Seahawks vs 49ers: a by-the-numbers prediction
By Keith Myers
When the Seattle Seahawks take on the 49ers this Sunday, all hints of the old rivalry will be gone. This game shouldn’t be close, and the stadium will likely be empty.
The Seattle Seahawks invade Santa Clara this week to take on the corpse of what used to be the San Francisco 49ers. This isn’t some white walker from Game of Thrones either. More like shuffling zombie from Shaun of the Dead.
San Francisco can’t even lose correctly. The Browns did them a favor by winning a game, and the 49ers decided to forfeit the 1st overall pick in the draft by winning that punt-fest against the Rams.
Before we get to the prediction for this game, lets look at how the teams match up statistically:
When Seattle has the ball
| Seattle | Category | San Francisco |
| 20th | Points | 32nd |
| 21st | Yards per carry | 32nd |
| 12th | Yards per attempt | 27th |
| 24th | Sacks | 18th |
| 13th | Turnovers | 18th |
If the Seahawks cannot get their ground game going this week, then the calls for Tom Cable’s to be fired should become deafeningly loud. The 49ers have the league’s worst run defense by a fairly wide margin.
It shouldn’t even matter that Seattle’s running attack is mediocre at best. If you can’t run on this team, heads should roll.
Luckily, the 49ers aren’t any good at defending the pass either. Russell Wilson and passing offense is clearly a strength, and the 49ers rank 27th at defending the pass.
When San Francisco has the ball
| Seattle | Category | San Francisco |
| 2nd | Points | 27th |
| 1st | Yards per carry | 5th |
| 16th | Yards per attempt | 32nd |
| 7th | Sacks | 29th |
| 23rd | Turnovers | 20th |
Looking at the numbers, it is difficult to believe that the 49ers will have any offensive success whatsoever. The only thing they’re good at is running the ball, and the Seahawks have the league’s best run defense. Oh, and Carlos Hyde was placed on Injured reserve recently.
Seattle’s pass defense isn’t great this year. It’s average, ranked perfectly in the middle of the NFL at 16th. Good teams have ben able to exploit that, but the 49ers are far from being a good team. In fact, they rank dead-last in the NFL in yards per pass attempt.
Prediction
This game shouldn’t be close. It is tough to see the 49ers putting together multiple drives. It is also tough to see them getting a lot of stops, even with Seattle’s crap-tastic offensive line.
Next: Besides the guys on IR, Seattle is close to healthy
Sure, Seattle is playing on the road, but Levi’s Stadium has been about 70% empty for most of the games this season. This should be a friendly environment for the Seahawks.
Put it all together, and this game has blowout written all over it. Hopefully the Seahawks will put this game away early, and they’ll be able to rest all their stars for most of the 2nd half.