Los Angeles Rams vs Seattle Seahawks: Will we see another thriller?

Playoff hunt

Rams managed to bounce back nicely, after that humiliating loss in Baltimore two weeks ago. They defeated the Cardinals in Arizona 34-7 with a performance that resembled their play from the Superbowl run last year. They fed the ball to Todd Gurley who ran for almost 100 yards in that game. And when they are successful on the ground, play-action pass follows and that is one of the cornerstones of their entire offense. Jared Goff had one of the best games this year, eclipsing 400 yards, throwing for two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Their position in the playoff hunt is not great, but they're not completely out of it yet. They are one game behind Minnesota, thanks to Seattle who managed to hold them to 8 wins last week when those two teams met at CenturyLink Stadium. The first game between these two teams back in week 5 was a thriller right down to very end. One of the best kickers in the game, Greg Zuerlein, missed a field goal with no time left on the clock inside 45 yards and the Seahawks held onto their 1-point lead to win the game.

MVP

Looking at the injury report, Seattle is in a much worse situation. Their defensive front could be severely weakened with players like Ezekiel Ansah, Jadeveon Clowney and Mychal Kendricks questionable for this game. Getting that pass rush upfield and not give Jared Goff enough time to scan the field is crucial, especially against play-action. On the other side, Rams only have right tackle Rob Havenstein questionable.

The defense isn't the strength of this Seattle team anyway. They are betting everything they have on Russell Wilson this season and he is being a profitable bet, producing one MVP-ish performance after another. If the Rams want to win this one, they need to find a way to slow him down. I'm not sure if they can do it with their defense, but the Vikings were kinda heading into the right direction with heavy usage of the running back, in an attempt to control the clock and the tempo of the game. Todd Gurley can probably do it as well as Dalvin Cook, both as a runner and a receiver out of the backfield, but they need to commit to it.

Rams vs Seahawks best bet

But in the end, I'm not going to overthink this one. We are getting an MVP candidate on one side (Wilson) and a underperforming QB on the other (Goff), at pretty much even money. Rams don't really have a big home-field advantage, so I'm seeing some value with the visiting team in this spot. With Peters and Talib traded away, this Rams secondary is not as good as it was last year and can't keep up with Wilson and his Lockett-Gordon-Metcalf trident. Also, they were steamrolled by Baltimore on the ground couple weeks ago and the Seahawks have a workhorse in Chris Carson that can do a lot of damage running the ball.