It will be a NFC West showdown in Week 6 as the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks meet on Thursday Night Football. The Niners will be looking to improve to .500 after a disappointing start to the campaign, while the Hawks sit at 3-2.
A key to victory for last year's Super Bowl finalists will be limiting Seattle's productivity downfield, with the team ranking third in the NFL in passing yards. However, defensive end Nick Bosa isn't taking their run game for granted either, especially since Kenneth Walker III is back in the mix and had limited touches in last week's loss to the New York Giants.
Via Nick Wagoner:
“They've kind of gotten away from the run, but we expect that to change this week… I'm sure they're not too happy with how the last game went in terms of how many times they gave their top back the ball, so we're expecting to probably get a heavy dose of that to start.”
Walker III had only five carries for 19 yards in Week 5. Bosa does make a good point however because the running back is a key piece for this Seahawks offense and it's only a matter of time until he's involved more. I mean, in the season opener, Walker III ran the football 20 times for 103 yards.
The 49ers run defense is solid, though. They're allowing just 110.8 rushing yards per contest, which is ninth in the league. Seahawks OC Ken Grubb openly admitted on Tuesday that Walker III must get the ball a lot more, taking full responsibility for his lack of touches. Via Brady Henderson:
The Seahawks rank last in the NFL in designed rush rate after handing the ball off only seven times on 58 plays vs. the Giants. That included five carries for Ken Walker III.⁰
— Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) October 8, 2024
OC Ryan Grubb put that “100 percent” on himself:⁰
"I'll own that. Gotta get the ball to Ken more." pic.twitter.com/48aTgEFiGB
Needless to say, things will be changing on Thursday. The 49ers have been struggling and lost to another divisional rival, the Arizona Cardinals, in Week 5. While injuries have played their part, there's no excuse to be sitting at 2-3. After all, this is a club that is considered a Super Bowl contender.
San Francisco will put up points but it will be interesting to see if they can stop Seattle's attack, both through the air and on the ground.
