Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks Pick & Predictions
Los Angeles Rams (0-0 SU, 0-0 ATS) vs. Seattle Seahawks (0-0 SU, 0-0 ATS)
Week 1 NFL
Date/Time: Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 4:25PM EDT
Where: Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington
TV: Fox
Point Spread: LAR +5.5/SEA -5.5 (Bovada – Home of the web’s best live wagering site!)
Over/Under Total: 45.5
The Los Angeles Rams make the trip up to the Pacific Northwest for a week one NFC West battle with the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks surprised some by making the playoffs last season. Some good coaching and an unlikely career surge by QB Geno Smith combined for a good year, and with some growing young talent, they could be in good shape. Compare that to a Rams team that in one year’s time went from a Super Bowl winner to a doormat, coming off a 5-12 season fraught with frustration and defeat. Can Matthew Stafford and Company revive this team? This should be a good litmus test, going into familiar territory to take on a familiar foe.
Hope for the Rams
Even if you’re forecasting more of the same from the Rams this season, one must gauge them within different contexts. Even with Seattle on the rise and the Rams just trying to stop the bleeding last season, we saw the Rams hang in there well in both games, losing by three and four points in their two matchups. They’re still going to be tough in spots, especially within their division. And if you’re of the thinking that the Seattle’s recipe for success last season is something that can fairly easily be disrupted this year, that could combine to make the Rams look like a decent choice in this division matchup, getting a decent number of points.
The Rams added a little to their secondary, namely with the signing of Akhello Witherspoon. Rookie wideout Puka Nacua has been making waves and could be a nice option for Stafford. They drafted what might be a good edge rusher in Byron Young. And with a healthy Cooper Kupp, that’s a matchup issue that’s going to be trouble for a lot of people. And I’d expect a pretty pass-happy approach from the Rams this season. The issues are basically everything else on the field.
First off, that Rams’ offensive line is garbage, and even if Seattle’s defense isn’t what they once were, their pass-rush isn’t half bad. It’s hard to see the Rams generating a lot of success running behind what might be the worst line in the NFL, with Cam Akers leading the way and whoever else they have at their disposal in the backfield. Their avenues to success are basically reduced to the Stafford-to-Kupp connection and whatever they can get out of sporadic contributors like Van Jefferson and Tyler Higbee. As we saw last season, albeit without an injured Kupp, this Seattle defense can do pretty well against this LA offense. A bigger problem is the Rams’ defense, undergoing a mind-bending amount of turnover where Aaron Donald, Ernest Jones, and Derion Kendrick are the only familiar faces. I don’t question whether defensive coordinator Raheem Morris can get something extra from this bunch, but it’s going to be a daunting task with a cavalry of unproven pieces. Up-front, it’s basically Aaron Donald and a bunch of guys.
Seattle’s Routes to Victory
Even if you think Seattle will field another mid-pack defense this season, one would have to admit there is some life being shown on the other side of the ball. They will hope they can get similar from Geno Smith this season. With DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, he has good talent and might have more if first-rounder Jaxon Smith-Njigba (doubtful) delivers in his rookie season. Kenneth Walker showed his fangs in this Seattle backfield last season, but might have to share snaps with another exciting rookie in Zach Charbonnet. Granted, Seattle doesn’t have a dynamite offensive line. But they have brought themselves up to a more-respectable level in the last season or so and should be able to take it to a deficient Rams’ front and open things up for Walker and Charbonnet, thus clearing the path for a dangerous aerial game to take hold. Even without Smith-Njigba, Seattle will be wielding two 1000-yard receivers against an LA secondary that wasn’t good last season, even with Jalen Ramsey.
Matchup Issues for the Rams this Week
Stafford will be looking to throw the ball, and with corners Tarik Woolen and Michael Jackson, Seattle should be able to prevent things from getting too out of hand. If Seattle devotes a lot of energy to Kupp while doing the same to Aaron Donald on the other side of the ball, the Rams’ paths to success seem fairly minimal. The Rams are outmatched to a fairly high degree on both lines of scrimmage. Their run game is worse. They have the far most-talented receiver on the field in Cooper Kupp, along with a lot of guys who wouldn’t really be seeing a lot of snaps if they played for Seattle. And even if there was a smoke-and-mirrors vibe to Geno Smith’s success last season and you suspect a different Seattle offense for some reason in ’23, will a new-look Rams’ defense with such unproven talent be the ones who can bring that to life?
Lay the Number
This is far from a slam-dunk—a divisional game between teams where you might think you have a read on them, but might not. Even with everything lining up last season in a way a Seattle backer would like, the Seahawks still couldn’t really put the hurt on a Kupp-less Rams squad, despite winning both games. The Rams also have good coaching throughout the staff, and you can’t rule out that McVay and his staff come up with something to reverse fortunes. I just think they’ve allowed different facets of their team to sink to such depths that a home Seattle bunch playing with a lot of energy in front of a hopeful week one throng might just be a little out of their reach. I’ll take the Seahawks.
Loot’s Prediction to Cover the Point Spread: I’m betting on the Seattle Seahawks minus 5.5 points.
