Pete Carroll (left) and Jim Harbaugh exchange “What’s your deal?” questions following Stanford’s 55-21 victory over USC in 2009. (blog.sfgate.com)
We dedicate this report to the infamous 2009 post-game exchange between Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll, inspired after Harbaugh ordered up a 2-point conversion attempt after his Stanford Cardinal scored its seventh touchdown in a 55-21 butt-kicking of Carroll’s USC Trojans:
Tonight, the ‘What’s your deal?” combatants meet again as Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers play host to Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks in a game of contrasting strengths with the outright lead in the NFC West Division on the line.
This is the sixth meeting between the two as head coaches since 2007, including those heated Pac-10 battles and now in the NFL. Harbaugh has won four of the five, including both division games last season.
Carroll actually needs this one a little more, coming in 0-2 in the division. This is the first of three consecutive division games for Harbaugh’s 49ers.
Carroll’s Seahawks playing for the division lead is definitely deserving of the question:
What’s your deal?
Carroll’s first team seasons in Seattle ended with 7-9 records. One managed to be good enough for a division title. But neither gave the impression a power was building in the Pacific Northwest.
The Seahawks (4-2) are coming off an inspired 24-23 home victory over the New England Patriots in which they rallied from 23-14 down in the fourth quarter and then emphatically denied Tom Brady any thoughts of a comeback of his own.
Trailing late by a touchdown, Carroll entrusted his defense to stop Brady and get the ball back. This wasn’t USC-Texas for all the BCS marbles with walk-on med students trying to stop Vince Young at the goal line, so Carroll felt it was safe to do the right thing and punt.
Carroll, forever the defensive coach, knows he has a dynamic force in Seattle and that, more than anything — save for our pal the infamous replacement Lance Easley — is why the ‘Hawks are playing for a division lead.
The 49ers (4-2) are coming off a momentum-killing 26-3 home loss to the New York Giants in which almost nothing went right prompting the usually confident-leaning-toward-cocky-and-often-arrogant Harbaugh to show his brutally candid side, admitting, in other words, that his game plan sucked.
Even for the typically blunt Harbaugh, that was an understatement begging the question:
What’s your deal?
In the previous game, the 49ers set NFL offensive history with 300 yards rushing and 300 yards passing in the crushing of the Buffalo Bills. The week before, in a 34-0 total annihilation of the New York Jets, the 49ers rushed for 245 yards and controlled the ball for nearly 37 minutes.
Against the Giants, Harbaugh’s troops gave up on the run early, missed a couple of field goals, got behind and played give-away in a futile attempt to rally.
As the run goes, so goes the Niners. Even at Stanford, Harbaugh’s attack was grounded on the ground. In the 49ers’ four victories:
- Running back Frank Gore averages 16.8 carries and 92.8 yards
- The team averages 223 yards
In their two defeats, when offense starts to reflect the arrogant side of their coach’s personality:
- Gore averages 10 carries and 45.5 yards
- The team averages 84.5 yards
When it comes to tonight’s expected back-to-basics game plan, we must ask the obvious question:
What’s your deal?
And we fully expect Harbaugh to respond with a resounding: “Pound the rock. What’s your deal?”
So, guess what Carroll’s defense does really, really well?
Stop the run.
Seattle is second in the league, allowing 70.0 yards per game, packing the run situation D-line with Alan Branch, Red Bryant and Brandon Mebane’s nearly 1,000 pounds of USDA Choice.
What’s your deal?
The X-Factor in this one is San Francisco left tackle Joe Staley. If he can’t play, the 49ers offensive line gets an untimely makeover, with right guard Alex Boone moving over to make his first career start at left tackle and veteran Leonard Davis starting in Boone’s spot.
Whoever starts at left tackle gets the unenviable assignment of slowing defensive end Chris Clemons, who has 5.5 sacks and leads a defense that sacked Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers eight times in the first half of that infamous Monday Night Football head-scratcher last month.
Which reminds us to ask the obviously delusional Mr. Easley:
What’s your deal?
Overall, Seattle has the NFL’s No. 4 ranked defense.
San Francisco, on the heals of those dominant victories over the Jets and Bills, is No. 1.
The Niners are limiting opponents to 183.2 yards passing per game and a passer rating of 77.8. Those numbers fall perfectly into the wheelhouse of the Seahawks passing offense that is averaging 169.7 yards per game (ranking 31st out of 32 teams) led by rookie quarterback Russell Wilson, whose passer rating is 85.6.
Wilson is certainly the What’s your deal? posterboy here.
RGIII, Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden, rookies all who don’t have what Wilson has produced: Four NFL victories. And if anyone is doing it on pure moxie, resiliance and poise, it’s Wilson, who has been mostly huge in the clutch and has only one easy victory (thank you, Dallas).
Seattle’s defense is among the league leaders in sacks while San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith is among the league leaders in getting sacked.
We could go on and on in breaking down the contrasting stats that add to the depth of this storyline. But we won’t. We will end it here with one final:
What’s your deal? question to Carroll:
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