Week 11 Best Bet: Rams vs Seahawks – Betting Insights & Tips

The Seattle Seahawks come to Inglewood on Sunday for an NFC West showdown with the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams are coming off their third loss in a row, a 20-3 defeat to the Packers, as things get progressively worse for them at 3-6. Perhaps the bye-week offered some relief as they await the incoming Seahawks. On Sunday, Seattle was able to rebound from an ugly loss the previous week to Baltimore with a walk-off FG win over the Commanders at home. Can they keep it rolling or will the Rams be a thorn in their sides?

Tougher Spot for Seattle Than it Looks?

The Rams are coming off a bye-week where they really needed to rest some bodies should help them, as will being at home, nice and dug in with almost two weeks spent in their stomping grounds. The Seahawks are coming off a taxing game last week where they had to dig deep to avert defeat. The Seahawks also tend to play down to the level of their opponent at times, especially within their own division. Some might recall a week one Rams road spanking of Seattle, 30-13. Matthew Stafford was big in that game, and now with Cooper Kupp back along with Puka Nacua, who had a coming-out performance in that first game, who to say a healthier Stafford doesn’t find this matchup to his liking?

It’s just hard to be on-point with this Rams team, oscillating between a potent-looking team that was infinitely better than projected and the team we’ve seen recently getting mauled by the Cowboys and, more distressingly, the Packers. Stafford was ailing with a bum thumb and should be ready. Kyren Williams doesn’t return until the following game, so their path to offensive success is a bit narrowed, but having Kupp back might even be bigger. Make no mistake, however, the Rams have put off the impression of a team that had some initial early-season adrenaline only to lose their mojo in a way that suggests that feisty version of the Rams we had been seeing will resurface with less regularity.

Good Spot for the Rams?

If their offense were to show flashes of what we had been seeing, why not here at home against a defense where it might be a case of diminishing returns? The Seahawks had some nice moments this season—a road-win over Detroit and the win over Cleveland a few weeks ago. But their schedule has been a bit soft, with wins over the Cardinals, Panthers, Giants, and the Commanders last week. Weve seen their defense give up 63 points in their last two games, sometimes failing against the run and other times against the pass. And not every offense putting up production against Seattle has been great.

But Not So Fast…

Placing stock in a week one upset and the notion that a home game or a week off will cure the Rams’ ails might be wishful thinking for potential LA backers this week. Say what you will about Seattle’s consistency or their woes away from home, but if the Rams’ defense is, in fact, depreciated, Geno Smith, his receivers, and this run game can bring that to light in a big way. The Rams defense has still been better than people expected, the word being that it was basically Aaron Donald and a bunch of used car salesmen out there, but whatever mojo they had earlier has worn off.

The same applies to a Seattle defense that has shown various forms this season. They will be facing an offense where the effectiveness has waned. The Rams aren’t built to withstand injuries, and no sooner did they develop a nice run-game before that was taken from them with the injury to Williams. Throw in all the time Kupp missed and Stafford being banged-up, it made them a shadow of what they were earlier in the season. Still, other than their rock-bottom week of the season, which preceded the bye, it has taken a good defense to keep them in check. And Seattle isn’t always that.

Misplaced Optimism

That week one win is an image that is hard to shake. A lot of people think the Seahawks is a smoke-and-mirrors show with a tenuous recipe for success that can fall flat in any spot. The Rams are rested and at least out of people’s minds for one week, their failings not as central in the thoughts of NFL fans as they otherwise might be. With two fine receivers and a proven commodity in Stafford, that could be enough to hang in there in a divisional spot. It might also be an overly-rosy view. Seattle is not 6-3 by accident. They’ve been doing well the last two seasons while the Rams have been nosediving. There is also a revenge factor as Seattle knows it’s going to be tough dropping two in their division to the Rams. I expect the Seahawks to be at least pumped up this week.

Take the Small Road Favorite

The small spread, almost making this is a pick-em seems like a righteous enough quote for Seattle. Just needing them to win aligns our betting with what the Seahawks are looking to do this week—avoid the season sweep at the hands of a team not going to the playoffs this season. Offensive talent on the Rams notwithstanding, their routes to success have been reduced to a point where even an on-again/off-again Seahawks defensive bunch can maybe figure it out. I see a tightly-contested divisional game with the Seahawks emerging victorious. I’ll take the Seahawks.

Loot’s’ Prediction to Cover the Point Spread: Im betting on the Seattle Seahawks minus 1 point.