Seattle Seahawks vs San Francisco 49ers Preview (9/18/22): Betting Odds, Prediction, Depth Chart
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Well I bet no one believed that the Seahawks would be first in the NFC West after Week 1, and yet, here we are. The Seahawks are 1-0 after beating Russell Wilson in his Bronco debut while the 49ers and their NFC West counterparts are 0-1.
The 49ers will host the Hawks at Levi’s Stadium this Sunday in a game fueled by a longstanding NFC West rivalry. Read ahead for predictions, odds, picks, injuries, and depth charts.
Seattle Seahawks Vs. San Francisco 49ers Betting Odds
The 49ers are 10-point favorites and a -460 moneyline favorite. The point total is on the lower end of Week 2 game totals at 42.5 points.
Despite the wavering roster the last few years, the Seahawks always show up for divisional play, especially against the 49ers – they are 17-3 against the 49ers since 2012 and have not lost to them since 2019. Granted, they also had Russell Wilson under center during that time, but he wasn’t doing them very many favors last year. This matchup instead features two green quarterbacks trying to find their groove with an offense, which makes for an interesting matchup.
Seattle Seahawks Vs. San Francisco 49ers Prediction
This game will be a good indicator of the reality of the Seahawks’ Week 1 performance. Was Geno Smith’s performance just a one-off or is he really as clutch as he looked? It can show us the same for the 49ers – is Trey Lance really a 46% completion rate passer or is there more to him? All this will be answered by Sunday afternoon.
Both teams suffered core losses to their team this week as the Hawks lost Jamal Adams (again) and the 49ers lost Elijah Mitchell. Luckily, Seattle has a healthy Quandre Diggs, Uchenna Nwosu, and Ryan Neal to offset this loss while San Francisco has Deebo Samuel to cover for the loss of Mitchell. The status of George Kittle this week could sway me one way or the other – if he’s back, Seattle could have a hard time covering Samuel and Kittle.
Maybe it’s wishful thinking but with the Seahawks’ momentum heading into this game and their history of beating the 49ers, I find a Seahawks upset to be very possible. A 10-point spread seems heavy given the discrepancies in their Week 1 performances, so I would at the very least, expect the Seahawks to cover the spread, even if they can’t pull off a win. Neither team has explosiveness under center and both hit the under in Week 1 because of it, so I’d expect this game to hit under 42.5 points.
PredictionSeahawks cover, under hits
Betting Trends
Seahawks 1-0-0 ATS, 49ers 0-1-0 ATS
Seahawks are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 meetings in San Francisco
Seahawks 17-5 ATS in last 17 games as road underdog
Under is 4-0 in 49ers last 4 games following a straight up loss
49ers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 home games.
49ers are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. NFC.
Key Injuries
Seattle Seahawks Injuries: Jamal Adams (O)
San Francisco 49ers Injuries: Elijah Mitchell (O), George Kittle (Q)
San Francisco 49ers Analysis
San Francisco is coming into the game down their RB1 Elijah Mitchell, and off a loss to the Chicago Bears where the offense couldn’t get going. Trey Lance had the lowest completion rate of any quarterback in Week 1 at just over 46%. Weather certainly played a role in this as it was pouring rain in Chicago that game. Usual star George Kittle sat this game out with a groin injury, which didn’t help them either. Neither did their tendency to commit penalties – 12 of them, to be exact. They lost 99 yards on 12 penalties and went 1-3 in the red zone.
But the 49ers defense was the bright spot for them last week. This defense gave up the fewest yards of any Week 1 defense (204 total yards), notched an interception, and had two sacks. This could be what carries them this season if Trey Lance can’t work through the growing pains.
Seattle Seahawks Analysis
Now, there is still a lot of football left to play, but Seattle looked like a good football team on Monday. Geno Smith took good care of the football, serving an 82.1% completion rate, leaving him behind just one quarterback – Josh Allen – in completion rate in Week 1, and he even tallied a few yards on the ground. He silenced a lot of doubters on Monday and while it may not last forever, he deserves credit for coming up clutch.
Smith also had good pass protection from his offensive line, something that Seattle has struggled with in year’s past. The line consists of two rookie tackles – first round pick Charles Cross and third round pick Abraham Lucas – who held their own in their NFL debut against a good Denver pass rush.
Seattle’s defense suffered the loss of Jamal Adams, who can’t seem to stay healthy, but still came up with two huge forced fumbles on the goal-line and held Denver to a 0% red zone scoring percentage. They did however let the Broncos run all over the place before doing so, giving up 433 yards.
Key Matchups
Check out the key matchups and mismatches for Seattle Seahawks vs San Francisco 49ers below.
Rashaad Penny vs 49ers Run Defense
Rashaad Penny has emerged as a great ground option for Seattle’s offense. He ended last season with 135+ yards in four of his last five games and added another 60 on Monday. He’s fast for his size and will be the answer when Geno Smith needs help. This week, Penny’s job will be all but easy against a strong 49ers defense who held the Bears to under 100 yards rushing last week. In fact, they kept opponents to 71.3 rushing yards per game last year. Nick Bosa and his front seven will be a good matchup for Penny as he has momentum heading into this season.
Deebo Samuel vs Seahawks Secondary
While Samuel’s performance relies heavily on Trey Lance’s ability to get him the ball, this will still be an interesting matchup to watch. Seattle’s secondary showed promise at times in Week 1, coming up big in red zone situations, but let the Broncos receivers trample all over their field first; they allowed 340 receiving yards for Denver receivers. Samuel is more dangerous than the receivers Seattle faced last week, so they’ll have to lock in here; last year against Seattle, Samuel had 156 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Seattle Seahawks Depth Chart
QB: Geno Smith
RB1: Rashaad Penny
RB2: Travis Homer
LWR: DK Metcalf
RWR: Tyler Lockett
SWR: Dee Eskridge
TE1: Noah Fant
San Francisco 49ers Depth Chart
QB: Trey Lance
RB1: Jeff Wilson Jr.
RB2: Jordan Mason
LWR: Brandon Aiyuk
RWR: Jauan Jennings
SWR: Deebo Samuel
TE1: Tyler Kroft