The 49ers will beat the Seahawks 12-6 tonight.
If the game was in Seattle on turf, I would have to favor the Seahawks in a short week. But the game is at Candlestick, and the grass field will negate the great quickness and speed of Seattle’s defensive front.
Both the 49ers and Seahawks will run more than they pass. Marshawn Lynch will carry the ball 30 times for 80 yards, Frank Gore will carry it 24 times for 70 yards and Kendall Hunter will carry it 12 times for 60 yards.
Colin Kaepernick will play a two or three red-zone snaps and hand the ball off.
Russell Wilson will turn the ball over once and Alex Smith won’t turn it over at all, and that will be the difference in this game.
Seattle likes to move the pocket for Wilson and put him on the edge because of his shortness and athleticism. Two of his biggest gainers against the Patriots last week were passes outside the pocket and on the run. Ahmad Brooks and Aldon Smith are going to have to chase Wilson down when he tries to extend plays.
The 49ers corners were exposed a bit against the Giants, but Seattle’s receiving corps (Sidney Rice, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin and Braylon Edwards) is not as good, although they do have some speed.
That speed will be less of a factor at Candlestick, and a short week always favors the home team. The 49ers will have a tougher time against the Seahawks on December, 23rd when they play in Seattle.
49ers RSS feed
Loading ...
Thanks Grant.
I will still watch the game tonight. Can you give me the winning lotto numbers for Super Lotto on Saturday? :)
Grant I have the same score in my prediction as you, niners will win but I think since Seattle is a decent team alex will struggle even though I see them asking him to do the bare minimum. I see them doing draw plays and dump offs on third and long to minimize the chance of turnovers since alex struggles throwing down field especially on third down. It’s kind of upsetting that with an 8 year veteran qb they can only ask him to do the bare minimum because of his lack of ability.
Chris, You’re a funny individual. Didn’t your parent teached you right thing to say? I guest not.. your intelligence shows..
Grant: Thoughts on the Niners passing attack? You predict a 12-19, 178 yard, 0 TD, 0 INT performance for A. Smith?
More like 145 yards but your stat line is pretty right on.
Something like that, yeah.
(lol) Your answer is very Harbaughesq.
I expect CK to receive more playing time the last week and see him being used to throw more than normal.
Especially if the running game is neutralized.
Barely over 200 yards. 8 sacks. no TDs. Less than 5 yards per pass. In other words, a performance like Aaron Rodgers had against this defense.
Don’t mention Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith in the same sentence, it is disrespectful to football and an MVP.
Why not? Are you that insecure?
Instead of blustering bull$hit:
A: give me Aaron Rodger’s statline against this defense.
and
B: Do you expect he who can’t be named in comparision is going to do better or worse against that same defense?
Chris? Hello? Is this thing on?
I’d like to hear your answer too….
Or is your strategy just to ignore pointed questions and waste everyone’s reading time by mouthing off?
Chris
Is AR going to come to that persons house and beat them up because some fan blogged AS’s name with his name? Do you really think AR gives a damn? You fans take this “don’t mention AS in the same breath as AR” stuff way more seriously than AR.
I don’t think AR would mind considering they are friends. Why do you mind? This people is what we call taking a game WAY too seriously.
Grant, I have a question for you. So far alex has played pretty well against GB and DET, played great against Buffalo, terrible against MIN and NYJ, and absolutely horrendous against the new york giants. It’s obvious he is what he is which isn’t good. My question is, how many bad performances is it going to take for alex to be permenently benched? Everybody knows if we go into the playoffs with alex we have no chance to reach the promised land and I would almost rather let the more talented Kaepernick take his lumps now and then come playoffs who knows what can happen? We know the result with alex 100%.
Smh.
I see that the uninformed have taken over the blog. And Spitblood is back. Well, I guess that’s consistent.
Wow claud that was insightful. Have alex smiths baby and let knowledgeable fans talk football. The entire league knows alex stinks which is why nobody pursued him in free agency. Glad you and the heavens gate cult are sticking to your guns despite 8 years of evidence this clown is horrible.
@Chris/Jason:
Doubling down on ignorance isn’t a winning strategy. But go ahead; I am sure it will work for you.
@ Claude, That isn’t me and Jason is on Matt Maiocco’s blog.
