In their final game of the regular season, the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams do battle at CenturyLink Field in an NFC West Week 17 matchup. The NFL’s third-leading rusher, Lynch (1,246 yards, 12 TDs) is a player to watch in this contest. Seattle (11-4) goes into this contest hoping to continue its winning ways, while St. Louis (6-9) will be desperate to reverse fortune and pick up a much-needed win. The game starts at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday and can be seen on FOX.
The last meeting between the Seahawks and Rams came in Week 7 when Seattle suffered a narrow defeat against St. Louis 28-26. Wilson had a great outing through the air in that game, connecting on 23 of 36 pass attempts for 313 yards and two TDs. He also used his legs, running for 106 yards and a TD on seven attempts. Baldwin had a great game as well, adding 123 yards and a TD on seven receptions. Mason had an outstanding performance running the ball for St. Louis in that game, running it 18 times for 85 yards and one TD.
The Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is sitting at zero points and the Rams are a clear 13-point underdog. Sitting at 11-4 Straight Up (SU) and 9-6 Against The Spread (ATS), the Seahawks will look to improve as they head into Week 17. Seattle is undefeated SU and ATS in its last five games. Judging from past games this season, expect to see a heavy dose of the Seattle run game, which currently averages an NFL-best 175.3 rushing yards per game. Nobody can put up points against the Seahawks, who have the league’s best scoring defense with 16.5 points allowed per game. The Rams will have their hands full against the Seahawks defense, which gives up just 184.3 passing yards per game and is the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL. One of the keys to the game will be if the Seahawks can take advantage of the turnover-prone Rams, who rank 27th in the league in turnovers with 1.9 per road game. The Seahawks are one of the best in the league at scoring in the fourth quarter, averaging 7.6 points. Concentration could be a key factor in this week’s game. The Seahawks hope to profit off of St. Louis’s mental lapses, which contributes to a league-leading 80.9 penalty yards per road game.
As for their opponent, the Rams have a record of 7-8 ATS and 6-9 SU. The Rams went 2-3 SU and 3-2 ATS over the last five games. Offensively, the Rams have really picked up the pace in the last five games. They have exceeded their season average of 21.2 points per game by averaging 26 during that stretch. The Seahawks may want to check what’s in St. Louis’s coolers when they match up this week. The Rams are also playing better defense than they have all year, only allowing 15 PPG over their last five games, which is well under their season average of 22.3 points. Stopping the pass doesn’t have to be St. Louis’s first priority since the Seahawks aren’t putting up scary numbers through the air. Seattle ranks 31st in the league with a passing average of 173.7 yards per home game. When St. Louis’s defensive front gets going, they are basically unstoppable. This year, the Rams average 3.4 sacks per away game, good enough to lead the league. St. Louis has put in some strong special teams performances this season. The team has averaged 117.3 return yards per game, ranking them second in the NFL.
Predictions: SU Winner – SEA, ATS Winner – SEA, O/U – Under
Notes
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games.
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Seattle’s last 12 games at home.
Seattle is 23-2 SU in its last 25 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games when playing St. Louis.
Seattle is 16-3 SU in its last 19 games when playing St. Louis.
Seattle is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing St. Louis.
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against St. Louis.
St. Louis is 5-4 SU when leading at the half this season. Seattle is 8-0 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
St. Louis is a perfect 3-0 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle this season, and winless (0-5 SU) in games where it loses the turnover battle.
Over its last five games, the St. Louis defense is averaging 3.6 sacks per game, while the Seattle defense is averaging 4.0 sacks over its last five. St. Louis is only 1-5 SU this season when allowing at least 4 sacks while Seattle is actually 5-1 SU when giving up at least 3 sacks.
Since the start of last season, Seattle is 8-3 SU against NFC West opponents, while St. Louis is just 3-8 SU against division foes.
Seattle is rated higher in the ground game on both sides of the ball. Its first-ranked rushing attack will face the 14th-ranked run defense of St. Louis, while its third-ranked run defense will look to contain the 19th-ranked rushing game of the Rams.
