NFL Betting Odds: St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks

Added on Jan 01, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

The St. Louis Rams look to clinch an improbable NFC West title on the road against the Seattle Seahawks. The fact that this game will determine the divisional champion is strange enough, but the fact that the Rams are involved after winning a total of 6 games in the previous three seasons is downright bizarre.

St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks
January 2, 2011 5:30 PM Pacific

The St. Louis Rams finished 1-15 in 2009, 2-14 in 2008 and 3-13 in 2007. There was a good deal of optimism heading into this season with some young talent on both sides of the ball–in particular superstar QB of the future Sam Bradford–but who could have expected that the Rams would be playing in a game with playoff implications on January 2, 2011? Sure, it’s football’s worst division and the monumental collapse of the San Francisco 49ers opened the door for both of these teams to be in contention but by any metric going from 1-15 to having a legitimate look at a .500 season is a great accomplishment.

The fact that Seattle is still in the postseason hunt at 6-9 is a little bit stranger. There’s not much enthusiasm around the team even among their own fans. Not only that, a Seattle newspaper poll taken earlier this week suggests that a majority of Seahawks fans would rather see them lose this game to secure a better draft pick. Were that not strange enough, there’s a good chance that former Clemson standout Charlie Whitehurst could get the start at QB after taking most of the first team reps in practice this week. Matt Hasselbeck is listed as ‘questionable’ but there’s suggestions that the injury could be a ‘face saving’ measure and the team has more confidence in his backup. Hasselbeck has 3001 yards passing with 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions this year and his 73.2 quarterback rating is his lowest total since 2001. There’s a good deal to suggest that he’ll be gone from the Jet City after this season.

Ultimately, we’re not sure that St. Louis is ready for the role of a road favorite but they have won and covered once this year in that situation and are 5-2 ATS away from home. They’re also 6-0 ATS against teams with losing records. Seattle, on the other hand, is an automatic go against. They’re currently on a 6-28 SU/10-23 ATS run as an underdog since 2008. They’re 1-5 SU/1-4-1 ATS as a home dog of 3 or less. In the last four weeks of the season they’re on a 2-9 SU/4-7 ATS run including 0-3 SU/ATS this year. We’ve got to go with the team with more enthusiasm and upside in this matchup and that’s St. Louis.

Bet St. Louis Rams -3 over Seattle Seahawks