Seahawks vs. Rams 2013 game preview: Seattle ready for bright lights
Seattle will look to keep rolling in the NFC West with a win in primetime.
The St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks will meet on Monday night at the Edwards Jones Dome, seemingly headed in opposite directions.
St. Louis is 3-4, but things feel much worse than that after quarterback Sam Bradford tore his ACL, putting him out for the rest of the season. Without Bradford, St. Louis has to rely on Kellen Clemens and newly-signed Brady Quinn to keep this team competitive. On Thursday, a story came to light about the Rams calling Brett Favre to try and coax him out of retirement, but nothing came of it as Favre declined.
The Seahawks are in a totally different position. At 6-1, Seattle leads the NFC West by a game over the San Francisco 49ers who the Seahawks already beat 29-3 back in Week 2. The team is relatively healthy and has a stretch of games coming up where it can make hay, playing the next four games against below .500 teams.
Meet the Seahawks
Seattle is very much an old-school type of team. Despite having a strong-armed quarterback in Russell Wilson, the Seahawks tend to keep the ball on the ground in the hands of running back Marshawn Lynch. The former first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills is having another fine season, rushing for 578 yards on 4.2 yards per carry.
Wilson is having a solid campaign, albeit nothing flashy. The second-year man out of Wisconsin has tossed 11 touchdowns against only four interceptions with 1,489 yards to his credit. One problem however has been the amount of hits he is taking. Seattle has already allowed 20 sacks, tied for the ninth-highest mark in the NFL.
Defensively, Seattle is one of the best units around. Led by a nasty secondary, the Seahawks are very tough to throw the ball on, ranking fourth in passing yard allowed. Overall, the defense comes in third in points per game allowed at 16.6, only trailing the Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers.
Meet the Rams
St. Louis is in a bad way right now watching Bradford go down with a torn ACL. The offense was already very inconsistent with Brian Schottenheimer at times being very cautious and predictable with the play-calling. Now you have to wonder does he go into a complete shell with a less experienced quarterback?
The Rams rank 30th in yards per game with 298.7, only better than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars, who are both winless. St. Louis especially has issues rushing, picking up 70.6 yards per game to come in 29th in the league. However, Zac Stacy did show promise against a tough Carolina defense last week, gaining 53 rushing yards on 17 carries and 34 receiving yards.
On the other side of the ball, St. Louis has some serious athletes in men like Robert Quinn and Chris Long. Quinn is leading the NFC with seven sacks. Rookie Alec Ogletree has also made a huge impact, amassing 51 tackles, second on the team only to James Laurinaitis.
Local take: Seattle
Over at Field Gulls, Joshua Kasparek writes about the dominance of last week’s win for Seattle:
It’s hard to give this to any one man on the defense this week so I’m going to take the easy way out and give it to the D-line as a whole.
Whether it was the expert execution of a stunt or the man to man beat down in the running game, the Seahawks D-line unloaded its A-game on the road for the first time this year and I would only expect it to get even better.
Local take: St. Louis
Ryan Van Bibber of Turf Show Times writes about the Rams’ offer to Favre, and what could have been:
Had Favre taken them up on the offer, he wouldn't have been the first 44-year old signal caller working in the NFL. Vinny Testaverde started six games for the Panthers in 2007 at 44. He had a 65.8 quarterback rating. A more appropriate comparison for the Rams situation would be Steve DeBerg. He retired at the tender age of 39 in 1993, but returned to the league five years later, in 1998, as a backup with the Atlanta Falcons. He played in eight games, starting one. He threw three touchdowns and one interception, completing just over 50 percent of his passes. He did not return in 1999.
Follow the fun
Be sure to check out SB Nation’s team blogs, Field Gulls and Turf Show Times, for more analysis and highlights from the game.
Add these fine follows to your Twitter timeline:
#NFL Picks, Week 8: It's Date Night! via @MyHawkSoFly http://t.co/C8NFmfdUZl
— Danny sKellyton (@FieldGulls) October 24, 2013
The Rams should've asked Favre if could be a D coordinator. Couldn't be much worse than Tim Walton
— TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) October 24, 2013
Prediction
Seattle is simply a much better team. If Bradford was playing I would at least feel like St. Louis had a fighting chance, but I can’t see Clemens or Quinn taking down the mighty Seahawks. The Rams have a good defense and should keep this thing from getting really ugly, but winning is an entirely different deal. Look for Seattle to keep on trucking.
Pick: Seattle 24, St. Louis 6
Odds
The Seahawks are favored by 11.5 points on the road over St. Louis, according to Oddsshark.com.
Next week
The Rams play host to the Tennessee Titans while Seattle goes home to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
More from SB Nation NFL
See More:
