–Playing with their third quarterback this season, the 49ers will start former Southern Miss standout Nick Mullens for a fourth straight game on Sunday. Though he’s cooled off quite a bit since throwing three touchdowns in his NFL debut against the Raiders, head coach Pete Carroll has been impressed with how Shanahan has utilized the undrafted signal-caller in his offense.
“He’s been efficient. He gets the ball out. They move him a lot in the play-action game. If you look at it, it’s been hard to get to him. He’s only been sacked four times in about 100 throws – he’s done a real nice job there,” Carroll said while evaluating Mullens. “He makes quick decisions, that’s why he’s getting rid of the football well. They’ve mixed him in to match up with the running game quite well.”
Shanahan has done a masterful job protecting Mullens in his three starts by emphasizing the run game with Matt Breida and Alfred Morris. However, the young quarterback has gone through some challenging growing pains over the past two weeks, throwing four interceptions against the Giants and Buccaneers. If Seattle can find a way to get pressure in his face, there should be plenty of opportunities to generate turnovers.
–After being held to only 75 rushing yards by the Panthers last week, the Seahawks want to get back to running the football effectively. But the 49ers might not be the best opponent to make that happen, as they rank 10th in the NFL in overall run defense.
Carroll credited defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who formerly worked as an assistant for the Seahawks, as the primary reason for this success.
“It’s always important for us to run it and hopefully we can do a good job,” Carroll stated. “If you look at their (49ers) stats, you’ll see they’re giving up a hundred yards a game rushing which is really good and really solid. Saleh is doing a good job with those guys on defense.”
Though the 49ers pass rush has been inconsistent, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has been a force against the run with 10 tackles for loss this season. San Francisco has also received a major boost from rookie linebacker Fred Warner, who leads the team with 84 tackles and helped ease the front office’s decision to release troubled linebacker Reuben Foster.
–The 49ers lack weapons on the offensive side of the football, but running back Matt Breida has emerged as a star despite the team’s horrible record and instability at quarterback. Previously signed as an undrafted free agent out of Georgia Southern, the second-year back has rushed for 738 yards so far this season and ranks second among qualified rushers with 5.8 yards per carry.
As one of the lone bright spots on an ineffective offense, linebacker Bobby Wagner has taken notice of Breida and believes he will present plenty of challenges for the Seahawks heading into this divisional tilt.
“He’s really fast and he likes to get on the edge. Our edge is definitely going to be tested,” Wagner said when asked about Breida’s impact. “They’re going to try to run outside. They have a lot of good runs to complement (and) have us thinking it’s going to be an outside run and then it cuts back. It’s definitely going to be a discipline game.”
Seattle hasn’t had much luck slowing down opposing running games over the past month, giving up 577 rushing yards over the team’s last four games, including 220 yards on the ground to the Panthers last weekend. If there’s an area where the 49ers can exploit the Seahawks offensively, it’s through Breida and the run game.
BY THE NUMBERS: 5.6 – Yards per carry surrendered by the Seahawks on first-down runs, dead last among all 32 NFL teams.