There is an important divisional Thursday Night Football matchup between the 49ers and Seahawks. Here is how to bet on the game at DraftKings Sportsbook.
49ers (-3.5) at Seahawks o/u 47.5
49ers Team Breakdown
The 49ers have been one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL so far this season. They were the favorites to win the NFC entering the season but are just 2-3 through five weeks. The Niners were hit with a slew of injuries early on and Christian McCaffrey is still yet to play a snap this season. Even their kicker, Jake Moody, went down last week in a game they probably would have won if he was healthy. They were forced into some tough situations with no kicker and ended up blowing that game to Arizona.
Despite the offensive injuries, Brock Purdy has still been very productive this season. Purdy is fifth among qualified quarterbacks in EPA+CPOE composite and though the McCaffrey injury hurts, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel are back to help Purdy in the passing game.
Seahawks Team Breakdown
The Seahawks had an easy schedule to start the year, which saw them start off 3-0. They hosted Bo Nix in his first NFL start, beat the Patriots in overtime and beat the Dolphins who played Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle at quarterback. None of those wins are very impressive and since then they have lost to the Giants and Lions. The Seahawks’ defense has been shredded in both of those losses. Over the past two weeks, their defense is 31st in EPA/play and 32nd in EPA/dropback.
Seattle has also slowed down on offense. It is now 16th in EPA/play on offense and 18th in EPA/dropback this season. Kenneth Walker III had just five carries and was totally ineffective against the Giants. There is something wrong with the Seattle offense and on a short week, there won’t be much time to fix whatever is wrong. The 49ers are also not a fun team to match up with when your offense isn’t clicking as evidenced by their blowout wins over the Jets and Patriots this season.
Pick and Prediction
Even so early on in the season, this is a pivotal game for the 49ers. If they win this game, they will be tied for first place in the NFC West. If they lose this game, they will be two games back of the Seahawks a third of the way through the season. That makes a huge difference when it comes to their odds of winning the division and coach Kyle Shanahan is well aware of that. This should be a really concentrated full-force effort from the 49ers.
The 49ers’ offense is fifth in the NFL in EPA/dropback and the Seahawks’ secondary has been torched the past two weeks. The 49ers should have a great game plan to attack the secondary the same way the Lions and Giants did. This will force the Seahawks to be one-dimensional to try to keep up with the 49ers, but they won’t be able to do so against a San Francisco defense that is ninth in the NFL in EPA/dropback.
Favorites are 4-1 on Thursday Night Football, with the only loss coming when the Dolphins lost to the Bills after Tua Tagovailoa’s injury. The 49ers should be able to keep that trend rolling and pick up a much-needed divisional win to get their season back on track.
Best Bet: 49ers -3.5
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
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