49ers @ Seahawks 9/14/08

The petty NFC West is once again up for grabs in 2008, but will more than likely have a new "champion" this season. The 4-time defending NFC West division champion Seahawks are coming off a humiliating 34-10 loss to the mediocre Buffalo Bills in week 1. Ever since their super bowl appearance, the Seahawks have been making the playoffs seemingly by default, usually only winning the division with a 9-7 record due to very poor NFC west competitors. However this season, numerous NFL followers (including myself) have both the San Francsico 49ers and Arizona Cardinals as the top 2 contenders for the NFC West title. Being from the bay area myself, I do have a slight bias towards the 49ers but after week 1, nobody can aruge that the Arizona Cardinals look like the team to beat in the west. The Cardinals went into San Francisco and knocked off the 49ers 23-13 and did so by forcing 5 turnovers and only allowing the 49ers 15 offensive snaps in the 2nd half.

Now we arrive at week 2, which matches up the 49ers (0-1) and the Seahawks (0-1) at Qwest Field. Last season, a healthy seahawks team beat up on the 49ers taking both games from San Francisco on route to another division championship. However, in 2006 the 49ers played one of their best games of recent memory in Seattle. During a stormy winter thursday night in Seattle, the 49ers came up with a huge comeback win, with some big time plays. Most notably a touchdown pass to then rookie TE Vernon Davis, a naked bootleg touchdown run by Alex Smith, and most famously, Smith's dodging of kelly herndon on a corner blitz, scramble out of the pocket and hit frank gore along the sideline for a huge touchdown. Times have changed. For both teams, no more Alex Smith, no more Shaun Alexander. Seattle has a depleted WR corps to begin the season, and although the Niners were beat in week 1, they ought to be favored to win this game. Most experts have the seahawks as the favorite this week, and understandably so, as they are the defending division champs playing against arguably the worst team in football over the past 3 seasons. However, this is not the 2007 49ers, despite the 23-13 loss to arizona in week 1, the 49ers were 5th in total yards per play on offense, and 6th on total yards per play on defense. Journeyman quarterback J. T. O' Sullivan completed over 70% of his passes looking like he belonged. Throw out the 5 turnovers, the 49ers showed spirts of Mike Martz's fastest show on turf. In reality, the 49ers have playmakers on the offensive side of the ball that matchup well with Mike Martz's Rams teams of the late 90's early 00's. Frank Gore and Marshall Faulk have often been compared, and Kurt Warner was just as big of a nobody as "JTO" is currently, before Mike Martz made him 2-time NFL MVP. On the defensive side of the ball the 49ers have last years defensive rookie of the year Patrick Willis anchoring the linebacker core, along with shutdown CB Nate Clements, and FA acquistion DE Justin Smith. I like the way the 49ers matchup with the Seahawks this week, unlike years past, Matt Hasselbeck is without guys like Steve Hutchinson, Shaun Alexander, and Darrell Jackson. As well as the current injuries to Deion branch, and bobby Engram, the Seahawks are clearly not what they used to be. While the 49ers are relatively healthy and have up and coming talent all over the field, I have them as favorites this week to knock off the defending NFC West champs in Seattle this week.

Predicition: 49ers 30 seahawks 17

-Andy Bensch
Bellarmine College Prep 09'
Andy.Bensch09@bcp.org