10 Reasons Why the San Francisco 49ers Will Beat the Seattle Seahawks

Are you ready for some regular season football? A lot of us had questions in regards to the season starting on time because of the extended lockout. But it is back people. 

Tomorrow night, the two defending Super Bowl champions will battle one another in Green Bay, signalling the start of the 2011 NFL regular season.

I know you 49ers fans are excited about the season, the new coach and the wide array of different players on the team this season. It looks the like franchise is turning the corner from a decade of losing. At least many of us hope so. 

The Jim Harbaugh era will begin in earnest about three days from now. Excitement is obvious within the 49ers locker room and around the Bay Area. 

Their first matchup will be against the division rival, Seattle Seahawks. There are so many different storylines that come into play in regards to the opening game.

First, the Jim Harbaugh-Pete Carroll rivalry. I know that both coaches have underplayed it. But let's be honest, they do not like one another.

The Seahawks, through default, are the defending NFC West champions. So I am sure that San Francisco wants to show them that 49er football is back, and they mean business.

Another thing that makes this game interesting is the fact that it takes place on the 10th anniversery of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Remember, the plane that went down in Shanksville originated from San Francisco.

So let's get on to analyzing the game, shall we? Today, I am going to give you 10 reasons why the San Francisco 49ers will defeat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. 

10. The Confidence Factor: Look What Happened Last Time They Played

Confidence in the NFL is a funny thing. It can either be short-lived or extend out through an entire season or even offseason.

Some teams own others, while good teams sometimes tend to struggle against mediocre teams. It is just the name of the game in the NFL.

The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks have been pretty even for the last few seasons. Each has won three games since 2008.

But that doesn't tell the whole story. Last season, the two games these teams played were both blowouts. The Seahawks destroyed San Francisco Week 1 Seattle.  

Then in Week 12, the 49ers absolutely obliterated Seattle 40-21, putting up 30 points in the first half. Put it this way, the game was never close from the time it started.

San Francisco, despite only putting up 10 first downs had 336 yards of offense because of big play after big play. Seattle's defense was burnt more than cigaratte at a Vegas poker match. 

I highly doubt that the Seahawks secondary has much confidence heading into this game. They are battered, bruised and just not a solid unit. This gets magnified because of their last regular season performance against San Francisco. 

On the other hand, you would have to say Alex Smith, Vernon Davis and Joshua Morgan are pretty confident going up against the Seahawks defense. 

Just look at what they did to Seattle the last game. 

Alex Smith: 17-of-27, 255 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions

Vernon Davis: five receptions, 70 yards, one touchdown

Joshua Morgan: three receptions, 82 yards, one touchdown

9. The Tarvaris Jackson Factor

It is just going to be a matter of time before Seattle Seahawks fans begin to miss Matt Hasselbeck. In fact, they may already miss the underrated signal-caller. 

Tarvaris Jackson, who had limited success with the Minnesota Vikings, takes over as Seattle's No. 1 quarterback, and all indications are that he is struggling a great deal. There is even some talk that "Clip-board Jesus," Charlie Whitehurst, may overtake Jackson for the starting job.

Either way, the Seahawks quarterback situation seems to be in as much flux, if not more, than the 49ers' quarterback situation.

I really don't think either Seattle quarterback scares Vic Fangio and the 49ers defense at this point.  

8. Seattle's Rush Offense vs. 49ers Rush Defense

You can talk about overall talent until you are red in the face. But matchups in a single NFL game mean so much more. 

How the teams match up, what are their strengths and what weaknesses can be exploited. Well, I will tell you one thing, the 49ers take this battle. 

Seattle was 31st in the NFL in rush offense last season, averaging just under 90 yards per game. In fact, no Seattle running back reached the 100-yard plateau in a single game last season. San Francisco, on the other hand, was sixth best in rush defense giving up less than 100 yards per game.

This spells trouble for the Seattle Seahawks offense as they cannot rely on the running game to off-set what promises to be a poor performance in the passing game. 

You will see Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman drop back into coverage and blitz the quarterback more because they are not worried about the running game. Additionally, the 49ers are extremely solid at the defensive end position in terms of stopping the run with Justin Smith.

It remains to be seen how the rotation of Isaac Sopoaga, Ian Williams and Ricky-Jean Francois will perform in replacing Aubrayo Franklin this season. But one thing is for sure, they are not going to have an issue with that in this game.

7. San Francisco 49er Receivers against Seattle Seahawks Corners

The San Francisco 49ers got great news this week when the NFL announced that Braylon Edwards would not be suspended to begin the season. This will have a huge impact on the game Sunday. 

