NFL San Francisco 49ersWashington Redskins

Predicting the Final Score of Redskins vs. 49ers

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By @thedadeeoh

Aaron Lynch San Francisco 49ers

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This Sunday at 4:25 PM EST, the San Francisco 49ers welcome the embattled Washington Redskins to Levi’s Stadium in what will be a lovely afternoon demonstration of offensive futility. However, if you’re one of those silver-lining types that loves defense, like yours truly, then you’ll revel in the significant amount of defensive prowess on display. And, when you have two really good NFL defenses taking the field against two subpar — to put it politely — offenses, the result is typically a low scoring game.

While both are good, it’s the 49ers’ defense that has the advantage. They give up an average of 21.2 points per contest, which drops to 19.8 PPG at home. They’re a well-rounded bunch that, despite multiple man games missed by starters, play the run and the pass with equal efficiency. The 49ers pass defense currently ranks as the NFL’s fourth-best squad (220.2 YPG) and the run defense isn’t ranked much further back in the league’s sixth spot (88.6 YPG). As a unit, the 49ers’ defense is responsible for the third-best takeaway mark in football and few would be surprised if this game came down to an interception or fumble caused by arguably the most well-balanced squad in the game.

The Redskins also possess a balanced defense, as they rank 10th (228.7 YPG) and 11th (104.2 YPG) in passing and run defense respectably, but they give up an average of 25.6 points every week, which rises to 26 PPG on the road. Adding to their woes, the Redskins’ third-worst turnover differential of -11, which includes the league’s fourth-worst takeaway total (nine).

Fortunately for the Skins, they have the advantage on offense. Well, if we look at NFL team pages on certain popular sports websites, it certainly looks that way. The Redskins come into Week 12 with the seventh-ranked passing offense (270.8 YPG) and a 16th-ranked run game (109.6 YPG), while the 49ers enter with a passing offense ranking 23rd (218 YPG) and football’s seventh-best ground attack (124.8 YPG). But, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that regardless of those rankings, the Redskins only score an average of 20.4 points per game in comparison to the 49ers’ average of 21.1.

Thus far, leading up to Sunday’s tilt, all of the talk has been about Robert Griffin III, and for the record, I see him playing well, but it won’t be enough. Aldon Smith will terrorize RG3 from the blindside, as the Redskins will be without starting left tackle Trent Williams, and the rest of the tremendously coached 49ers’ defense will shut down the Redskins’ offense. San Francisco QB  Colin Kaepernick will do just enough not to lose the game, and while Washington will cover the nine points given to them by Las Vegas, they’ll ultimately lose 21-14.

Jeff Pearlman is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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