After they have lost two consecutive games, it is critical the San Francisco 49ers’ fortunes that they end that mini-streak in the Monday nights game against the Washington Redskins (8:40 PM ET, ESPN).
That’s because it is no longer a matter of winning a division title or getting the home field advantage throughout the playoffs. It is about keeping pace with a division rival for the sixth and final playoff spot in the NFC.
In the pro football lines that have been posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, the Niners are laying points as the visiting team:
Pro Football Lines Courtesy Of BetAnySports
San Francisco 49ers -5.5
Washington Redskins +5.5
Over 47 Points -110
Under 47 Points -110
When you look at their statistics, these quarterbacks do not look very threatening. Robert Griffin III has thrown ten interceptions, which may not seem so bad unless you think about the fact that he threw only five of them all of last year. Needless to say, he has been affected by the knee injury that cut his rookie season short.
Colin Kaepernick is another guy who took the league by storm last year who has been humbled a bit this season. Kaepernick only has 335 rushing yards in ten games, so the 181 he had in the playoff win over Green Bay, which was only about ten months ago, is really a distant memory. Kaepernick has also thrown for just eleven touchdowns, and he has become a much easier proposition for opposing defensive coordinators to deal with. Only three of Kaepernick’s TD passes have gone to wide receivers. So as NFL bettors know, it is not exactly a team that will stretch opponents all the way down the field.
While Kaepernick does not have a multitude of weapons to turn to through the air, he does have someone he can rely on in the backfield. Frank Gore is averaging 4.3 yards per rush this season, and it’s a pretty good possibility for BetAnySports customers that the game plan is going to require that they establish him first.
Griffin has a similar problem, in that he does not have a lot of dangerous receivers to throw to. For him, however, it’s because they have been lost to injury (Leonard Hankerson, Jordan Reed), so there is a game plan that he may have preferred anyway but might be forced upon him. Like Kaepernick, though, he has a pretty good guy in the backfield, as Alfred Morris has averaged a robust 5.1 yards a carry.
Here’s the thing, though; teams like the Redskins and Niners, who really stress running the ball, also like to operate pass plays off of play action, and the ‘Skins are much more liable to let the opposition get “chunks” down the field. They have yielded an average of 8.5 yards per pass play, while the Niners have allowed just 6.4. That’s a difference that might MAKE the difference for those betting against the pro football lines on this game.
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