Niners make Seahawks fall short — finally

“Talk about a game of inches,” 49ers boss Kyle Shanahan said with a beaming smile late Sunday night.

Inches? Talk about millimeters, coach!

In the latest edition of the thrill ride known as the Defibrillator Express, Shanahan’s 49ers stonewalled the mighty Seattle Seahawks mere millimeters from crossing the plane of the end zone line to preserve an all-important 26-21 win to close out the NFL’s 2019 regular season. NFC West champs the 49ers are and, more importantly, the conference’s No. 1 seed and a muchneeded first-round bye in the playoffs.

“It’s incredible from the start of the season, all the hearsay of what we were going to do, to then come out here and get the

one-seed,” Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said. “It’s a step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go. … Now, the real tournament starts.”

What occurred in the frantic final moments of Sunday’ night’s tilt against the Seahawks was a tournament in itself. A tourney of heart palpitations for the 49ers faithful.

After being flatlined for most of the game, Seattle magician QB Russell Wilson jolted life into the team. A true 49ers tormentor, Wilson dodged and weaved, ran and threw and had the Hawks on the oneyard line before you could blink. It was seemingly set up for a story book finish where Seattle head honcho Pete Carroll makes up for his baffling decision to throw from the one instead of handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch.

But alas, the opportunity was thwarted by one of the most boneheaded delay of

game penalties you’ll ever see in an NFL game.

And after four attempts from the six-yard line to punch the ball in, new Seahawks tormentor Dre Greenlaw delivered a resounding uppercut by blasting Seattle tight end Jacob Hollister and dropping him short of crossing the plane.

“I just made a tackle that coaches and teammates would be proud of,” Greenlaw said after the game. “I’m just excited how the game ended and thankful to be able to make a play.”

Fortunately, the fifthround pick expanded on what happened.

“They’re in an empty set,” Greenlaw explained, “and I’m a cloud playing my hook. I see the back go fast to the flat, so I’m kind of playing a slant window of one a little bit. After that, I feel the quarterback’s not looking. Coach tells me to keep my eyes on the quarterback for anything that’s coming out. They try to widen me out and get me out of the middle of the field. They threw it to the tight end running across the field, and me having my eyes back and listening to what my coach was saying, I was able to

help.”

This is the second time Greenlaw thwarted the Wilson-Hollister connection. The first was a dazzling interception in that overtime classic Seattle won when the two teams met in Santa Clara.

The Arkansas product’s ability to stymie Hollister’s momentum finally allowed Niners fans to breathe a sigh of relief and take in the fact San Francisco finally vanquished the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field — something the team has fallen short of.

History hasn’t been kind to San Francisco in Seattle.

But finally, it was the 49ers turn to ensure the Seahawks fell short.

Magnum (No) PI?

Not to be lost in the frenetic finale was a curious case of no review or replay. On 3rd-and-goal, WIlson fired to Hollister who was seemingly bearhugged by 49ers linebacker Fred Warner, pass incomplete and fourth down they went. Yet, the NBC crew and social media erupted with calls for a stoppage and replay and review. Ultimately,

play went on. And the league explained itself after.

“Well, we actually looked at it here in New York,” NFL senor vice president of officiating Al Riveron told Tim Booth of The Seattle Times. “We had a great look. NBC gives us a great look of the entire route. So, we actually did perform a review, but based on what we saw, we didn’t see enough to stop the game. But we did review it.

“What we see is, we see the offensive player come in and initiate contact on the defensive player — nothing that rises to the level of a foul which significantly hinders the defender, nothing that is clear and obvious through visual evidence, which hinders the defender. The defender then braces himself. And there is contact by the defender on the receiver. Again, nothing which rises to the level of a foul based on visual evidence. Nothing happens that rises to the level of a foul while the ball is in the air before it gets there by either player.”

And there you have it.