The 49ers arguably have their best receiving corp since the days of Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens. Remember that?

And the Seahawks corner situation seems to be somewhat of a mess at this point. They traded the first-round bust that was Kelly Jennings to Cincinnati last week and are replacing him with an extremely inexperienced Walter Thurmond at corner opposite Marcus Trufant. I know that Jennings was a bust for Seattle, but he has to be better than their current nickel corner.

This could cause a wide array of matchup problems for Seattle in trying to defend Braylon Edwards, Michael Crabtree and Joshua Morgan. They just don't have enough starter caliber corners to match up with the trio. 

Marcus Trufant remains the Seahawks No. 1 corner, but he has lost a step since being an elite corner a couple years ago. The former Pro Bowl player has seen his passes defended drop to the single digits over the course of the last two seasons.

To put that into comparison, Shawntae Spencer, who we all love to hate, has had more interceptions and passes defended than Trufant over the last two seasons.

It remains to be seen who Trufant and Thurmond will line up against, but either way, the 49ers have the advantage in both scenarios.

Additionally, Joshua Morgan will be playing the slot receiver and will be lining up against an inferior nickel corner for Seattle.

If Alex Smith is on target and the offensive line holds up, he should be able to eat apart Seattle's secondary without much issue.  

6. Jim Harbaugh Owns Peter Carroll, It Really Is That Simple

"What's your deal?" Well, I think you just beat us by 34 points in our home stadium. This was one of the tag lines of the Carroll-Harbaugh rivalry in the old Pac-10 conference. 

Carroll, a Marin County native, couldn't be happier that he lost 55-21 to a Northern California team. Moreover, he couldn't be happier with the fact that Jim Harbaugh owned him at Stanford. 

In 2007, Harbaugh's fifth game as Stanford's head coach, the Cardinal stunned a No. 1 ranked USC team 24-23 in The Coliseum. It was USC's first home loss since October of 2000. This victory put Stanford back on the map and sent shockwaves throughout college football. 

One year later, USC returned the favor on the farm in Palo Alto. They destroyed the Stanford Cardinal 45-23. Little did Carroll know he would be leaving USC in a little over a year, and it would be his last collegiate victory over Stanford.

In 2009, Stanford went into L.A. again, this time against a No. 9 ranked USC team. They came out with a 55-21 victory over the Carroll-led Trojans. Stanford ran for a whopping 325 yards, accumulated 24 first downs and scored 27 points in the fourth quarter. For all intent and purposes, it was an absolute butt-whooping.

Some may ask what this has to do with a Harbaugh-Carroll matchup in the NFL. I will tell you right now:

Some coaches just own others, and it is clear that Harbaugh owns Pete Carroll. In fact, the former Stanford coach appeared to get under Carroll's skin a great deal at Stanford. And that could be a major factor in Sunday's game. 

Pete Carroll is a true professional, but he is also an extremely emotional coach. If he overthinks himself, changes plans in mid-game due to the Harbaugh factor or something to that effect, it could have a traverse affect on how the game is coached.

Also, remember that Harbaugh brought a number of Stanford coaches, including both the offensive and defensive coordinators, to San Francisco. 

5. Home Field Advantage Still Means Something in San Francisco

The San Francisco 49ers used to be un-beatable in San Francisco. But this came at a time when the 49ers were a lock to win double-digit games. Those times surely have passed and did so over a decade ago. 

But Candlestick Park still represents a home-field advantage for the 49ers. Especially, a opening season game. 

The 49ers won four of their seven games at Candlestick last season with all three losses coming against double-digit win teams: New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. In fact, they came extremely close to beating both the Saints and Eagles. 

In 2009, the 49ers were 6-2 and won their final four games at home. This by a combined 74-19 score. Their only two home losses came to the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons. 

This means that the San Francisco 49ers usually take care of business against average to below-average teams at home. A very good sign heading into Sunday's matchup.

Add to the equation the fact that Seattle plays incredibly poor on the road. They were 2-6 last season and gave up over 30 points per game on the road. 

There are many different advantages that San Francisco has going into this game. But this seems to be the most concrete advantage and hard to argue against. 

4. Frank Gore Runs, the 49ers Win

As I indicated in a previous article, the 49ers are so much better when No. 21 touches the ball 20 or more times. They are 20-5 over the last few seasons when that occurs. 

And Jim Harbaugh will not abandon the running game if it gets off to a slow start, that isn't his MO. Instead, he keeps it going until something breaks, and it will. At Stanford, Toby Gerhart didn't exactly get off to the fastest of starts; it took him some time to get in rhythm. 

