Seahawks at Rams: Madden 17 Simulation Week 2

Dec 27, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks tight end Cooper Helfet (84) is tackled by St. Louis Rams linebacker Akeem Ayers (56) at CenturyLink Field. The Rams won 23-17. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 27, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks tight end Cooper Helfet (84) is tackled by St. Louis Rams linebacker Akeem Ayers (56) at CenturyLink Field. The Rams won 23-17. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports /
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Madden 17 simulation of Seahawks at Rams for Week 2 of the NFL season. The Seahawks win, but the game ends up much closer than Seattle fans would like.

The Seattle Seahawks take on the LA Rams this Sunday. It will be the first regular season game in the Rams new home. The Seahawks would love the spoil of celebration by winning and moving to 2-0 on the season.

Daniel George of App Trigger simulated this game on Madden 17, just as he does for every game each week. Predictably, he’s got the Seahawks winning. Despite the score ending up very close, this game is also listed as the “App Trigger’s Madden 17 lock of the week.”

Madden clearly thinks that fans in Seattle have healthy hearts and can handle another appearance of the the “Cardiac Hawks.” The 16-15 score line certainly implies that we’re going to have yet another stressful Sunday.

"For the most part, it was a kicker’s duel between Greg Zuerlein and Steven Hauschka. Zuerlein went 3-3 in his kicks, with a long one going for 55 yards. Hauschka was the one to blink, missing a 57-yard attempt.It could have been the difference in a game with just three total touchdowns, but with failed two-point conversions to end the 4th quarter, the Seahawks stumbled their way to victory."

Even though the Seahawks are heavy favorites in this game, this result isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. Jeff Fisher’s Rams teams always give Seattle troubles, even though they haven’t been good. Last season, two of Seattle’s losses came at the hands of the Rams.

The strength of the Rams is their defensive line. The weakness of the Seahawks is their offensive line. That one matchup has proven to be enough to negate much of the talent difference that exists at every other position group.

It is interesting to see how that matchup translated onto the field in this simulation. The Seahawks are a run-first team, but their running game was shut down in this simulation. The only reason the Seahawks won was because Russell Wilson lit up the Rams secondary for 323 yards.

Next: Seahawks bring back Tukuafu to help ignite running game

It should be noticed that Madden doesn’t have a particularly strong track record for predicting outcomes. It is a fun game, but it certainly shouldn’t be confused with more accurate prediction models.