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With Week 5 of the NFL season all but wrapped up, it is time to look ahead to Week 6 of the NFL. Kicking off Week 6 is the Thursday Night Football matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. Both teams are coming off gut-wrenching losses, so both of these teams are in desperate need of wins.
Let’s break down this Sunday Night Football matchup and make our 49ers @ Seahawks NFL picks.
The San Francisco 49ers had a wild off-season, and it has carried into the season. The reigning NFC champions have fallen to 2-3 on the season after losing another close game. The 49ers were leading 23-10 in the second half, but the offense sputtered and could not get enough stops.
Arizona scored 14 unanswered points to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. The 49ers had a chance to go down and win until Brock Purdy had a ball get tipped at the line of scrimmage and got intercepted. That was Purdy’s second interception on the day, and he had an up-and-down day throwing for 244 yards and a touchdown.
After struggling through four games this season after holding out most of training camp, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk had a huge day. He caught eight ballas for 147 yards on 12 targets. Everyone’s favorite tight end, George Kittle, also had a nice day, catching eight balls for 64 and the touchdowns.
The running game even got going in this one, with Jordan Mason carrying the ball 14 times for 89 yards. Unfortunately for the 49ers and Mason, he had a critical fumble in the second half as the 49ers were inside the red zone trying to build the lead. That play flipped the momentum, ultimately leading to the Cardinals winning.
As for the Seahawks, they were coming off a tough loss to the Detroit Lions. They had a banged-up New York Giants team travel across the country and take down Seattle 29-20 without their best offensive players, Devin Singletary and Malik Nabers.
It was a disappointing performance from the Seahawks as a whole. The Gants controlled the game from the kickoff, winning the time of possession battle at 37:22 to the Seahawks just having the ball for 22:38.
The Seahawks could not get the running game going. Geno Smith was the team’s leading rusher with 72 yards. Running back Kenneth Walker had just five carries for 19 yards. I am sure that getting the running game will be a point of emphasis from first-year head coach Mike Mcdonald this week.
As for the wide receiver room, they performed well. Jaxson Smith Njigba caught Geno Smith’s lone touchdown on the day, finishing with four catches for 31 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Lockett led the receiving room with 75 yards and four catches in this one. While DK Metcalf had four catches for 55 yards but once again had a crucial fumble for the second straight week. Metcalf must get that cleaned up heading into this matchup against the 49ers.
This is a huge game for both teams in the NFC West Division. The Seahawks lead the division race by a game over the 49ers and the Cardinals. The 49ers will do everything they can to not fall behind two games in the divisional race.
We expect this to be a kitchen-sink game for the 49ers. This means they will throw everything they can at the Seahawks to win. The 49ers are going to want to control this game from the beginning, and to do that, they are going to want to do it with the run game.
I get that Jordan Mason had a crucial fumble for the 49ers last week, but I do not believe that will scare Kyle Shanahan away from playing him. In three of the previous four games, the Seahawks have been gashed on the ground. In Week 5, the Giants rushed for a total of 175 yards, in Week 4, the Lions tallied 116 yards on the ground and in Week 2, the Patriots totaled 185 rushing yards.
With the Seahawks struggling to defend the run, I believe we should attack that for our 49ers @ Seahawks NFL pick. So our pick in this Thursday Night Football matchup is for Jordan Mason rushing for more than 75 yards. If the 49ers lose this game, they are in serious trouble.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.