Island Casino Monday Night football

When the people in charge of the Monday night football schedule made this game they most likely thought it would be a battle of a young up and coming team in the 49ers against a proven team in the Seahawks.  Instead, San Francisco has struggled to start the season, mainly due to injuries, but also maybe because they were a bit overrated to start the season.  Seattle is right at .500 but was expected to do better.  A lot of their non success can be attributed to their pro-bowl fullback retiring, and that one of the best running backs in the league over the last decade may be finally slowing down, Shaun Alexander. 

San Francisco fans are hoping that Frank Gore can return after sitting out a 20-16 loss to Atlanta, in Atlanta, last week.  Gore was off to a decent start, rushing for 435 yards on four yards per carry and three touchdowns.  If Gore is unable to return to the lineup then the job will be taken over by two separate running backs, Michael Robinson and Maurice Hicks.  Combined they ran for 116 yards in the Falcons loss.  Third year quarterback Alex Smith is also battling the injury bug, and in the process, struggling through another season.  His 57.6 passer rating is among the worst for NFL starters.  He has passed for over 200 yards only once this season.  Smith started off decent, taking the team to a 2-0 start, but as their record indicates they have been unable to get a win since then, despite coming close against Baltimore and Atlanta. 

Shaun Alexander is having his worst season of his career, finding the end zone only twice in eight games.  In this past weeks 33-30 OT loss to the upstart Browns he carried the bowl 14 times for only 32 yards.  He has been only able to average 3.3 yards per carry, far below his normal average.  It’s getting so bad for Alexander that he is now close to becoming the second option behind running back Maurice Morris.  Still playing fairly well at the quarterback position is Matt Hasselbeck.  Hasselback has a completion percentage of over 61 percent and has thrown for 13 touchdowns with seven interceptions.  He has put up better numbers than that for his career, but right now he is the most reliable player on the squad.  The overall most concerning factor in all of this is that the Seahawks are unable to find a way to win games they would have won in years past.  They have two three point losses, to Arizona, and of course the Browns.  The Seahawks will most likely still wind up in the playoffs because they are in the NFC West, and because they are the only team with a .500 record, they are in first place.

I think the Seahawks can win this one.  They will be at their friendly confines of home, and are looking to bounce back from their narrow loss in Cleveland.  Smith, for the 49ers, has struggled mightily as of late, and I don’t expect it to get any better on the large stage of “Monday Night Football.”  I’m taking the birds 30 to 13.