By Mazvita Maraire Posted on

Winning early downs and run game are crucial if Seahawks are to advance past Niners

If the Seahawks are to advance to the  NFC Championship, they will need some repeat performances from their Week 18 win over the Niners. First and foremost, the Seahawks must establish a run game.  The need to establish a run game from start to finish became mandatory with the injury news surrounding Sam Darnold.

RUN GAME WILL TAKE PRESSURE OF DARNOLD

The 180 rushing yards against the Niners in Week 18 were the second-highest output of the season, behind the season-high 198 yards against the Cardinals in Week 9. Darnold and head coach Mike Macdonald have both confirmed Darnold is healthy and will play. There is no doubt that the Niners’ rush defense, ranked 11th in the regular season, is looking to stuff the Seahawks’ run game and go after Darnold.

While he has delivered on the most productive season in his career , throwing for over 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns with a passer rating of 99.1, Darnold led the league with 20 turnovers, 16 interceptions, and six fumbles.  The return of Charles Cross at left tackle will be a boost to an offensive line that has allowed just 27 sacks. Which, ironically, is the same number the Niners offense has allowed.

MUST  WIN EARLY DOWNS

To establish a fluid run game, the Seahawks will need to win the battle of early downs and avoid third and long. Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet are splitting the load, and the key for the Seahawks is for one of them to get hot early. I expect Kint Kubiak will call some early  short pass plays to get Darnold in a rhythm. The question will be whether Darnold can get the ball to Jaxson Smith-Njigba, who led the  NFL in receiving yards but has  yet to score against the Niners.

CAN DEFENSIVE LINE CONTINUE TO  PRESSURE PURDY

Although they had just eight quarterback hits against  Niner quarterback Brock Purdy in  the Week 18  victory, the Seahawks chased and hunted Purdy all afternoon long.  Linebacker Drake Thomas’ fourth quarter interception inside the redzone thwarted a potential Niners scoring drive. The  interception was a direct result of the Seahawks’ rush and coverage technique, which saw the defense finish the regular season No.1 in third-down and scoring defense.

“There’s a discipline of playing off each other, knowing when to play off each other, and then the coverage playing, and how do those things offset each other is important because on one hand, the rush might win now, which gives the coverage a chance, and on the other end the coverage might hold up and then suddenly you give the rush a chance to come to life. That’s the balance of rush and cover,’ said defense coordinator Aden Durde .

The Seahawks defense has five players with 40-plus pressures which is  tops in the NFL and rank fourth in QB pressures with a rate of 38.9  with the lowest blitz rate in the NFL

CAN THE  HOME CROWD MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

The Seahawks have been practicing with simulated crowd noise blaring through the speakers. The players and coaches have talked all week about the advantage they will have playing in front of the home crowd.

“ It’s really exciting. That’s something we’ve been putting an emphasis on all year from the start of camp. We knew it was something that we didn’t do a good job of last year winning at home, and I think we did a better job of that this year, and the stadium has been on fire lately,” said Leonard Williams. “I’m looking forward to seeing it even more on fire this Saturday. I can’t wait to hear the 12s out there.”

In the three times the Seahawks have earned the No. 1 Conference seed  2005,2013,2014 they have reached the Super Bowl.

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