NFC West rivals renew hostilities to start their 2023 NFL seasons. The Seattle Seahawks play host to the Los Angeles Rams as six-point favorites per the NFL Week 1 odds. The Rams felt the “Super Bowl hangover” last season and finished with a 5-12 record thanks to injuries. Seattle started strong but faded to a 9-8 record and an early playoff exit.
Geno Smith will return as Seattle’s quarterback. He’s expected to continue resurging as he won last season’s Comeback Player of the Year award. For the Rams, a healthier team means the return of quarterback Matthew Stafford and star receiver Cooper Kupp.
The Rams have covered their last five games against Seattle. In fact, the team is 8-5 against Seattle since Sean McVay began his tenure as head coach. Their games also tend to be on the lower-scoring side with six of their last eight meetings going under the total.
What’s Changed for the Rams and Seahawks in 2023?
Los Angeles will get a boost seeing Stafford, Kupp, and Aaron Donald return. Donald will continue to anchor the defense, which could be worse than last season with its losses. Bobby Wagner, Leonard Floyd, and Jalen Ramsey have all departed. Thus, the Rams have longer outright NFL odds.
On the offensive side, the Rams’ offensive line continues to look subpar. The team used a second–round pick to draft guard Steve Avila. But other than that, Los Angeles has no reinforcements to help protect Stafford and its running backs.
Theoretically, Seattle should be the favorite on the NFL lines. The team bolstered its 25th-ranked defense by reacquiring Wagner and drafting Devon Witherspoon at cornerback. On offense, Seattle drafted Jaxon Smith-Njigba to give them a three-headed monster at receiver alongside DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.
Smith led the league in completion percentage (69.8 percent) and was one of six quarterbacks to post a passer rating of 100+ (100.9). However, as was the case with Russell Wilson in 2021, defenses began to solve the offense. In his last five regular season games, Smith’s passer rating dropped to 83.9. Shane Waldron still returns as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Rams vs Seahawks: Where Each Team Has the Edge
Despite being underdogs in this matchup, the Rams could be the shrewd side to back. McVay has typically outcoached Pete Carroll judging by these teams’ recent meetings. In fact, McVay’s Rams have held Carroll’s Seahawks to 20 points or fewer in six of their last seven games. The Rams beat the spread in six of these games.
Scoring 20 points could be enough to beat Los Angeles if Seattle’s defense does its job. However, the Seahawks gave up 21 or more points in 13 of their 18 games last season. Seattle held the Rams to 16 points in their final regular season game. But this was against Baker Mayfield who was on his second team for the season.
Seattle’s passing defense was below average-last season. But the team’s pass rush may be good enough to make Stafford uncomfortable. If Seattle can keep pressuring the quarterback, who has a compromised arm, the team could cover on the NFL odds.
Fun facts about the Los Angeles Rams
- The Rams are the only NFL franchise to win championships in three different cities: Cleveland in 1945, St. Louis in 1999, and Los Angeles in 2021
- Just like the 49ers were San Francisco’s first professional team, the Rams were Los Angeles’s; the team first moved to L.A. in 1946 then returned in 2016 after a 20-year stint in St. Louis (1995-2015)
- The Rams climbed to third in NFL team valuations according to Forbes; the team was estimated to be worth $6.2 billion in 2022, which moves it ahead of the New York Giants at $6 billion
Fun facts about the Seattle Seahawks
- The Seahawks are the only NFL team to have played in both the AFC and NFC Championship Games
- The team’s fans, known collectively as the “12th Man” twice set the Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd noise at a sporting event, which they did in the span of a few months in 2013
- In reality, a “seahawk” does not actually exist; the term instead refers to ospreys or skuas, and the franchise’s “seahawk” mascot, Taima, is actually an augur buzzard native to Africa
