John Clayton: “I still think Seattle can win because they’re the better team at this stage.”

John Clayton was interviewed on Tuesday about the upcoming 49ers-Seahawks game. Here is a transcript.

Q: What do you see happening in this game?

CLAYTON: I still think Seattle can win because they’re the better team at this stage. I think they go down there hitting them at a good time. Michael Crabtree is not going to be 100 percent because literally he’s having his training camp now. You can see when he got on the field he was able to help Colin Kaepernick be more like Colin Kaepernick, but still. In a sense, all you have to do is find a way to cover Vernon Davis, match one guy up with Anquan Boldin and then see how you can do as far as covering Crabtree. If that’s going to be the case, I still think they match up very well against them, and I still think Russell Wilson can run around there and make enough plays, but it’s going to be a tight football game. San Franisco is going to be geared up. It’s desperation for them, and there is pressure but not immense pressure for Seattle because they can lose this game and still win the next two. The No.1 seed is all within their grasps.

The fact that Joe Staley is going to be out and Mike Iupati, that takes away from their power run blocking. And when you take a left tackle away and have to move a guard over to do that — didn’t we see that earlier this season with somebody named McQuistan filling in for somebody named Okung?

Q: What stood out to you about the Seahawks’ Monday Night demolition of the Saints?

CLAYTON: The two things that really stood out were how effective Russell Wilson is at being able to pick up the nuances of the game – understanding when there is Cover 0 and then making big plays out of it.

And then also how well the two young cornerbacks held in there – Byron Maxwell and Jeremy Lane – to the point where they helped hold Drew Brees under 200 yards.

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