3 bold predictions for Seahawks vs Rams on Thursday Night Football

The Seahawks and Rams have short weeks in week 5 of the 2021 season. Both teams played on Sunday for week 4, have three days off and then get right back to it. Seattle defeated the 49ers while Los Angeles lost to the Cardinals.

This was, however, Los Angeles’ first loss of 2021. Seattle already has 2. The Rams have an easy schedule over the next three weeks. Seattle does not. The Seahawks need a win more in week 5, especially since Seattle is playing at home.

This will be a game of some firsts in the series between the two teams, though. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has never faced the Seahawks as a member of the Rams but he will Thursday. Seattle offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has never faced the Rams ever but did coach with them the last several years.

Here are 3 things that will happen when Seahawks play the Rams in week 5

The Rams have just 1 sack and 2 tackles-for-loss

The last time the Rams didn’t sack Russell Wilson at least 5 times in a game was almost exactly two years ago when Los Angeles got 1 sack in a 30-29 Seahawks victory. In the last four games, Wilson has gone down hard quite a bit. Not only is Aaron Donald constantly in his face but so is Leonard Floyd.

Floyd and Donald still play with the Rams and do so well. Donald has 2 sacks in 2021 and Floyd 3. So why will Los Angeles not get home except once in week 5? Honestly? No idea. It is just a hunch. Whenever it seems clear that Seattle will likely lose a game under Pete Carroll, Seattle wins and plays better than anyone ever expected them to.

My hope is that offensive coordinator Shane Waldron knows a wrinkle about the Rams having coached against them in practice for several seasons before this one.

Chris Carson has 30 yards rushing and 55 receiving

When Carson is in the game, defenses focus on him and his rushing yards are limited. So far in 2021, Carson is averaging 4.3 yards a carry. Except for one or two runs (like the 30-yard touchdown run he had in week 3), every yard he has gained has been because he is a strong runner and doesn’t like being tackled.

This week, Waldron finds some way of getting Carson more involved in the passing game. Carson won’t have explosive numbers catching the ball but will get more than he has combined this year. Carson has 6 targets and has caught every one of them. That is far too few targets.

Russell Wilson throws his first two interceptions of 2021

As inconsistent of a season as the Seattle offense is having so far (great in most first halves and not-good in second halves_, Wilson is having a bit of a ridiculous year. He leads the NFL in quarterback-rating (129.9), yards gained per pass attempt (9.6) and adjusted net yards per pass attempt (9.61). If the NFL was a baseball league, sabermetricians would say have Wilson throw on every down.

But because this is the Rams, I expect Wilson to throw not only his first interception of 2021 on Thursday but his first two. Wilson’s quarterback rating will suffer but by the end of the game, Wilson will throw for more yards (prediction: 400) than in any game so far this year.