Niners Need Good Recipe For Home Cooking vs. Seahawks
By Charles Jay
The San Francisco 49ers have had a strange season. For the most part the Niners have had a hard time putting 60 minutes of football together. For a team that would appear to have made a significant offensive improvements in the off-season, they have had to rely on defense for their latest winning streak. That doesn’t bode well for playing the Seahawks.
But the objective is to win. Win any way a team can. San Francisco has won three straight games coming into their Thursday night matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
This is the first of two meetings within a three-week stretch for these two squads. Thursday night football betting action kicking off at 8:30 PM ET at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA, and televised on NBC.
This Rivalry Grows Yearly
Obviously there is some back story coming into this matchup. The teams met in last year’s NFC championship game. That magnified the personality conflict between Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman and San Francisco wide receiver Michael Crabtree.
Neither of them has been especially mouthy leading up to this matchup. We will see how often they are matched one-on-one on the field.
There was bad blood between Seattle coach Pete Carroll and San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh. It goes back to the days when they coached at USC and Stanford, respectively. Carroll’s expression of “What’s your deal?,” which came after a Stanford rout of the Trojans, became part of the football lexicon.
Both teams are 7-4 straight-up and 5-6 against the NFL point-spread.
In the football betting odds for this Thursday night encounter. They are posted at America’s Bookie, the Niners are a small favorite:
San Francisco 49ers -1.5
Seattle Seahawks +1.5
Over 40 points -110
Under 40 points -110
Niners Looking for Consistency
San Francisco has some challenges coming into this one. They are not producing offensively the way they should. Colin Kaepernick has completed 61.7% of his passes. He has also been sacked 34 times. Only three receivers have more than 21 catches. Tight end Vernon Davis has been virtually non-existent.
This team managed only 312 total yards in last week’s 17-13 victory over the Washington Redskins. They are struggling mightily with Robert Griffin III at quarterback. There were opportunities, but this attack just did not work for most of the ballgame.
America’s Bookie customers who expected that San Francisco would establish a unique home field advantage in their brand-new, state-of-the-art stadium have been greatly disappointed.
The 49ers have covered just one of their five games at Levi’s Stadium against the football betting odds. Their best moments have come in road games. Fortunately for them, they face a Seattle team that is 1-4 against the spread on the road.
49ers Need QB Pressure
The Niners absolutely have to get some pressure on Russell Wilson. He has been sacked 27 times, but just as importantly, they have to be able to contain him in the pocket. Remember, Wilson has already rushed for 644 yards on the season.
Aldon Smith has now been back in the lineup a couple of weeks. His presence should be felt. The Niners have allowed 93 rushing yards per game. It’s also going to be important for them to slow down a Seattle infantry that has accumulated 5.4 yards per carry.
The Niners catches a break because center Max Unger, a big part of the running game, is out of action or Seattle. This secondary has not done a bad job, as America’s Bookie patrons well know.
San Francisco has permitted only 57% completions, for slightly more than six yards per attempt, and those are very impressive statistics in this pass-happy era.
