The benefit to Saturday game for Seattle Seahawks, 49ers

The NFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC are on the line when the Seattle Seahawks face the rival San Francisco 49ers in Week 18, and it’s happening on Saturday night.

Time and TV set for Seahawks’ huge Week 18 showdown vs. 49ers

After Week 17’s Sunday slate of games, the NFL revealed the Seahawks and Niners would fill the primetime window for Saturday and play at 5 p.m. rather than play on Sunday night. Instead, the primetime slot and final game of the regular season on Sunday went to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, who are facing off with the AFC North title at stake.

The initial reaction for many Seahawks fans was disappointment about the Seattle-San Francisco game not being placed in the primetime window Sunday. After all, the Seahawks and 49ers both have double-digit wins and are playing for the No. 1 seed, while neither the Steelers or Ravens have 10 wins and they are playing for the AFC’s No. 4 seed.

Playoff Update: What’s on the line in Seahawks-49ers

The Seahawks and Niners not being the last game of the final week may feel like a bit of a slight to the West Coast teams, but Mike Salk thinks it’s the perfect set up for both squads. He explained why Monday morning during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“I love the late Saturday night game. It’s fun. It’s awesome. You get into the game,” Salk said. “From a user and viewer perspective, Saturday night (in) primetime, especially on the West Coast when it’s at 5 o’clock, is one of the great football playoff-style windows you can have.”

How both teams benefit

Saturday figures to drastically alter both teams’ Super Bowl hopes. The winner will get a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The loser will become a wild-card team and be tasked with a road game in the first round despite having a better record than whatever division winner they face.

Salk pointed out that having the Seahawks and Niners play on Saturday night gives the loser a small advantage for their first-round playoff game, which they deserve for having a better regular season than whoever their opponent will be.

“I do think that the NFL’s looking at it and saying whoever loses this game is going to be a five or six seed who’s going to go on the road in the first round with a better record than the team they’re playing against, especially if they end up going to either Tampa or Carolina,” Salk said. “But regardless, they would have to go to Tampa, Carolina, or Philly. They’d have to travel 3,000 miles across the country and then play on the road despite having 12 or 13 wins.

“The loser of this game, yeah, they deserve an extra day off heading into that much more so than heading into this game against each other. This makes it fair. I think it’s exactly the right thing to do. I have no problems whatsoever.”

Advantages and disadvantages

Former NFL QB Brock Huard pointed out that one disadvantage for the Seahawks is that they had to fly back from the East Coast after Sunday’s win over Carolina and now have one less day to recover for a road trip to San Francisco. However, the 49ers will also be going on six days rest and will be playing their third game in 13 days. It will be the third game in 17 days for Seattle.

Huard also noted the impact the shorter rest time will have on injured players trying to recover in time for the game. He believes that could be an advantage for the Seahawks. Twelve-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams injured his hamstring during San Francisco’s win over Chicago on Sunday night, and five-time All-Pro tight end George Kittle is dealing with an ankle injury that kept him out of the game.

“The positive is Trent Williams comes off a hamstring injury and he’s got one less day. George Kittle coming off his ankle injury and he didn’t play last night, he’s got one less day. (San Francisco coach Kyle) Shanahan gets one less day to kind of prep and figure out this defense and how he’s going to play in and prepare for that,” Huard said.

That also means Seahawks starting left tackle Charles Cross and wide receiver/return man Rashid Shaheed will have one less day to recover from their injuries. Cross has missed the past two games games with a hamstring injury, and Shaheed suffered a concussion in Sunday’s win over Carolina.

“Both sides get some of that, but those injuries for San Fran are pretty real and some of their most impactful players,” Huard said.

Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

The benefit to Saturday game for Seattle Seahawks, 49ers

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