Field Gulls
In just a matter of hours, the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams will meet in the first of two huge divisional clashes. Both teams are 7-2 and not only looking for the NFC West lead, but also pushing for the No. 1 seed in the conference. Week 11 is in Inglewood, where the Seahawks have won twice before against the Rams, but both times they were playing against backup quarterbacks. Sam Darnold and Matthew Stafford are playing like MVP candidates, while Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Puka Nacua are looking like two of the five best receivers in the NFL, and the defenses are among the best in the business.
It’s time for some predictions! Before we get into this showdown, let’s review how last week went!
Bold prediction: Coby Bryant keeps his interception streak going against the Cardinals
No one got an interception for Seattle. Maybe it’s a Kyler Murray thing for Coby.
Seahawks offense prediction: Rashid Shaheed scores a touchdown in his debut
Nope. He did pick up a couple of first downs, though!
Seahawks defense prediction: Nick Emmanwori records his first major stat
Ding, ding, ding! He got a half-sack of Jacoby Brissett. I’ll count it.
Arizona Cardinals prediction: Budda Baker records his first turnover vs. Seahawks since, well…
The only thing Budda recorded was a fine for his helmet shot on Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Game prediction: Seahawks win typical game over Cardinals
This had enough Seahawks vs. Cardinals nonsense to qualify as a correct prediction, albeit one more lopsided than my 27-17 scoreline had it out to be.
This is very much a tongue-in-cheek bold prediction, but it’s not completely facetious. Walker hasn’t found the end zone since Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints, when he scored twice. When the Seahawks are near the goal line, Walker ends up ceding carries to Zach Charbonnet (who leads all Seahawks with six touchdowns), A.J. Barner, and George Holani. At this point I feel like Robbie Ouzts and Byron Murphy II may end up getting some touches at some point.
Walker has played well recently, he just hasn’t had the touchdowns. Clearly the solution is to break a longer run since he doesn’t consistently get red zone carries. Let’s go for a 20+ yard touchdown for K9 to end his scoring drought. The Rams are also the only divisional opponent Walker hasn’t scored against, so maybe this is bolder than I realized.
The only reason why JSN didn’t get 100+ receiving yards against the Arizona Cardinals is because the Seahawks had little need to throw the ball with such a huge lead. Indeed his only games under 100 yards have been both Cardinals games (one blowout, one in which he was shut out in the first half) and the Saints (blowout). Anything else that has been competitive from start to finish and he’s cleared over 100...
