Against the Spread Pick
Two 3-1 NFC West teams will square off here as the Seattle Seahawks host the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football. The Rams are coming off a shocking loss to the Buccaneers, while the Seahawks just trounced the Cardinals. I’m not impressed by Seattle’s strength of schedule so far this season, but I think they’ll be able to do enough to get a win here. The Rams clearly aren’t as good as they were last year, and defenses seem to have figured out how to play Jared Goff. Goff has regressed mightily, and defenses are taking away the deep ball and forcing him to read the middle of the field. Todd Gurley clearly isn’t healthy, and the Rams only gave him five carries this past week. Jameis Winston had been struggling through the first few weeks of the season, but he had no problem carving up the Rams’ secondary. As such, I’d expect Russell Wilson to have some success here as well. Seattle will have a raucous home crowd for a primetime game, and they’ll cover the spread.
Over Under Pick
I also like the under in this spot. Goff often struggles on the road, and this will be a particularly hostile environment in a nationally televised game. Gurley isn’t himself right now, so I don’t think the Rams will have much success on the ground either. Seattle on the other hand loves to run the ball, so expect them to play ball control here which will bleed a lot of clock. Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is pretty conservative, and he’s not looking to get involved in a shootout. I expect Sean McVay to scale back Los Angeles’ offense a bit as well with Goff sinking.
