Here are three things that will happen when the Seahawks play the 49ers in week 17.
What a difference a season makes. Sure, both the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers were headed to the playoffs in 2019 but Seattle was struggling to remain healthy at the end of the year and the 49ers were on their way to the Super Bowl. This year, Seattle is 11-4 and once again heading to the playoffs but the 49ers have been the injured group and are 6-9 and not going to the postseason.
To be fair, I feel a bit sorry for the 49ers. They have been so banged-up this season that there was no real way they were going to overcome that. There might be some fans who have laughed at the 49ers misfortunes but that wouldn’t be fair and how would 12s like it if the Seahawks had suffered the same fate?
Plus, I would always rather beat a team with their best players healthy so there is no excuses for them. The 49ers are a well-coached team and will be a force again next season. But I always cannot count them out in week 17 either. Seattle is a good team but we have already seen how against the New York Giants they cannot take any team for granted.
The Seahawks will have the better roster on Sunday and should win the game just as they beat the 49ers in week 8. But the Arizona Cardinals probably thought the same thing in week 16 when they lost to the 49ers, a loss that could cost the Cardinals a playoff spot.
A loss in week 17 won’t cost Seattle a playoff spot but potentially could cost them a number one seed in the NFC. If Seattle wins and the Packers and Saints both lose, the Seahawks will get the top seed in the playoffs.
Here are three things that will happen when Seattle plays San Francisco on Sunday.
Freddie Swain will return a kickoff back for a touchdown
To be honest, I like D.J. Reed better as a kick returner than Freddie Swain but Reed has become far too valuable a cornerback to risk him to needless injury by returning kickoffs. And Swain was good as a returner in college and has gotten a bit better each week doing to same for the Seahawks. Against the Rams, Swain returned two kicks for an average of 27 yards with a long of 28. That means his other return went for 26, obviously, so both returns were positive.
The 49ers are not good at covering kickoffs, giving up an average of 24.8 yards a return which is 24th in the NFL. (Seattle is 14th in the NFL allowing 21.8 yards per return.) San Francisco has also allowed a kickoff return this season already. And the 49ers also won’t have regular kicker Robbie Gould available on Sunday as he is out week 17 and is on the injured/COVID-19 list.
In Gould’s absence, the 49ers signed Tristan Vizcaino. University of Washington fans will be familiar with Vizcaino as he kicked for the Huskies in 2017. Vizcaino, though, hasn’t kicked in a real game since. And at Washington, Vizcaino only kicked 22.6 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone in 2017 (17 of 75). This means Swain should have a good chance of returning a kick.
Swain’s kick return will come at the beginning of the second half and give Seattle a bit more of a lead in what will become a tight game.
Seahawks will get 7 sacks
Before season 710 ESPN Seattle asked the question of which would be more true, Seattle would get 28 sacks again (their number in 2019 which ranked next-to-last in the NFL) or 50 sacks. At the time, 50 seemed ridiculous but, of course, so did the 28 sacks last year.
Seattle started the season with 9 sacks in the first 6 games. But since then the Seahawks 34 sacks in 9 games. So now Seattle has 43 sacks, which is 7th-best in the league. The reasons Seattle has been better at getting to opposing quarterbacks are many, but Jamal Adams getting healthier and Seattle trading for Carlos Dunlap might be the two key ones.
In week 8 against the 49ers, Seattle sacked Jimmy Garoppolo 3 times before he left with an injury (to be fair, he was injured coming into the game and shouldn’t have been playing). But in that game, neither Adams or Dunlap played. Nor did cornerback Shaquill Griffin and D.J. Reed was playing nickelback. With Griffin and Reed covering out wide, Seattle’s coverage will be better and allow more time for Adams, Dunlap and company to get home.
San Francisco will also be without 8-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams as he is out with an elbow injury. Seattle will get 7 sacks against the 49ers and finish with 50 for the season. What once sounded like a ridiculous number will be a realistic one after week 17.
Seahawks win a close game but it will be meaningless before the end
The 49ers are very capable of beating the Seahawks if Seattle mentally takes a week off. This happened in 2019 when Seattle suffered an embarrassing loss to the Cardinals in week 16. And while at the beginning of Sunday’s game, the Seahawks have something to play for by the end they will not have. This is because the Packers and Saints will both win on Sunday.
Seattle could be the number one seed in the NFC if they win and if both the Packers and Saints lose. New Orleans plays the Carolina Panthers while Green Bay plays the Bears in Chicago. The Bears are playing better but the Packers know with a win they can have home-field advantage in the NFC. That’s a huge motivational factor.
Against the 49ers, though, Seattle will take a fairly early 10 point lead on a Russell Wilson touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf and a Jason Myers 43-yard field goal. It will be 10-3 at halftime. In the third quarter, Freddie Swain will get his kickoff return for a touchdown to make it 17-3. Another Jason Myers field goal will make it 20-3.
But the Seahawks will be scoreboard watching and by midway through the 4th quarter realize that the Packers and Saints are going to win, will pull most of their starts and the 49ers will score twice more to make the final 20-13.