St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks
Sunday, 12/12/11, 8:30 PM EST, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: Seattle -10
Current Betting Line: Seattle -10
Opening Total: 37
Current Total: 36.5
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
The Seattle Seahawks will try to beat the St. Louis Rams for the seventh straight time at home on Monday Night Football and stay in the NFC playoff picture with their fourth win in five games overall. The Seahawks (5-7) have also won 12 of the last 13 meetings with the Rams (2-10) overall, including a 24-7 victory at St. Louis in Week 11.
Seattle (-10, O/U 36.5) is the defending NFC West champion but has already seen San Francisco clinch the division this year. The only way the team can get into the playoffs is as a Wild Card, but winning the last four games would earn a better record than last year’s 7-9 squad.
The Seahawks visit Chicago next week and then host San Francisco before finishing the regular season at Arizona. The Bears (7-6) losing 13-10 at Denver in overtime on Sunday opened the door for them a little bit, but a win is desperately needed here at CenturyLink Field to keep their slim postseason hopes alive.
St. Louis could be at a major disadvantage is quarterback Tom Brandstater has to make his first NFL start. Last year’s top overall draft pick Sam Bradford is nursing a high-ankle sprain and practiced on Saturday for the first time this week. Bradford could very well start since his backup A.J. Feeley is also nursing a thumb injury.
No matter who lines up under center for the Rams on Monday, they will have to find some way to move the ball and put points up on the scoreboard. With shaky QB play of late, running back Steven Jackson has not been able to get going either. Jackson has averaged just 41.6 rushing yards per game over the last three, including 42 on 15 carries in the earlier loss to Seattle.
Defensively, St. Louis has been the worst team in the NFL at stopping the run, surrendering 157.8 yards per game. You can bet the Seahawks will try to take care of that key weakness with RB Marshawn Lynch, who is averaging 118.2 yards in their last five games. The team as a whole has rushed more than 100 yards in five straight, their best stretch since 1996.
Lynch has been the catalyst behind Seattle’s strong rushing attack, and he is coming off a season-high 148 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-14 rout of Philadelphia last week. He has scored in seven of his past eight games, although the last time he was held under 100 yards came at St. Louis when he was limited to 88.
The Seahawks are 6-2 against the spread in their last eight home games and will be facing a Rams team that is 1-10 ATS in their past 11 against NFC opponents. St. Louis is also 1-7 ATS in its last eight on the road and 1-8 ATS in the past nine meetings with Seattle.
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