NFL Tickets
TV Schedule: Oct. 22, 1:25 p.m. PT, FOX
Location: CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Wash.
Line: Seattle (-13.5)
The San Francisco 49ers will be making a trip north to face off against the Seattle Seahawks for a divisional game at CenturyLink Field. This matchup was considered one of the best rivalries in the NFL over the last few seasons, but it has lost a little bit of gusto recently. In their previous matchup this season, Seattle won on the road 20-3 in Week 7.
The 49ers are coming off of their bye week to face Seattle, but they beat the Atlanta Falcons 17-16 on the road in Week 9. That victory came on the back of now starting quarterback Blaine Gabbert. San Francisco benched Colin Kaepernick prior to their matchup against the Falcons and will seemingly go with Gabbert at least for this week against Seattle.
Gabbert had a decent showing in his first start in over two years, throwing for two touchdowns and 185 yards. He did throw two interceptions, but Gabbert also did not go down for a sack, which has been a big problem for San Francisco to start the year.
San Francisco’s defense put together a good game even with the amount of injuries piling up. They allowed Matt Ryan to throw for over 300 yards, but pretty much shut down Atlanta’s rushing attack. San Francisco was able to shut down the NFL’s third leading rusher and top touchdown scorer in Devonta Freeman, holding him to 12 yards on 12 carries.
The Seahawks are coming off of a disappointing loss to the Arizona Cardinals at home on Sunday Night Football in Week 10. The offense was once again unable to get much going and was only 1-for-8 on third down. Russell Wilson threw for 240 yards and a touchdown, but Seattle only ran the ball 18 times with just eight of those carries going to Marshawn Lynch.
The Seattle defense set up two scores, recovering a fumble in the red zone and returning a fumble for a touchdown to take the lead. Seattle still gave up 39 points on over 450 yards of offense for the Cardinals. The offense could be partly to blame for these uncharacteristic numbers.
Look for the Seahawks to put together a good game against San Francisco this week. Seattle has not only backed themselves into a corner and has to come away with a win this week, but they have also dominated this matchup going back to last season. With Gabbert at the helm, Seattle should be able to get a lot of pressure in the backfield and force San Francisco into negative plays, and potential turnovers.
Seattle’s offense should also be able to put together a better effort against the Niners’ defense this week. It will likely be a run-heavy load behind Lynch like it was when the two teams faced off in Week 7. Seattle will look to replicate that game when they took an early lead and took control from the start.
Prediction: Seattle 27, San Francisco 9
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