My feelings on Alex Smith are this. I am willing to keep him in the game period. I don’t want to see Kaepernick start yet. I don’t think he’s ready and I don’t think the team can get behind him yet. I think Kaepernick has to earn a leadership role on this team before Sf can legitimately start him. He hasn’t done it yet.
All that being said, I think if by some anomaly SF loses the next 3 games with AS playing poorly, Grant is right, Kaepernick starts in place of Smith. At that point, I believe the team is preparing for next year.
I’m not a Smith lover by any means. I just want what’s best for my team. Right now, what’s best is Alex Smith.
* I’ll start signing my last name so that it’s evident who ever this “chris” poster is, it isn’t me.
Chris 1 and 2
I suggest you two figure out something because it will get confusing here. Much like it was with Adam
Chris, you ask a question that has no answer just so you can rant about something that holds no merit. Next time you have the inkling to say something, flush the idea.
I’m asking Grants opinion moron, not alex smiths booty call. Everything I said is true, but your love for a bad football player has clouded your judgement, you have no knowledge to refute anything I say. Stick to reality tv, leave football to men.
Hey Matt I want grants opinion on a football question, when I want to know what sex in the city is about I will ask you tree stump.
Thank you Chris, I’ll try to be prepared when you need that advice :)
*I’m a MAN* woops, that didn’t come off right. Hopefully someone understands what i was getting at.
@chris/jason:
Sorry, my bad.
I’m MAN, I’m 40 years old!!!
Chris with a triangle avatar- You make the dumb people on the blog look genius. When you ignore competent questions and retort with insults, you lose any credibility, and it’s already obvious you didn’t have any to start with.
Chris, you couldn’t even recognize which is the NY Jets and the NY Giants. Stopped please, youe sound pathetic..
What the Giants did to us to affect our run stopping ability was spread their O-line out a bit farther than they did last year. That spread us out a bit up front and affected where we normally lined up. That negated J.Smith big time. Expect the Seahawks to try the same. Matter of fact, expect everybody to do that against us! The G men layed out the blue print. Our coaching Staff better have some answers to that. We’re gonna find out the rest of the year how good our coaching staff really is! They’re onto us and we’ll see how we adjust to it!
Game is a toss up. Niners not as good as last year. If we lose it’s Alex Smith’s fault. If we win it’s due to our coach’s decisions.
I believe SF comes out to play. I don’t think it will be close unless Seattle scores on special teams.
Spreading the O-line out won’t work when you have 5’10″ passer who has to find passing lanes to throw the ball. Spreading the line out will close passing lanes and shorten the field. It will also take away the edge that Seattle tries to give Wilson.
If Seattle tries that approach, expect a high number of tipped balls and swatted balls. Also expect to see Wilson sacked on the edge, Goldson running up from 15 yards back to blitz through the gaps, and Aldon Smith lining up wide so that he can attack the run and the pass.
The 49ers will lose tonight 20-16 because the NFL has caught up to how Roman and Harbaugh use Alex Smith. Stop the run and you still stop the 49ers. Roman and Harbaugh are running out of tricks to mask Alex Smith’s deficiencies.
I think tonight will be ultra conservative passing wise. I expect to see heavy doses of Gore and Hunter and then more Hunter, some reverses to Manningham, and then some sprinkling of Gore to top it off. I think Bay’s bet is in great standing to win. I think Alex Smith will have a conservative game with only 1 pick but 2 tds and 190 yards.
Yeah, the Giants really stopped the run.
Spit- No need to mask deficiencies, you utilize strength’s, that’s like playing not to lose, instead of focusing on winning. Only fans think that way, not coaches. If they lose it won’t be because the NFL caught up, more time than not it’s about execution, whoever does that best, wins. Most OC and DC know how to stop whatever you throw out there, the challenge is to have the players recognize what is happening and execute the correct action.
Spitblood, Are speaking from your heart? Sounds you just woke up and you don’t even know where you are at.
Who knows? Tonight is a great NFC West GPS game. Everyone including myself believes it will be very close. But I won’t be surprised by a blowout either… tonight will tell a lot hopefully
This is a hard one to call, but the whole league is that way now with any team capable of beating any other team on any given day. Part of me sees the Hawks as a dangerous team and part of me sees them as lucky to be 4-2 & squeaking by to get Ws. We have dominated a few teams, had a couple average days and one stinker which I think was somewhat due to game planning and getting away from what we do best. Seattle hasn’t won in SF in 5 years so you gotta give the edge to the Niners. Should be a very physical game but the score will be more than 12-6, more like 20-13. Beat Seatlle & AZ and we are 6-2 and atop the division with a tie breaker edge going into the bye. I’ll take that.
