Seattle Seahawks Vs. Los Angeles Rams Preview, Odds: Rams Fight For Playoff Hopes, Seattle Rides 5-Game Streak
Last year’s NFC champion Los Angeles Rams face the possibility of missing the playoffs altogether, unless they can win their final four games of the 2019 season. Unfortunately for the Rams, their first assignment in that sequence of games is a tough one, as the 10-2 Seattle Seahawks roll into the L.A. Memorial Coliseum on a five-game winning streak — including a win over the previously undefeated San Francisco 49ers in Week 10.
The matchup gets the benefit of a national telecast, on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. It features an intriguing quarterback matchup of the Rams’ Jared Goff, who was the top overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft, and Seattle’s Russell Wilson, a leading MVP candidate this season.
Wilson’s NFL-leading 26 touchdown passes have propelled the Seahawks to an average of 27.4 points per game, good enough for 5th in the NFL, according to Pro Football Reference. But perhaps more significantly, Wilson also leads the league in game-winning, fourth-quarter comeback drives, with five in 12 games.
That stat could come into play, given that the first time these two teams met — in Seattle back in Week 5 — the Seahawks squeezed out a one-point, 30-29 win, but only thanks to a missed 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds on the clock by Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein.
Watch a preview of the Seahawks-Rams Sunday Night Football showdown, courtesy of Good Morning Football, in the video below.
https://youtu.be/1u4MZvpeUuM
The Rams’ home field advantage likely accounts for the fact that, despite opening the week favoring the Seahawks, the oddsmakers’ point spread on the game now favors the Rams by a slim 1 1/2 point spread, according to USA Today. The Seahawks are 6-1 against the spread while playing on the road this season. But in their last five matchups against NFC West opponents, including last season, the Rams have posted a 4-1 mark against the point spread.
Seattle now occupies the top spot in the NFC West by virtue of their victory over the 49ers, who also come into the weekend with a 10-2 record. San Francisco was in a tough battle against another 10-2 team, the New Orleans Saints, on Sunday.
If the 49ers end up on the losing end in the Big Easy, a Seattle win in Los Angeles gives the Seahawks uncontested sole possession of 1st place, relegates the ‘Niners to a Wild Card slot, and likely ends the Rams’ hopes of a postseason berth and possible return to the Super Bowl.
In a survey of NFL experts and prediction models by the site NFL Pick Watch, 59 percent of prognosticators see the game as a victory for Seattle, while 41 percent predict the Rams will win at home, and keep their playoff aspirations alive.
