score on one play.”
Favre, a three-time MVP from 1995-97, put up some spectacular numbers of his own, going 30-of-44 for 358 yards and four touchdowns. “Obviously, the halftime lead they built put a lot of pressure on us,” Favre said. “It felt like we had to score on every possession. In the second half, in the huddle, I tried to tell the guys to have fun. I told the receivers that they were going to have plenty of balls thrown their way.”
The Philadelphia Eagles continued to soar, bringing Detroit to earth with a bump with a 30-13 victory over the Lions. Donovan McNabb passed for 356 yards and two touchdowns and Terrell Owens had another big day for the Eagles, who remained undefeated while handing the Lions their first loss of the season.
In Atlanta, a string of errors by Arizona saw the Falcons escape with a 6-3 victory over the Cardinals. Arizona committed three turnovers inside the Atlanta 20 yard line, including a fumble by wide receiver Karl Williams with just over two minutes left.
Minnesota beat NFC North foes Chicago 27-22, Duante Culpepper throwing for 360 yards including two touchdowns to Randy Moss. Jamal Lewis recorded 186 yards, including a late touchdown, to lift Baltimore to a 23-9 victory over Cincinnati in a battle of AFC North rivals.
Lewis became the fifth quickest player in NFL history to surpass 5,000 career yards.
In St. Louis, John Carney kicked a team-record five field goals, including a 38-yarder to force overtime and a 31-yarder to win it, as New Orleans Saints beat the Rams 28-25.
Kris Brown drilled a 49-yard field goal with seven seconds left as Houston rallied for a 24-21 victory over Kansas City.
In other games, Denver defeated AFC West Division rivals San Diego 23-13, the New York Giants beat injury-depleted Cleveland 27-10, Pittsburgh beat Miami 13-3, and Oakland beat Tampa Bay 30-20.
