San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks Thursday Night Football Betting Preview

Thursday Night Football will kick off the Week 15 NFL action for the week, and will do so with an intriguing NFC West matchup. The San Francisco 49ers will visit the Seattle Seahawks in a huge game in the NFC West.

San Francisco enters this game at the top of the division standings, and as a favorite, but their quarterback situation could play a role in the outcome.

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San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers sit at the top of the NFC West by two games going into Week 15, boasting a 9-4 record. However, they could see their lead in the division get cut in half if they lose on Thursday night to the Seattle Seahawks.

This game will be a huge road test for the Niners, and specifically for rookie quarterback Brock Purdy, who is making his first road start as a professional quarterback.

Purdy has led the Niners to two straight wins since taking over as the team’s quarterback after Jimmy Garoppolo suffered an injury against the Miami Dolphins. However, those two games were at home and the 49ers defense had his back in a big way in both matchups. 

Here, against a division rival on the road, we could see a lesser version of Purdy in what will surely be a hostile environment.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are two games behind the San Francisco 49ers coming into this week’s action. Seattle needs a win in this game, not just for the NFC West title race, but for their chances to make the playoffs as a Wild Card team if they do not win the division. 

To get a win here, the Seahawks will need to overcome one of the top defenses in the NFL this year.

San Francisco ranks first in the NFL in scoring defense, which will pose a huge challenge for Geno Smith. Smith has been great at covering the spread in primetime games in his career, but has struggled winning those games outright.

Here, Smith and the Seahawks will look to win outright as an underdog in order to move the Seahawks to within a game of first place in the NFC West with three weeks to go in the regular season.

Keys To The Game

The number one key to this game for the 49ers will be their running game. Getting Christian McCaffrey going on the ground will help to set up play action passes and make things as easy as possible for Purdy in his first road start. Expect San Francisco to prioritize that facet of their offense early in the game.

Meanwhile, the biggest key to this game for the Seattle Seahawks will be protecting Geno Smith. The nature of the Seahawks offense is to move the ball down the field vertically using their two top weapons, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.

That requires time to let those routes develop, and the Seahawks will not have any sort of chance to win this game if they do not give Smith as much time as he needs to get deep throws off.