The San Francisco 49ers were road underdogs in the Wild Card round against the Philadelphia Eagles, but they gritted out the 23-19 victory on Sunday. Now the 49ers travel to face a familiar foe in the Seattle Seahawks during the Divisional round.
Here are the opening odds for that matchup:
San Francisco is a road underdog once again. The loss of George Kittle to an Achilles injury on Sunday likely has a lot to do with that big spread.
During the regular season, the two teams split the season series. In Week 1, San Francisco defeated the Seahawks 17-13 in Seattle, but that 49ers team was much different than this iteration. Ricky Pearsall, Kittle, Fred Warner and Nick Bosa all played in that one. Kittle, Warner and Bosa are out for this matchup. In Week 18, Seattle went into San Francisco and emerged with the 13-3 victory.
The Seahawks defense is stifling and one of the best in the league. The rush defense has allowed the lowest EPA per carry with 3.7 yards per carry and nine rushing touchdowns, the second-fewest. The pass defense has produced the eighth-lowest EPA per dropback with 20 touchdowns allowed, 18 interceptions, 62.5 completion percentage and 47 sacks, tied for the sixth-most.
On offense, the EPA per carry is the eighth-lowest while averaging 4.1 yards per carry. They’ve scored 19 rushing touchdowns, though. The pass offense has produced the eighth-highest EPA per dropback with 25 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. The completion percentage is 67.6 while only 27 sacks have been taken.
That matches up well against a 49ers defense that has struggled getting pressure since the loss of Bosa. San Francisco is 30th in pressure rate and the 20 sacks are the fewest by a wide margin. The EPA per dropback is eighth-most with 29 touchdowns allowed and only six interceptions racked up. The rush defense has allowed 4.3 yards per carry and 13 touchdowns while posting the 14th-highest EPA per carry.
On offense, the 49ers are 15th in EPA per carry whie averaging only 3.8 yards per carry and scoring 15 touchdowns. The loss of Kittle is huge as he’s an excellent blocker for the rushing attack. San Francisco is seventh in EPA per dropback with 33 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. The completion percentage is 69.3 while 27 sacks have been taken. Once again, though, the loss of Kittle is huge as he’s second in targets for the 49ers.
