As we head into Sunday's 49ers-Seahawks game, I was hoping to put together a prediction post for individual stats for the game. Maybe have everybody post their predictions for Alex Smith, Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Braylon Edwards and Michael Crabtre, among others. We've been listening to what the coaches have to say and trying to anticipate the plans for Sunday and it might be fun to have everybody throw out their best guesses on the skill position players.
And then it occurred to me: they really would be nothing more than wild shot-in-the-dark guesses at this point. It's always a high level of speculation when we make predictions, but it occurred to me that it would be even more so this particular Sunday. While we have some basic clues as to the offensive plan, we really don't know all that much about what to expect on Sunday.
This comes in part from the shortened amount of preparation time and also just having the new coaching staff. Coach Harbaugh has kept things tight-lipped in practice and relatively vanilla in the games. I think we have an idea of some things to expect, but not things still remain unpredictable.
The other tricky factor is the fact that this is the Seattle Seahawks. Whatever you may think about their coach, Tarvaris Jackson, or really any of their personnel, divisional games in the NFC West often end up being tricky affairs. We saw a pair of lopsided affairs last season and things have been fairly back and forth in previous years. Combine that with the new coaching staff and I'm really not sure what to predict.
While I will ALWAYS predict 49ers victory in our prediction contest, individual statistical performances are so much more difficult. Does anybody dare make predictions? I'll throw out a line of predictions that have no basis in much sense of reality.
Alex Smith: 19/29, 234 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception
Frank Gore: 135 rushing yards, 1 touchdown
Vernon Davis: 4 rec, 60 yards yards, 1 touchdown
Braylon Edwards: 3 rec, 52 yards, 1 touchdown
Michael Crabtree: 5 rec, 65 yards
Feel free to make further predictions of guys like Ted Ginn, Josh Morgan and others. If you want to mix in some defensive predictions as well, that works too. Go to town.