Following Sunday’s victory over the Saints, the Seattle Seahawks have been reaffirmed as Super Bowl favourites.
And it’s not exactly surprising after the Seahawks defence, led by the Legion of Doom, completely shut down the Saints high powered passing game.
Drew Brees had just 34 yards in the first half and the Saints didn’t score a point until the fourth quarter.
With fierce rivals the San Francisco 49ers travelling in to Seattle next week to take on the Seahawks, Seattle will start as favourites to win the NFC Championship, especially based on the 49ers recent form at CenturyLink Field.
The Russell Wilson-led Seahawks offense is a run-first offense which takes advantage of the play-action pass.
The threat of Marshawn Lynch brings the opposition safeties closer to the line of scrimmage which in turn opens up the deep passing game for receivers Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin.
In Sunday’s match the Saints struggled to stop Lynch, allowing him to rush for 140 yards.
However they did successfully stop the Seahawks passing game, Wilson threw for just 103 yards.
The 49ers must attempt to replicate facets of the Saints pass defence in order to have similar success next weekend while also ensuring their phenomenal run defence does not drop off.
The Saints played very disciplined defence for much of the match, with the linebackers playing a big role in this.
The linebackers started each play close to the line of scrimmage, to stop the run, once they knew it was a throw, two or three of them, depending upon if they were sending a blitzer, would drop back and most of the time, play zone coverage against the short passing game and receivers running across the middle.
This style of play, designed by defensive maestro Rob Ryan, is effective because it allows the Safeties to focus on slowing the long passing game and helping the cornerbacks in coverage of the wide receivers.
This does, however, place a greater emphasis on missed tackles.
Because the safeties are deeper, if the linebackers miss a tackle with their initial contact with the running back, he will make a much bigger gain, as was the case with both of Lynch’s Touchdowns.
The match-up between the Seahawks’ strong running game and the 49ers dominant run defence will likely determine the NFC Champion. In their week 14 victory, the 49ers held Seattle to just 86 running yards.
In week two, Seattle ran for a whopping 172 yards and the Seahawks came out on top on that occasion won that match.
The NaVorro Bowman led defence must continue to fire, as they have done all season and ensure that unlike New Orleans, they limit their missed tackles in order to prevent big gains on the ground.
A key to this is slowing the read option running game used by Russel Wilson and Marshawn Lynch.
As previously stated in my BCS previews, the key to slowing the read-option is pressuring the quarterback and ensuring that a linebacker is marking him at all times.
The 49ers linebackers, mainly Bowman and Patrick Willis, must ensure that both Wilson and Lynch are contained at all times, or else these two players will run away with the NFC Championship.
While the 49ers must focus on restricting Wilson’s use of his feet, they cannot ignore his throwing ability.
Wilson is an excellent passer who can throw from both the pocket and while scrambling.
However, he has been disappointing in recent weeks and has struggled in the past against San Francisco.
He threw for 199 yards in week 14 and just 142 yards in week two of this season and 122 yards and 171 yards in his two matches played against the 49ers last season.
If Wilson struggles again next weekend, the Seahawks will rely heavily on their running game.
If the 49ers can then slow the running game it will be all over for Seattle. A key to this will be the health of Percy Harvin.
A healthy Harvin adds an extra dimension to the Seahawks offense, not only giving Wilson another target, but his running in the ground game is vital as a change of pace.
Seattle’s defence is known for its famed Legion of Doom, the best secondary in the NFL led by Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas.
One of the luxuries that this affords the Seahawks is that the linebackers can blitz and blitz often, putting huge amounts of pressure on the quarterback.
Drew Brees was under pressure in the pocket all match on Sunday and he clearly struggled to cope.
The Seahawks face a different proposition next weekend though, whereas Brees is a pure pocket passer, Kaepernick is a running passer who often relies on his feet as much as his arm.
The Seattle linebackers must do their best to keep Colin Kaepernick in the pocket and force him to make throws into tight coverage down the field.
Green Bay effectively lost their match against the 49ers because they let Kaepernick escape the pocket on one key play.
The Seattle defence has had plenty of success against the 49ers over the past couple of years, especially at home.
Kaepernick has struggled to cope with the atmosphere and pressure of the famed 12th Man, the Seahawks fan-base.
His struggles at CenturyLink Field have not come purely because of the crowd though; the Seahawks defence has a lot to do with it.
A difference between next week’s match and the week two match-up played in Seattle is the return of Michael Crabtree.
He is one of Kaepernick’s favourite targets and was severely missed during his absence in the first half of the season.
When Kaepernick is standing in the pocket under serious pressure from the Seahawk blitz, Kaepernick will look to find Crabtree.
While Seattle possesses the best secondary in the NFL, they have been severely depleted at the cornerback position in recent weeks.
Second string cornerback Brandon Browner is currently serving a minimum one year suspension for missing three drug tests and third string cornerback Walter Thurmond recently returning from a four match drugs suspension.
With both of these players out, Cardinals quarterback Carlson Palmer took advantage of fourth Corner Byron Maxwell in the Seahawks Week 16 match-up against Arizona.
It was Maxwell who he targeted on the game winning throw to Michael Floyd in a move sure to be copied by the remaining teams in the playoffs.
If Sherman is marking up against the inform Anquan Boldin, Crabtree will provide an excellent option as a second receiver, especially when matched up against Maxwell.
If the Seahawks overcome the 49ers, they will face one of the two best quarterbacks in the league in the Super Bowl.
Both Tom Brady and Manning are elite quarterbacks who are able to pick apart opposing defences with surgical like precision. If the Seahawks get to the Super Bowl, Brady or Manning will be sure to exploit this weakness in New Jersey.
A further key to this match will be Frank Gore and the 49ers rushing attack.
The Seahawks struggled to stop the run against New Orleans on Sunday, giving up over 100 yards and missing a number of tackles.
When the 49ers last played Seattle in Week 14 at Candlestick Park, Frank Gore was huge, running for 110 yards.
Gore laid the platform for a 49ers win that day and another big game next weekend could send San Francisco to the Super Bowl.
The Seahawks must tackle much better than they did against New Orleans if they hope to slow the 49ers running game.
If the tackling doesn’t improve, they may well be in a spot of bother next weekend.
Seattle is an excellent football team led by the best pass defence in the league and a strong rushing attack.
The home field advantage provided by CenturyLink Field and Marshawn Lynch led rushing attack will most likely prove too difficult for the 49ers to overcome.
However, unless Russell Wilson improves his play in the next two matches, the Seahawks will not be able to win the Super Bowl this year.
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