Thursday Night Football best bets: 49ers-Seahawks
Mr. Irrelevant turned Mr. Very Relevant Brock Purdy is battling an oblique injury and spent the week on the injury report with the short week turnaround for the San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks Thursday Night Football game. The freefalling Seahawks are getting a three-point head start against the 49ers. Too much? Too little? Good prop bets? See what our analysts have to say.
Throughout the season, our VSiN experts will combine to give their best bets on every game. Check back for picks for the rest of Week 14 as we get closer to kickoff.
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San Francisco 49ers (-3, 43.5) at Seattle Seahawks
Thursday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Adam Burke: Running the football on the 49ers is virtually impossible, and the task is even more difficult when injuries pop up. Kenneth Walker III won’t be 100% on Thursday and Rashaad Penny is already out for the season. Perhaps the Seattle coaching staff has high hopes for Travis Homer, but he only had nine carries on 49 offensive snaps last week and DeeJay Davis was inactive.
Geno Smith’s pass attempts prop is set at 33.5, only about one pass attempt more than he has averaged to this point in the season. He was 24-of-30 in the first meeting against the 49ers, but San Francisco ran 70 offensive plays to just 47 for the Seahawks. Maybe this game goes the same way, but Smith should be a lot more active here. He may also have to run a bit more, so over 16.5 rushing yards isn’t a bad look, but I think the Seahawks are going to realize that they have to throw to be competitive.
Tom Brady threw 55 times in last week’s game. The 49ers are tied for the second-fewest rushing attempts against. You just cannot run the ball on them, especially with banged-up backs. It’ll be up to Geno to move the ball through the air.
Pick: Over 33.5 Pass Attempts (-125)
Femi Abebefe: Apparently the Kyle Shanahan-led San Francisco 49ers are not allowed to have nice things. Even when they win, they seem to suffer a key injury in the victory. A couple weeks ago, they lost starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a foot injury that will keep him out until late January.
This past week, with seventh-round rookie quarterback Brock Purdy under center, the 49ers put together a terrific performance and dominated the Buccaneers. Unfortunately in the win, they lost do-everything playmaker Deebo Samuel to an ankle injury. Despite the injuries, San Francisco is riding high and needs a win Thursday night to clinch the NFC West title.
However, that win won’t come easy against their heated rivals from the Pacific Northwest. Over the past month, the Seahawks have been reeling and the betting market has thrown them out with the bath water. After a 6-3 start, Seattle has lost three of its last four and is now a field goal underdog at home against Purdy, who is making just his second career start.
Being from the Seattle area and having covered the team for a couple seasons, I can tell you with confidence that Pete Carroll’s team will be up for this game under the prime-time lights. I have a hunch we’ll see the Seahawks’ best performance in a while against a banged-up Niners team.
Kenneth Walker is cleared to play, and I believe Seattle’s pass-catchers can find some success against a pretty injured San Francisco secondary. The 49ers rush offense is a concern, but I think Seattle gets out to a lead and makes Brock Purdy play from behind. San Francisco will ultimately win the NFC West war, but Thursday night the Seahawks will win the battle.
Pick: Seahawks +3 and Seahawks ML +165
