The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are both coming off games where the scoreboard didn’t tell the true story.
The Niners were tied with the Broncos at three deep into the third quarter. It wasn’t until a muffed punt that San Francisco started to run away with the game. It also helped that Bo Nix refused to throw the ball beyond five yards.
The opposite was true for the Seattle Seahawks. The scoreboard says they lost by a touchdown, but they were in complete control, with a lead as big as 26-7 in the second half before a couple of garbage-time scores.
Seattle’s defense frustrated Kyle Shanahan last season. They only scored three touchdowns on 30 drives. The good news is Mike Evans has transformed the offense into another elite iteration under Shanahan. George Kittle looks healthy, and Christian McCaffrey has found plenty of success against the Seahawks.
The issue might come on the other side of the ball, specifically when it comes to stopping Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Nobody has yet. History tells us that Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green struggle mightily against JSN.
If Evans can continue to play at a WR1 level, while Raheem Morris finds a way to force Sam Darnold to throw it to anybody besides his go-to target, the Niners will be in a good position to win.
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