Good post MauiD!
Prediction:
The niners are going to blow the Sea Hawks. The game tonight will be much more like the Buffalo game then the Giants game.
*blow out
Ooops :)
HAHA!
Seriously though, I tend to agree. The 49ers got embarassed last week, and need to prove to themselves that they’re one of the heavyweight contenders despite last week’s anomoly.
Plus, the Hawks offensive style plays right into the 49ers strength on defence.
Ya, when you’re playing a team like Seattle and all you do is run, run, run, dink and dunk and run some more, you’re basically doing exactly what they want you to do! You still need to be ballanced somewhat and take a few shots. Otherwise the defense will all start creeping in and closer together. Thats what Seattle wants. We can’t play scared and play not to win. We need long drives to wear that D down. I predict Davis to have a big game, the niners to build a lead, get them passing on every down and attack!
Alex smith this Alex smith that when his winning games we love him (saints playoff game) when his loosing were ready to replace him with a varsity qb even to give us a winning chance. I’ve watched a lot of football in my life and the loss to the giants looked like the niners not trying to show much to ny giants .Gore had wat 8 carries if I’m not mistaken something smelled fishy and it wasn’t the dolphins. Truth be told we will see them again in Jan and I’d rather win that and keep a short memory of last Sunday we will get revenge on the G men when it ll truly count .
Exactly my feelings on the NYG game. We beat them last year in the reg season & gave them too big of a glimpse as to how we’d have to play them in the NFCCG…. not this year… I believe we put together a plan that will barely resemble how we play them when it counts this time. Let them think we’re doing the same exact stuff until it counts, then show them we’ve had the counter punch up our sleeves the whole time, just waiting for when it matters the most. That’s the feeling I got from watching that game…. our coaches gambled on taking a season loss in order to pull a rope-a-dope in the playoffs. Hopefully my gut (and aj’s) is right. I also think we win tonight in a fairly close game (10 points or so) unless they get out to a quick lead and/or our coverage unit can’t contain Leon Washington… then we’re in for a fight. Should be a good game, regardless.
I read somewhere that we used some of our time last week to prepare some for this game cuz the week was so short. JH also said this game was much more important than the Giants game.
JH is right. Division games matte more than any other. Win them all, and you are nearly assured a playoff spot.
I’m seeing a lot of fans on here bashing Alex Smith for Sunday’s performace. I’m no Smith apologist. I am a fan of his leadership and his accountability. I am not a fan of his playing style. I’ve watched football for about 23 years now with any sense of the game. So, I’m be no means an expert.
All disclaimers aside, for as long as I can remember watching/playing football, I’ve never heard an analyst condone 2 QBs taking rotations in a game. That is college and NFL. LSU does it a great deal and won a championship with it, but their defense is what won. Their offense always looked flat when they rotated.
I saw the same flatness that I saw LSU portray on their QB carousel this last Sunday against NY. I hear it every year on NFL network. You can’t successfully rotate QBs. Kordell Stewart/Pit. Brady Quin/ CLE. Hill/Rattay/SF. Smith/Hill/SF. Jackson/Hasselback/SEA. Leinhart/ARZ. Orton/Tebow/DEN. Bulger/STL. I believe that’s what Greg Roman did against NY.
I believe Harbaugh has an intimate knowledge of what that does to a QB and I believe he pulls the plug on the Kaepernick experiment tonight. So, as much as I’d like to jump up and down and yell, “He is who we thought he was!!!” about Alex Smith, I blame the OC more for the flatness in NY than I blame AS.
Grant, after Alex threw 3 INTS there was alot of talk about our offense and lack of production! However the press does not talk much about our special team play! In the Giants game we gave up a huge play to set up a TD which change the game completely by putting more pressure on Alex and the defense!
Would you please find out or share your insight why we are in the bottom of the league in the punt and kickoff coverage! Last year our special team use to be “special ” by providing our team great field position, now we have given up huge plays in the games we lost! and everytime we kick off i am crossing my finger for someone to tackle the ball carrier!!! I would like to hear Tim (GM) and our special team coachs insight on this topic! Base on the last 6 games i believe our biggest issue or problem is the special team, such as the coverage team as well as miss field goals!
