NFL

McCaffrey-led ground game the key as 49ers aim to clinch NFC West in Seattle

By Sports Desk December 14, 2022

The San Francisco 49ers can clinch a first NFC West title since the 2019 season with a road victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday, and will almost certainly look to the ground game to help them do so.

San Francisco crushed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-7 in Week 14 in a dream first start for rookie quarterback Brock Purdy. That victory, combined with the Seahawks' surprise home loss to the Carolina Panthers, gave the 9-4 Niners a two-game lead atop the division.

The 49ers beat the Seahawks 27-7 way back in Week 2, their largest win over Seattle since a 38-7 triumph in Week 4 of the 1988 season. If they complete a season sweep of Seattle for the first time since 2011, the 49ers will have a three-game lead and the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Seahawks with three games remaining, securing them a second successive trip to the postseason.

Kyle Shanahan's team went all the way to the NFC Championship Game last season, surrendering a fourth-quarter lead to the Los Angeles Rams, and the 49ers look to have the potential to contend for the Super Bowl again this year, even after losing their top two quarterbacks, Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, and being forced to turn to Brock Purdy, the last pick in this year's draft.

The Niners are on a six-game winning streak, with their last four victories each coming by at least 13 points. They are the only team to win four straight games, all by 13+ points, this season.

In the 28-point win over the Tom Brady-led Bucs, Purdy became the first quarterback to beat a former Super Bowl-winning QB by more than 10 points while making his first career start. Purdy is looking to be the sixth Niners QB to win his first two career NFL starts.

Purdy picked up where he left off in the 49ers' Week 13 win over the Miami Dolphins, in which he replaced the injured Garoppolo, going 16 of 21 for 185 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another score. He continued to display poise, decisiveness, accuracy and the ability to defeat pressure. Through just under two full games, Purdy has a well-thrown rate that is superior to that of Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen and Trevor Lawrence, the former Iowa State signal-caller delivering an accurate, well-thrown ball on 83.3 per cent of his pass attempts.

But in the famously raucous road environment in Seattle, the 49ers have plenty of reason to take the game off the arm of Purdy against a Seahawks run defense that has allowed 677 rushing yards over its last three games.

The 49ers averaged 6.1 yards per rush last week against the Bucs, with Christian McCaffrey and rookie Jordan Mason each excelling on the ground.

McCaffrey had 119 yards rushing and a touchdown on 14 carries, as well as two receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown, while Mason averaged 5.1 yards per carry as the 49ers cruised in the second half after building a 35-0 lead.

Since his debut for the 49ers in Week 7, McCaffrey is averaging 106 scrimmage yards per game, the seventh-most in the NFL. With versatile wide receiver Deebo Samuel out with a high ankle sprain, McCaffrey is the undisputed focal point of the offense.

On a short week in what is sure to be a hard-fought divisional game, the 49ers might not be able to rely too heavily on McCaffrey, meaning Mason may see a larger share of the workload. 

The Niners clinched the NFC West and the number one seed in the conference in the regular-season finale in Seattle in 2019 with a dramatic late goal-line stand.

They will need their defense, ranked first in the NFL by success rate (35%) to stand tall again versus a dangerous Seahawks' offense led by Geno Smith, but if the 49ers can control possession and move the ball on the ground against a defense that appears ill-equipped to stop McCaffrey and company, San Francisco will be a strong position to punch their ticket to the postseason.

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    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Ipswich Town - Liam Delap

    Delap scored what proved to be Ipswich's winner against Tottenham and has now netted six of his side's 12 Premier League goals this term.

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    Manchester United - Alejandro Garnacho

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    MATCH PREDICTION: MANCHESTER UNITED WIN

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    OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

    Ipswich Town - 22.2%

    Draw - 23%

    Manchester United - 54.8%

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