LA Rams at Seattle Seahawks Pick

Outlook for Thursday Night Kickoff

The Rams suffered their first loss of the season in their last game, losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 55-40. Not only did they give up 55 points after only giving up 22 points in their previous two games, but the loss was at home. Last season the Rams won both games against the Seahawks, where each was a close and high scoring affair.

The Seahawks are coming off a 27-10 win over the winless Arizona Cardinals. They are at 3-1, but their three wins have come facing teams that have a combined one win between them, and they lost their last home game. Seattle has played good defense on the season ranking 8th in the league in that category, but in their three wins, they have not faced a team that ranks higher than 22nd in the league in overall offense.

After four games the NFC West has the Rams and Seahawks at 3-1 and the 3-0 49ers, who had a bye last week and face the Rams next week.

How the Public is Betting the Rams/Seahawks Game

The public has backed the Seahawks in this game, as they opened as 2.5-point underdogs, and as of Tuesday morning are two-point favorites. The total opened at 49 for this NFC West matchup and now is posted at 47.5.

Injury Concerns

Rams:

The Rams have been fortunate in the young season with not many injuries, and for this game, S Taylor Rapp and LB Bryce Hager are listed as questionable.

Seahawks:

The Seahawks already have quite a few players on IR and G Ethan Pocic, DT Quinton Jefferson, T Duane Brown, G Mike Iupati, WR Nick Williams, and G JP Flynn are all listed as questionable.

When the Rams Have the Ball

The Rams will try for a balanced attack on offense, and the team hopes Todd Gurley can get on track. He only has 217 rushing yards on the season, and in the loss, to Tampa Bay in the last game, he did have two rushing TD and 54 receiving yards but only rushed for 16 yards averaging 3.2 yards per carry. After Gurley rushed for 97 yards in the season opener, he has rushed for 122 yards in his last three games, failing to average over four yards per carry in any of them and last season in the two games facing the Seahawks he rushed for 199 yards. In the previous match, Jared Goff threw for 517 yards with two TD, but he was responsible for all four turnovers the Rams had in three interceptions and a fumble that was returned for a TD. The WR duo of Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods each have at least 307 receiving yards this season, and in the loss, to Tampa Bay, they combined for 285 receiving yards.

When the Seahawks Have the Ball

Russell Wilson has played well so far on the season leading the Seahawks, and he has not had an interception. In the win over the Cardinals in the last game, he passed for 240 yards with a TD, and Chris Carson had his best game so far rushing for 104 yards averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Seattle has not lit up the scoreboard, but their offense has been balanced ranking 11th in the league in passing yards per game and 16th in rushing yards per game, and the team has scored at least 21 points in all four games this season. Protecting Wilson and opening up holes for the run game will be crucial for Seattle in this game, and they have two starting offensive lineman that are listed as questionable. The Seahawks will be facing a Rams’ defense that has played solid against the run this season, and while ranking a respectable 15th in the league in pass defense, they gave up 376 passing yards in the loss to Tampa Bay last week.

Betting Trends

The Rams got the point spread cover in their first three games of the season before failing to do so in the loss to the Buccaneers. The Seahawks are 2-2 ATS this season, failing to get the cover in both home games. LA is 7-2 ATS in their last four games and is 4-0 ATS in their previous four road games. Over the years, Thursday night games have been better bets for the Seahawks, who are 7-0-2 ATS in their last nine games on that day while the Rams are only 1-5 ATS in their last six Thursday games. The Seahawks have covered the spread in four of their last five games facing the Rams and have covered in nine of their last 12 games facing them at home. While the total for last season’s game between these division rivals in Seattle went Over in the previous seven games between the team there, the Under record is 5-2.

Weather Report

The forecast for Thursday has a high of 59 degrees and a low of 49 degrees, and it will be nearer the cooler side with an evening kickoff. There will be considerable cloudiness with a 50% chance of rain and wind of 10-15 MPH from the south and southwest.