Each week KIRO 7 Sports Director Chris Francis previews the Seahawks matchup with his Steps to Victory. These are featured on the weekly Scouting Report which airs Saturday at 730 p.m. After a couple of weeks of Thursday games, in Week 14, the Seahawks are fighting to stave off a long losing streak against some of the best teams in the NFC. As head coach of the Hawks Pete Carroll has never had a four game losing streak. It could happen this weekend. In order to avoid that, here are the Seahawks’ Steps to Victory in San Francisco.
- Step number one: Break the Cycle against those big bad 49ers who have mauled the Seahawks the last four times they’ve played. The combined score in those games 120-56. Yikes. After the loss on Thanksgiving, the guys said, “We need to take it personal. We can’t let them push us around.. no time like the present.” Easier said than done of course, and both lines have been the difference in this series. The Seahawks spent big money, drafted and revamped their D line to compete with the boys from the Bay, but so far it hasn’t paid dividends.
- So, step number two: Shorthanded or not they will need to Challenge the Bully in the trenches. As mentioned, it’s not an even matchup. The Niners are bigger and stronger on both offensive and defensive lines. The addition of Abe Lucas will help on offense, Leonard Williams may help on D but realistically they’ll need to be perfect with technique and scheme. With a week of preparation (as opposed to three days before the Thanksgiving matchup), there are things the coaches can implement to combat the physical mismatches. Let’s hope they get that done.
- And Step number three: Clone Dallas Geno. Running the Hawks offense the quarterback looked every bit the Comeback Player of the Year for most of the game. He got the ball out insanely quick against a great rush. He found his best receivers and worked the ball around. Not sure why it took 13 weeks to develop that style but he was getting it out so fast it even had the Cowboys talking post-game, it was something they had not seen on tape. Yes, the INT and the 4th downs to end the game hurt but they’ll need to clone the first three quarters Geno to win Sunday.
All right, there you go, the Seahawks Steps to Victory for Week 14 at San Francisco.