SEAHAWKS @ 49ERS Pregame discussions and IN GAME THREAD
- Thread starter MadJack
- Start date
Can Seahawks get a big road win?
I think it can safely be said that if the Seahawks beat the 49ers Thursday night, it?s the biggest win of the year for the Seahawks.
The Green, Bay, Denver and Arizona wins were all nice. But they also all came at home. And while the Arizona game carried great stakes, so does this one. So the combination of what?s at stake and the venue, I think, would make this the best win of the year for the Seahawks.
Win it, and Seattle is 8-4 and game up on another team that it is battling for a playoff spot and the NFC West, and knowing it then has a home game with the 49ers in two-and-a-half weeks. Lose it, and Seattle falls to 7-5, and with two of the next three on the road, even making the playoffs again becomes a tough task.
As you can read here, I picked the 49ers. I?ll be happy to be wrong. But given so many similarities between these two teams, this feels like a series like last year?s, where each team wins at home. No doubt, Seattle seem to be peaking right now ?the Arizona game, in a lot of ways, was the best of the year for the Seahawks, especially the way the defense played.
But turning around and duplicating that effort on the road after just three full days of rest wouldn?t be easy in any circumstance. That?s it?s the 49ers makes it even more of a challenge.
Mostly, this feels like a toss-up game, as evidenced by the one-point spread in Vegas, where just one or two plays figure to make the difference. That often seems to favor the home team. But it will be little surprise if the Seahawks give their fans something to really be thankful for Thursday ? their first win against the 49ers on the road since 2008.
I think it can safely be said that if the Seahawks beat the 49ers Thursday night, it?s the biggest win of the year for the Seahawks.
The Green, Bay, Denver and Arizona wins were all nice. But they also all came at home. And while the Arizona game carried great stakes, so does this one. So the combination of what?s at stake and the venue, I think, would make this the best win of the year for the Seahawks.
Win it, and Seattle is 8-4 and game up on another team that it is battling for a playoff spot and the NFC West, and knowing it then has a home game with the 49ers in two-and-a-half weeks. Lose it, and Seattle falls to 7-5, and with two of the next three on the road, even making the playoffs again becomes a tough task.
As you can read here, I picked the 49ers. I?ll be happy to be wrong. But given so many similarities between these two teams, this feels like a series like last year?s, where each team wins at home. No doubt, Seattle seem to be peaking right now ?the Arizona game, in a lot of ways, was the best of the year for the Seahawks, especially the way the defense played.
But turning around and duplicating that effort on the road after just three full days of rest wouldn?t be easy in any circumstance. That?s it?s the 49ers makes it even more of a challenge.
Mostly, this feels like a toss-up game, as evidenced by the one-point spread in Vegas, where just one or two plays figure to make the difference. That often seems to favor the home team. But it will be little surprise if the Seahawks give their fans something to really be thankful for Thursday ? their first win against the 49ers on the road since 2008.
Seahawks keys to game:
1
Corraling Colin
Seattle has had its greatest success against the 49ers the last two years when it has stopped San Francisco?s running attack and forced Colin Kaepernick to win the game with his arm, resulting in some of the worst games of the fourth-year quarterback?s career. Consider that he has a 93.2 career quarterback rating in all regular-season games but just 53.4 in four games against the Seahawks (three starts, and another in which he made a brief appearance). Five of his 17 career regular-season interceptions have come against Seattle (he also threw two against the Seahawks in the NFC title game), having gone 47-93 for 546 yards and two touchdowns overall. And he?s just 1-3 in regular-season games he has started, 1-4 overall, against the Seahawks.
2
Letting Russell run
Russell Wilson?s running, which the last two seasons seemed often a luxury for the Seahawks, suddenly appears a necessity. Wilson already has a career-high 644 yards rushing and has rushed for 71 or more in five of the last eight games, topping 100 three times. Wilson, though, has been hemmed in during his two road games against the 49ers, with just 12 yards on four carries. That includes just 1 yard on two attempts in a 19-17 San Francisco win at Candlestick Park last December in which Wilson took a hard hit early in the game. A key question will be whether a San Francisco linebacking corps featuring a few new faces due to injury ? including rookie Chris Borland, a teammate of Wilson?s at Wisconsin ? can duplicate that effort.
3
Keeping cool
A rivalry game like this with a lot on the line inevitably figures to lead to heated emotions. Seattle has shown in the past it knows how to walk that line to succeed in big games. Still, Seattle will need to keep its emotions in check to avoid adding to its already irksome issue with penalties. Coach Pete Carroll let it be known this week he was frustrated with Seattle?s penalty situation, specifically the fact that the Seahawks have the highest disparity in the league between penalties called on them (88) and their opponents (48). No other team has a disparity of more than 33. San Francisco, meanwhile, has been called for its share of penalties (79) but also has benefited from having 80 called on its opponents. The biggest issue for Seattle? False starts. Seattle has been called for an NFL-high 20, something that often is more of an issue on the road. And that?ll again be something to watch with Seattle potentially going with Lemuel Jeanpierre as the starting center. He would be the fourth different starting center for the Seahawks this season.
1
Corraling Colin
Seattle has had its greatest success against the 49ers the last two years when it has stopped San Francisco?s running attack and forced Colin Kaepernick to win the game with his arm, resulting in some of the worst games of the fourth-year quarterback?s career. Consider that he has a 93.2 career quarterback rating in all regular-season games but just 53.4 in four games against the Seahawks (three starts, and another in which he made a brief appearance). Five of his 17 career regular-season interceptions have come against Seattle (he also threw two against the Seahawks in the NFC title game), having gone 47-93 for 546 yards and two touchdowns overall. And he?s just 1-3 in regular-season games he has started, 1-4 overall, against the Seahawks.
2
Letting Russell run
Russell Wilson?s running, which the last two seasons seemed often a luxury for the Seahawks, suddenly appears a necessity. Wilson already has a career-high 644 yards rushing and has rushed for 71 or more in five of the last eight games, topping 100 three times. Wilson, though, has been hemmed in during his two road games against the 49ers, with just 12 yards on four carries. That includes just 1 yard on two attempts in a 19-17 San Francisco win at Candlestick Park last December in which Wilson took a hard hit early in the game. A key question will be whether a San Francisco linebacking corps featuring a few new faces due to injury ? including rookie Chris Borland, a teammate of Wilson?s at Wisconsin ? can duplicate that effort.
3
Keeping cool
A rivalry game like this with a lot on the line inevitably figures to lead to heated emotions. Seattle has shown in the past it knows how to walk that line to succeed in big games. Still, Seattle will need to keep its emotions in check to avoid adding to its already irksome issue with penalties. Coach Pete Carroll let it be known this week he was frustrated with Seattle?s penalty situation, specifically the fact that the Seahawks have the highest disparity in the league between penalties called on them (88) and their opponents (48). No other team has a disparity of more than 33. San Francisco, meanwhile, has been called for its share of penalties (79) but also has benefited from having 80 called on its opponents. The biggest issue for Seattle? False starts. Seattle has been called for an NFL-high 20, something that often is more of an issue on the road. And that?ll again be something to watch with Seattle potentially going with Lemuel Jeanpierre as the starting center. He would be the fourth different starting center for the Seahawks this season.
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,783
- 633
- 113
- 75
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,783
- 633
- 113
- 75
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,783
- 633
- 113
- 75
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,783
- 633
- 113
- 75
Was that the great Kaepernick throwing a pick on a deep out? I could swear there was a thread somewhere about two years old that said something about that. .....
