In a season where the Seahawks were expected to make it nowhere, they have managed to make a playoff berth and will face off against the NFL’s hottest team who has a 10-game win streak.
Seahawks Today Lead Writers: Shrihun Sankepally and Nevin Tamilselvan — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Nick Bosa vs Seahawks Offensive Line
Nick Bosa is a potential DPOY candidate and a first-team All-Pro who recorded an NFL-high 18.5 sacks this season. The Seahawks had major trouble dealing with Bosa in their prior matchups with Bosa getting a combined 3 sacks in the 2 matchups. The Seahawks’ tackles will be faced with a difficult matchup and will require constant chips and double teams with guards, extra offensive linemen, or tight ends to be able to negate Bosa’s prowess. Nick Bosa also opens up more opportunities for others like Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw to get to the quarterback against a weak Seahawks offensive line that could be without half of its Right Guard position. Expect the Seahawks to struggle against Bosa and the 49ers’ fierce defensive line if they choose to not scheme up ways to block Bosa and get the ball out in a fast and timely manner.
Kenneth Walker vs San Francisco’s Front-7
Since Walker played against the 49ers he walked into the following game against the Chiefs with the same mindset. After a long streak of bad production and another half of bad running against the Chiefs, Walker left halftime a wiser man knowing to take the open gap, and since then the young rookie has amassed 100 yards in each of his last 2 games. The 49ers’ front-7 features star-studded players such as Fred Warner and Nick Bosa but also has lots of help from their secondary in the run game with Taloana Hufanga repeatedly coming up near the line of scrimmage and having cornerbacks who are able to play tough in run defense. The Seahawks’ tackles are capable of run blocking, but the major turning point lies within the Seahawks’ IOL. If the Seahawks cannot get off the ball and create force at the line of scrimmage on offense, Geno Smith will have an incredibly tough time and Walker will have a similar experience at best. The Seahawks rank 29th in the NFL in rushing plays that go for 0 yards or are stopped before the line of scrimmage. If the Seahawks want a chance to win this game, the IOL performance is another key metric that will decide the outcome of this intense playoff game.
Ryan Neal vs George Kittle
After a season where he was benched for Josh Jones until Jones’ own struggles benched himself, Ryan Neal has embraced this season head-on, being the Seahawks’ best, and most consistent defender by far. Ryan Neal has been elite in coverage, allowing only 50% of his targets to be completed, for a measly 191 yards. 191 yards on 52 targets imputes 3.67 yards per target, an average lower than the Seahawks’ rush yards allowed per carry. While George Kittle has gotten two wide-open touchdowns in both games he has played against the Seahawks this season, and both were not on Neal, the Seahawks should be able to iron out those mistakes and have Neal on Kittle for a majority of the game to make him a non-factor. If the Seahawks can clog up a ferocious 49er run game, Purdy will need to play heroic ball, something he has managed to not do in any of his starts. Ryan Neal will be a major component of a recently emerging Seahawks defense that is looking to end the 49ers’ 10-game win streak.
Christian McCaffrey vs Seahawks Front-7
Christain McCaffrey has been phenomenal as a San Francisco 49er. This season he has averaged 4.7 yards per carry and has made it to the endzone 13 times. He has 244 attempts on the ground for 1139 yards. In the air, he has 85 receptions for 741 yards or 8.7 yards per catch. From scrimmage, Christian has 1880 yards, more than Kittle, Deebo, and backup and former starter Elijah Mitchell have combined. If you take the combined stats from the Panthers and 49ers, McCaffrey is the team’s leading rusher by nearly 2.5x Jeff Wilson, the team’s second-leading rusher. Combining his receiving yards from the Panthers and the 49ers, Christian McCaffrey has caught and ran to ball for 741 yards, the teams’ third leading receiver only by Kittle and Aiyuk, in which Kittle only had 24 more yards than the elite running back. The Seahawks have finally had Al Woods back for 2 weeks now, but just let Cam Akers run for over 100 yards and 5 yards per carry. The Seahawks’ defense will need to clog up all run lanes if they want to implement their game plan. The key to beating the 49ers will be disrupting Brock Purdy, but if they cannot stop the run Purdy will have little reason to throw the ball when he understands he can rely on his elite running game.
