The San Francisco 49ers will face their NFC West nemesis, the Seattle Seahawks, for the second time in three weeks, and if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, they’ll do so following an emotional 42-19 victory over the NFC-leading Philadelphia Eagles. The 49ers’ victory streak now stands at four games, and while the team is on a run, they’re taking extra precautions to stay hungry for this postseason drive.
“You go through such high emotions, and last week being Philly, two days later you have to completely wash it and focus on the next game,” Fred Warner, a linebacker for the Eagles, said. “We know what happened the last time we beat an NFC East team pretty good, and obviously are aware of that.”
The 49ers last saw an NFC East opponent in Week 5, and what followed San Francisco’s 42-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys was a three-game losing streak heading into their Week 9 bye. Injuries played a significant factor in the team’s midseason struggles, but with playoff positioning on the line, the 49ers aren’t about to give up any ground to division rivals.
San Francisco led for the majority of their first encounter with Seattle, but they let them pick up pace in the third quarter, scoring ten points on back-to-back drives in less than eight minutes.
“I think people know from that experience how that felt, and I don’t think that’s why we played bad, but I don’t think it helped us,” he remarked. “There’s a fine line between two and five plays, and it looks like the game got out of hand.” It’s quite similar to the game against Seattle on Thursday night. That was a nail-biter. Fortunately, our defense held tough in that third-quarter rally, but that was right there and only a couple of plays, and it doesn’t seem close, but they’re always close.”
“In Seattle, we face a very tough opponent.” “Every time we play them, we know what they’re going to bring,” Warner said. “The score was the same as the last time we played them on Thanksgiving, but it’s always a close game from start to finish.”
“They’re going to bring back some guys who weren’t healthy the last time, and we have to make sure we’re dialed in and focused today.” Philly is done and dusted.”
Familiarity is also important in preparing for Week 14. This will be Shanahan’s 14th regular-season meeting with the Seahawks, and having seen them so many times in the last seven years adds an interesting dimension to the game plan.
“I think we both understand how our teams are going to be,” he remarked. “You don’t have to overcomplicate things too much, which I guess makes it easier when you don’t overcomplicate things, but it’s not as if either of us are easy to go against.” I know what we’ll get from them, and I believe they know what they’ll get from us.”
“You’re not going to surprise them too much, but you just have to keep finding ways to win,” defensive lineman Nick Bosa said. “They’re probably going to keep doing what they’ve been doing.” I’m sure they can look at the film and notice gaps, as well as see how well they ran against us, and have confidence heading into the game. But it will undoubtedly be a more difficult matchup this time.”