Frank Gore is somewhat the same way. He could go for 10 yards on his first six carries, then break a 50-yarder on the 11th carry. Gore has done this time and time again. 

The 49ers have a game plan, and they will not stray away from it. Most teams have their first 20 or so plays scripted, but Harbaugh is extremely strong at recognizing the situation and "running" with it, pun intended. 

Seattle allowed nearly 120 rushing yards per game last season, which was in the bottom third of the NFL. Accordingly, the 49ers averaged over 100 yards per game rushing, even without Frank Gore.

There is absolutely no way that Gore doesn't get 20 rushes on Sunday barring injury. And the 49ers have a .800 winning percentage when that occurs. 

3. Seattle's Offensive Line Will Not Be Able To Hold Up against the Blitz

Injury concerns aside, I will get to those in a second, the Seahawks offensive line is one of the worst in the league.

They are going to be starting two rookie on the right side of the line: John Carpenter and John Moffitt. This won't be pretty for Seattle. The largest matchup discrepancy in the game will be Carpenter having to block Ray McDonald. There is no way he will do it one-on-one.

So, Seattle will have to send help from the interior of the line to the right side. This causes a lot more problems than it creates fixes. You are going to be having the center or right guard pulling over to help on Smith. This will leave free reigns up the middle for Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman on blitzes. I highly doubt they are concerned with the blocking abilities of Michael Robinson, Justin Forsett or Marshawn Lynch. 

San Francisco should have a field day in Seattle's backfield on Sunday.

Another issue is the fact that free-agent acquisition, Robert Gallery, is questionable and might not play. If Gallery cannot go, seventh-year journeymen, Paul McQuistan will get that start at left tackle. He is not a starter-caliber offensive lineman in the NFL.

Russell Okung should play, but he is still hobbled from a leg injury that occurred during the preseason. 

There are so many different matchup problems that Seattle has along the lines, that it is hard to imagine them being in sync come Sunday. The one benefit is that Tarvaris Jackson has the ability to run for his life. Something we couldn't say about Matt Hasselbeck. 

2. Schematically, the 49ers Have Not Shown Their Hand During the Preseason

The San Francisco 49ers were extremely vanilla during the preseason, and they did that on purpose. Jim Harbaugh and Co. didn't want to show their hand during meaningless games. Instead, they focused on running the scheme in practice.

This goes for both sides of the ball, and Seattle has absolutely no idea what is going to happen come Sunday in regards to play-calling. 

Tarvaris Jackson said as much on Wednesday when he acknowledged that Seattle was looking at tape of Stanford games more than they were of the 49er preseason games. 

Well, when you have no idea what you are going up against in terms of scheme, you are going to be behind the proverbial eight-ball. And that is the situation that Seattle finds itself in this week. 

Patrick Willis seems giddy at the opportunity that Fangio's defense is going to present them this week.

"Our defense has some new things that if they "execute really well it's really going to set this place on fire"

Willis is talking specifically about scheme and blitzes. The Seahawks will have absolutely no idea where the blitz is coming from or what player to zone in on in certain packages. Blitzes could come from the outside or the inside. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman could line up outside, with the normal outside backers lining up inside. Still, where is the blitz going to come from?

The offense is in the same boat. The 49ers did not run any version of Jim Harbaugh's hybrid west coast offense. They were extremely vanilla and to point when it came to play selection this preseason.

This aspect of the game should be one of the primary reasons San Francisco will run away against Seattle on Sunday.  

1. Talent Wins and the 49ers Have Much More of It

I have received a lot of slack in my national articles about the fact that I think the 49ers have the most talent in the NFC West. Still, the criticism isn't going to change my opinion. 

Simply put, they are still the most talented team in the division. 

The 49ers don't have to beat the other three NFC West teams this week. Instead, they just have to beat the weakest team in the division at home. 

Granted, Seattle did win the division last season and upset New Orleans in the playoffs. But I doubt anyone seriously believed that they were a playoff team. 

While it appears that San Francisco has improved in the secondary, at receiver and along the offensive line. Seattle really hasn't improved at all. 

Tarvaris Jackson is by no means an upgrade over Matt Hasslebeck. In fact, he may be the worse non-rookie starting quarterback in the entire conference. This is one game where I can honestly say the 49ers have the better quarterback, Alex Smith. 

The 49ers running backs, offensive line, defensive line, linebackers and secondary are all superior to the Seahawks. The only position that it is even close is wide receiver with Sidney Rice and Mike Williams. Still, Rice is questionable and may not play this weekend. 

You can talk about any other factor that leads you to believe San Francisco will win Sunday. But the overriding factor has to be talent alone. 

Final prediction: 49ers 31, Seahawks 13