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Seahawks prepare for NFC West showdown against undefeated 49ers

Russell Wilson #3 of the Seattle Seahawks is rushed by Ronald Blair #98 of the San Francisco 49ers during their NFL game at Levi's Stadium on December 16, 2018 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images)

SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks will look to knock off the undefeated San Francisco 49ers with a win on the road on Monday Night Football.

The Seahawks are coming off a dramatic 40-34 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Russell Wilson threw five touchdowns, Tyler Lockett had a career-best receiving game and the Seahawks overcame a 21-7 deficit in the win.

Wilson now has an NFL-best 118.2 quarterback rating and has thrown 22 touchdowns to only one interception.

Monday's game will mark the second nationally televised game for the Seahawks this season. Their first was a 30-29 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football.

Since Pete Carroll took over as head coach in 2010, the Seahawks have the best record in the NFL in primetime games, at 27-5-1.

The Seahawks also have an NFL-best 24-10 all-time record on Monday Night Football and are 8-2 under Carroll.

On the other side, the first-place, 8-0 49ers are the lone undefeated team in the NFL.

The 49ers are coming off a 28-25 road victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football.

San Francisco is led by its defense, allowing a league-best 241 yards per game.

The 49ers also have the second-best rushing offense in the NFL, with an average of 171.1 yards per game.

The Seahawks lead the all-time series against the 49ers 25-16. Monday's game begins at 5:15 p.m. and you can watch it on KIRO 7.

Here are Raible's three keys to victory for the Seahawks on Monday:

Key #1: Crank it up 

It certainly has not been the Seahawks' defense that we're used to seeing.

The Hawks are giving up over 380 yards per game -- good for 25th in the League --  are 28th against the pass and are allowing more than 25 points per game.

That might not be such a big concern except this year's 49ers are a top 10 offense with the second best rushing game in the league.

We hear Bobby Wagner talk about consistency and tryst on defense. Two words that come to mind are: seek and destroy and it better start Monday night.

Key #2: Protect Protect Protect 

Seattle has these words in bold in their offensive game plan this week because they're facing the best in the league.

The Niners have the top rated defense in the NFL and are number one against the pass giving up just 138 yards per game.

Their secondary, including former Legion of Boom founding member Richard Sherman, is good. Their front four is even better.

They're tops at pressuring opposing quarterbacks. They've had five strait games with three or more sacks and every member of the front four has at least 4 sacks.

By comparison, no Seahawks defender has more than 3.

Russell needs at least "a little" time to throw. Protection on Monday will be key.

Key #3: T.O.P 

This one has to do with Time of Possession.

If you're an explosive scoring team like Seattle it's not always a stat that's in your favor, but this week it could be huge against the Niners.

The longer the Hawks have the ball, the fewer chances the niners have to score.

In short, this game needs to be "run early and often" and successfully..

If there's any weakness in the niners defense it could be their run defense. They're giving up over 100 yards and their last five opponents each rushed for over 100 yards.

Their pass rush is special with 30 sacks as a team, but this game has Chris Carson's name written all over it. Carson is on pace to a 1,200 yard rushing season and the niners' best run stopper, Kwon Alexander, is out for the year.

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