On a rainy Sunday in the Bay Area, the Seahawks take on the division rival 49ers in what will be a hard-nosed, old-fashioned game.
The Seahawks start division play in week two traveling to Santa Clara to face off against the 49ers. The current line sits heavily in the 49ers favor at San Francisco -8.5, but this seems a bit high. Trey Lance and the Niners offense saw a torrential downpour slow their offense to a halt in a loss to the Chicago Bears in week one. While we saw Justin Fields persevere through bad weather, Lance only completed 46 percent of his throws and was the Niners leading rusher.
Seahawks Keys To Victory
Wide Receiver Impact
We need to see more from the Seahawks passing attack, specifically from our wide receiver stars Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. We spoke about how the wide receivers were not efficient in pass catching and made little impact in the win against the Broncos.
Geno Smith needs to spread the ball across his pass options and also play a complete game. Smith awed fans with his first half against the Broncos but slowed in the second half, keeping the Broncos in the game longer. He will need more than his 195 yards passing in week one and a higher yards per pass attempt for a victory. In week one, Smith only averaged 8.48 yards per completion, well below the NFL average, and a key part of his game that needs improvement.
Defensive Yards Allowed
Our defense needs to lock down total yardage allowed. The Hawks defense loves to play like the old adage “bend, don’t break.” They showed in Week One they could allow lots of yardage but ultimately hold a Super Bowl dark horse team to 16 points. However, the issue is that allowing the yardage obviously creates scoring opportunities and leads to higher probability of points in a drive.
Turnovers
Our defense can continue the trend of taking the ball away from the opponent. This year especially, Geno Smith will need any chance he can get for another drive and good starting field position. The defense hasn’t recorded a defensive touchdown since 2019 and their turnover ratio has slowly been declining from a high of +20 in 2013. Turnovers play a key role in scoring, field position, time of possession, and overall game momentum.
Takeaways
The Niners line of -8.5 is way too high when comparing how both teams played in week one. Admittedly, I was not high on the Seahawks this season and predicted a 24-9 blowout loss to the Broncos. They have plenty of things to clean up before this game. The offensive line, with two starting rookie tackles, will have their hands full with an always-talented 49ers defensive front seven. But we saw some offensive creativity that has been absent from the Seahawks playbook for some time and some sparks of life from defensive newcomers.
This game should sit closer to 49ers -2 or -3 but it’s a coin flip. The Seahawks always play the 49ers hard, especially in Santa Clara, and we expect this game to be a thriller as always.
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