A week ago the 49ers pulled an upset, beating the Atlanta Falcons 17-16.
Upsetting the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday (1:25 p.m. kickoff), however, will be a much more difficult task.
Though the 4-5 Seahawks have struggled more than they have in recent years, oddsmakers still make them a whopping 11-point favorite over the 3-6 49ers – and for good reason.
The 49ers offense has been abysmal, ranking last in the NFL in scoring, total offense and yards per play and now the team comes into one of the most hostile environments in the NFL against a defense that ranks No. 2 in the league.
Seattle has won four straight games against the Niners, including a 20-3 victory at Levi’s Stadium in October when the ‘Hawks defense sacked Colin Kaepernick six times. Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson also is 4-0 against San Francisco at CenturyLink Field. And, in their past eight regular-season games against the Seahawks, the 49ers have scored no more than a single touchdown, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Now the 49ers must face the Seahawks with quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who has never before played against Seattle.
Gabbert led the 49ers to the win over the Falcons last week, throwing two touchdown passes, but was that just good fortune or a sign that Gabbert – who’s now taken over for Kaepernick – has turned his career around? Never has Gabbert won back-to-back starts in his NFL career.
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Plus it doesn’t appear as if Gabbert will have Carlos Hyde back at running back (he has a stress fracture in his left foot), so establishing a running game with Shaun Draughn and Co. may be a tough task.
But this week Gabbert said it will be important for the 49ers to play smart and take what the Seattle defense will allow and not worry about trying to beat individual stars such as cornerback Richard Sherman, safety Kam Chancellor and linebacker Bobby Wagner.
“The thing that we do is we look at the defense as a whole,” Gabbert told the media this week. “You can’t focus on a certain guy. You know who their personnel is, and you know what you have to do to execute vs. that personnel. But at the same time, you can’t let one guy kind of deter or knock your focus off of the big scheme of things.”
Gabbert said he learned some things, too, from watching film of the Arizona Cardinals’ recent victory over Seattle in which they put together two long touchdown drives for a comeback victory.
He knows the key in the passing game will be to get the ball out fast to counter the Seattle pass rush and be patient and content with making steady progress down the field, just as the Cardinals did. He said a quarterback can’t “start pressing and trying to push the ball downfield.”
Said Gabbert: “You just take what the defense is giving you and that way you can string drives together and execute at a higher efficiency.”
