Seahawks vs. 49ers Preview: The Most Anticipated Game of the Season
By Matthew Gray
Keys To Victory:
Frank Gore, in excess of the past 13 games, has averaged 3.8 yards per carry, not really an NFL running backs type of numbers, and practically a full yard per carry poorer than his career average of 4.6. He is getting a little long in the tooth at 30 years old, so it’s hard to visualize Gore reversing this drift.
Last Sunday, he was unable to run out of the I-formation, the Pistol or the Shotgun. And his backup Kendall Hunter was just as bad. He had one carry when he ran through a hole the size of a barn door and got 23 yards, the rest of the game he gained just one yard on five carries.
This bodes well for the Seahawks defense, with Gores woes in the back field the “Legion of Boom” can focus on the Niners receivers, which with the addition of Anquan Boldin, is really the 49ers’ main attack, and disrupt the entire game plan for Colin Kaepernick.
Also, remember when the 49ers defense was considered the best in the NFL?
That title is gone. Sunday’s game against the Packers was a picture-perfect illustration of what the 49ers’ defense has come to be. They gave up 28 points and 385 net yards to the Packers’ offense. Over the 49ers’ preceding seven games, they’ve given up 27.4 points per game and 387 net yards per game. So, the 49ers’ defense didn’t underachieve on Sunday. It played like it usually plays.
If those numbers had been the 49ers’ numbers for the whole 2012 regular season, they would have ranked 30th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed.