Seattle defense has enjoyed a complete turnaround
Over the last several seasons, it seems, the Seattle Seahawks have been discounted as a playoff contender at the start. And every year they manage to confound the critics. You have to give Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider a lot of credit. They make adjustments during the season, and add personnel as needed.
All of this has contributed to making the Seahawks the NFC West champions. And on Saturday they will begin their quest to get to the Super Bowl. The opponents are the Los Angeles Rams, and kickoff is at 4:40 PM ET at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
Remember that if you are a BetAnySports customer, you’ll get a better deal on the odds when you access reduced juice. And with Sports Betting Prime, you’ll be able to make real-time wagers during the game itself
Seattle Seahawks vs. Los Angeles Rams Wild Card Odds
| Team | SP/RL | TOTAL | ML | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rams | +3 (-105) | 42 (-106) | +148 |  |
| Seahawks | -3 (-115) | 42 (-114) | -170 | |
|
||||
Can we make a case for the Seahawks to win this game, and to do it by the prescribed number? I think we can.
First of all:
Russell Wilson’s experience
Early in the season, there was a lot of talk about Russell Wilson being a candidate for the league’s MVP award. And while he cooled down, and that talk evaporated, he can still be formidable. Wilson threw for 4212 yards and 7.5 yards per attempt, and he accounted for 40 touchdowns through the air.
He has two wide receivers who topped 1000 yards. Super-athlete DK Metcalf (83 catches, 1303 yards) and Tyler Lockett (100 receptions, 1054 yards) will threaten the Rams’ secondary. He obviously knows how to find them.
And Wilson is well-acquainted with playoff pressure. He has now been in thirteen playoff games and has a Super Bowl ring on his finger.
As we also know, Wilson is nimble. And thus, he is more capable of improvising with his feet than Jared Goff or anyone else the Rams use at quarterback.
Let’s talk about Goff for a minute
That’s because the Rams’ QB will be playing with a right thumb that was recently broken and required surgery. He only missed one game, so do not expect that he is going to be operating at 100% capacity. For obvious reasons, it is hard to grip a football and throw it with some accuracy under these conditions. And since the Rams depend so much on play-action, we may expect the Seattle defense to play the run first and see if Goff can beat them throwing the football.
And about that Seattle defense…. They’ve come a long way
In the first half of the schedule, the Seahawks were giving up yardage at what seemed like record levels. But that has turned itself around drastically. How drastically?
Well, in the first six games of the season, they gave up an average of 479 yards per game. Over the last six, they have allowed 290 per contest. And they have not surrendered 400 yards to the opposition in any of the last eight games.
Seattle yielded 30.4 points per game over the first half of the season, and just 16 ppg in the second half.
Obviously having All-Pro safety Jamal Adams healthy and playing is a factor here. So was the acquisition of defensive end Carlos Dunlap, who was unhappy in Cincinnati. Carroll deserves a lot of credit, as does defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. They are not the same team we saw before.
Have we convinced you that’s enough to cash a ticket against the Rams?
BetAnySports gives you all you need to enjoy the NFL playoff games this weekend. When you get reduced juice, you have a better deal on the odds. And it is ALWAYS available. So is Sports Betting Prime, which enables real-time wagering after the kickoff. ……… Make your deposits using a debit card, credit card, person-to-person transfers, or the virtual currency of Bitcoin, which is fast and easy with their automated system, and NEVER incurs a transaction fee!