Chicago,
Alex is Akers’ best friend. Without those int’s a lot more attention would have gone his way.
Because we let our #1 ST teamer Blake Constanazo go
How many plays will Kaepernick play against the Seahawks?
15+ (5%, 5 Votes)
^^Jordo, Chris, Band-aid whatsis-name- guy, Spitblood, who’s that last one – Bay? md?
I actually voted zero.
I actually voted 0 too because I thought 5 was a high number. If Kaepernick plays it will be on 1 or 2 trick plays.
I got him playing 5-9. I hope he does not play so Smith can wallow in his own crap!
Bay,
I’ll be there to see Smith fall apart in person . Section lower reserve 18 , 15 rows up. Perfect position to see the open receivers running around while he’s running into sacks. I wanted to see md bit I won’t get to the stadium until 4.
Have fun.
Bay,
I’m going against the grain. I just picked up a red Alex Smith jersey from Walmart. I didn’t think they were still on sale. I couldn’t resist. Stitched Nike pro style for $9.99. Smithers, in case you want one, its Walmart in Hayward!
23jordan, Thanks for the advertistment…you just made Walmart more richer.. You should be the head spokeman for walmart, maybe they’re still looking for one, talented liked yourself..
Alex Smith is on the ropes. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO SEAHAWKS!!!!!!
Go to a Seahawks board then.
Quit insulting the 49er fanbase with your degrading presence.
For 8 years then. Maybe he’s figured out how to work all the strings making up the rope.
Spit get the hell out of here ….you are a Raider fan Ha? Oh! wait no you are a NOBADY…LOL
49ers 27 SeaHawks 23
Wilson stat line: 17/29 164yds 1TD 1INT 3 sacks
Smith stat line: 19/25 197yds 2TD 0INT 3 sacks
Lynch 1TD 73 yards
Hunter 1 TD 35 yards
Gore 65 yards
Kaep will only come in on 1st or second downs and only when we’re in Seattle territory. He’ll see 3-4 snaps. If he comes in around the Seattle 45′ish he’ll pass otherwise expect him to keep it on the option.
How many rushing yards to you give Wilson? Sf Defense has issues with mobile Qbs. I fully expect Seattle to run a lot of bootlegs with Wilson to get him to the edge.
http://ninerchatter.blogspot.com/2012/10/here-are-5-questions-that-49ers-fans.html
What do you think the answers will be?
Look for the Defense and Special Teams to come out strong! We will feature and commit to the running game and out of that Alex will hit 2 touchdowns to Vernon and Manningam. We win the turnover battle 2-0 and we punch the young cocky Seahawks right in the mouth 28 – 10! Atop the NFC West. Seachickens go home bruised and battered by the Real Bully of the NFC!
+1
+2
Make or break game for Mr. Alex smith sink or swim son!!!!
Niners are not only playing mad, they’re playing disgusted and embarassed. We’ll win big. AS will have a good game and the CK should start will settle down.
Note: Bruce Irvin only comes in on passing downs so unless we are monumentally predicatable, Roman better come strong on 2nd downs because 3rd and longs won’t get it done.
I means the “the CK should start” talk will settle down.
I agree Faith, good teams that are pissed off from being embarassed the previous week always give a good showing and usually win. If they lay another egg, we might have a problem.
D—-t, Grant. Now your evil mojo has ensured that we will lose a shootout.
:)
Niners win 23-10. Harbs renews The Deal with Sneaky Pete.
NINERS 23 Seahawks 17 but just let AS play the entire game…
LOW scoring??!!!
The niners better learn how to open it the eff up and put the D on their heals or the stack the box, double VD get punched in the mouth on the line Minn and NY did will be the key to success for opposing teams.
i’ve been a bit more focused on the Giants but will go Niners 21-13 for this game, which i will watch fully but on tape after the Giants tie their series up. go Niners! Seattle is a rising factor no doubt and good teams are built with defense first, but its too early in their development for them to come into the Stick and beat a very good team which suddenly has a fair bit to prove.
You almost called the score, the rest of your prediction wasn’t quite as close but it was all a heck of a lot closer then mine.