At The Brink

In 24 hours one team will be 3-4 and the other 2-5. The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are at the crossroads of their seasons. One team was expected to return to the Super Bowl and the other to simply stay afloat after a porous offseason. Once part of the mighty NFC West both teams are going through multiple issues which may not be resolved this year. From afar many would assume the Seahawks are just suffering from post Super Bowl lag after handing the New England Patriots the Lombardi trophy with questionable play calling in the final seconds. If you look closer this is not simply a team who is going through a rut, this is a team that has invested majority of their salary cap into every position except for their offensive line. A team built to run the ball, throw off play action, and neither has worked that well this year. Wilson has been sacked the most in the NFL this year featuring a line of castoffs and defensive line projects moved to offensive line. The defense is still one of the best but its showing signs of leakage in the secondary, specifically at #2 and #3 cb’s which have been strength in recent years but free agency has taken its toll. The 49ers have huge issues as well, the offensive line isn’t much better then Seattle’s and the defense have shown plenty of holes so far this year. Without much of a pass rush the 49ers pass coverage has been nonexistent at times. The 49ers feature a 3-4 defensive line with two nose tackles starting on the line. Sure while this helps against the run it severely weakens you in the pass rush department. After spending a first round pick on Armstead he should simply be starting at this point in the season. Also the defensive backs seem to be blowing a lot of coverage’s this year; perhaps Mangini’s soft zone scheme is too complicated at times. With all these problems the 49ers defense is clearly ranked last in the NFL, you would assume changes would be coming but nothing seems to be on the horizon. 3-4 sounds a lot better then 2-5; if the 49ers can somehow end their three game losing streak against Seattle this would revitalize this young team with exuberance and confidence for the second half of the season which features a much softer schedule. This game will determine Seattle’s fate, even though their lucky to be 2-4 after a missed called vs. Detroit which should of put them 1-5 for the season they still have a lot of talent and hope left for a another title run. A loss and this team could start to implode; already the defensive secondary is pointing fingers at each other after giving up a game winning touchdown drive to the Carolina Panthers last week.