At Football Outsiders, we do a running take of each Sunday's action entitled Audibles at the Line. In the 2008 debut, we once again refer to the opening as "National Jump to Conclusions Week," so irresistible is the temptation to stake radical emotion in that first game of real football. But emotion and analysis make strange bedfellows. Writer William Goldman is famed for noting, "Nobody knows anything." He could have been talking about Week 1.

Our team stats are out for the first week, but there's no DVOA yet. Why? Because the "D" stands for Defensive, and there are no opponent adjustments yet. Therefore, VOA (the "Classic Coke" of our numbers) gets a workout for a few weeks. We also use a complementary stat early in the season called DAVE (DVOA Adjusted for Variation Early). This formula combines VOA and the FO preseason projections. As of this week, DAVE consists of 90 percent projection, 10 percent 2008 data. This number will even up and roll down as the season goes on and the numbers are more representative of a larger and more reliable sample size. As such, we'll be using it through at least the next few weeks to balance things out.

So, because of the need for a truly accurate read on representative stats, we're stuck in a bit of a Twilight Zone between this year and last, with new players and coaches providing the variables. For the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle's Week 2 opponent, the biggest variable sits in the coaches' box.

49ers offense vs. Seattle defense

2007

2008

Why the 2007 Detroit offense? It was the offense run last year by new Niners offensive coordinator Mike Martz, the former Rams offensive genius so familiar to Seahawks fans. Under Martz, the Lions went silly with the spread formations, running the four-wide, single-back shotgun 175 times -- a full 25 percent of their offensive plays. Only the Jets did it more often. The Patriots ran shotgun over 70 percent of the time in 2007, but they'd leave a tight end to block and go with more typical protections most of the time.

Martz has no compunction about eliminating backside protection, and his tendency is to view the standard tight end as somewhere between irrelevant and nonexistent. As a result, the 2007 Lions were a sack-prone squad. Jon Kitna suffered 51 takedowns, the most in the NFL. It's too early to illustrate trends, but new 49ers quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan was sacked four times in his debut this year. There are no excuses for Seattle's pass rushing defenders in this game -- they were negated in Buffalo despite the absence of Jason Peters, the Qwest opening vibe will provide all the ancillary assistance anyone could ever need, and Rocky Bernard's been let out of the time-out chair. If the Seahawks don't at least match the pressure put by Arizona on O'Sullivan in Week 1, they're in real trouble.

Because Seattle's quarterback is going to be under siege.

2007

2008

The 49ers run a hybrid 3-4/4-3 with its roots in the Baltimore defenses coordinated by 49ers head Mike Nolan from 2002 through 2004. The "hybrid" in this case is the linebacker/end who will come up to the line and provide run support and pass rush -- in Baltimore's system, Terrell Suggs is the prototype.

The left side of San Francisco's front seven is especially strong when former Bengals end Justin Smith and third-year linebacker Parys Haralson wreak havoc on unsuspecting right tackles. Haralson had 2.5 sacks against the Cardinals (playing left and right edge), and as anyone who watched Seattle's offensive line against the Bills knows, the Seahawks will struggle in pass protection pretty much anywhere Walter Jones isn't. Jones will be dealing with Manny Lawson peeling off the right side. Lawson missed all but the first two games of the 2007 season with a torn ACL after a very solid rookie year, and the team hopes his return is the dynamic element missing from the defense in 2007.

That right side offensive line will be manned by right guard Pork Chop Womack and right tackle Ray Willis. Willis played decently in Buffalo given his lack of experience, but he won't be well-served by Womack's relative lack of agility. Hasselbeck was sacked five times in the opener, and somebody has better keep Lawson, Haralson and Smith out of his face.

How will the game go?

Let's see … a Game 2 matchup for an injury-riddled team, up against a divisional opponent with a new quarterback, new offense, and a resurgent pass rush. Yeah, that'll be easy to scout! And really, that's the potential upender here. We know that the 49ers aren't a particularly effective team -- at least not yet, or they would have stood a chance against the Cardinals. Running back Frank Gore leads the team in rushing and receiving, which tells you a little bit about their receivers. From a wideout perspective, this may the one of the least exciting games of the modern era.

The wild cards

Martz's new system, not having a book on O'Sullivan, whether the 49ers will use Vernon Davis as the big receiver mistakenly labeled "tight end" in spread-style offenses, and a newly dangerous pass rush.

The answers

Blindside pass rush can defeat four-wide sets, empty the cannons of unscouted quarterbacks, and leave talented targets with little to do. To put it simply, this game belongs to the edge rushers. Patrick Kerney and Lawrence Jackson must be able to get consistent pressure relatively unaided by blitzes. If the Seahawks have to sell out run contain by their linebackers, Frank Gore will have yet another great day against this defense.

The Seahawks have the most undefined offense of the Holmgren era (which is a misnomer -- this kind of offense is Ruskell all the way), which makes this all the more important.

The front seven that wins the battle will have the game in hand.