In a Sunday Night Football game that contains plenty of intriguing story lines, here’s one that needs to be mentioned.
Last December, in the second-to-last game of the regular season, the Seahawks blew out the 49ers in Seattle on December 23rd. It was coach Jim Harbaugh’s 49th birthday.
Now, in the second game of the new regular season, the two teams get together again in Seattle. On Pete Carroll’s birthday.
And so Harbaugh and his 49ers have a chance to put the deuce in the 62 on Carroll’s cake.
Far more is at stake in this one than preventing Carroll from getting his birthday wish. But turning the tables for Harbaugh on Carroll will have extra meaning on Sunday night in Seattle.
A win for San Fran also would set the stage for a great 50th birthday present for Harbaugh. While hardly a knockout blow in Week Two, winning in Seattle with a rematch at Candlestick Park would give the 49ers a chance to pull off a sweep of the Seahawks, which in light of the head-to-head tiebreaker essentially becomes a three-game swing.