3 bold predictions for Seahawks versus Saints in Week 5
By Lee Vowell
Every team in the NFC West is currently 2-2 so Week 5 is already an important game for the Seahawks. Here are three things that will happen vs. the Saints.
In 2021, the Seahawks lost in Seattle to the Saints 13-10 on a late field goal by New Orleans. Last year, however, Geno Smith was filling in for Russell Wilson and Seattle didn’t really trust Smith to do much.
Smith threw 22 times for 167 yards but 84 of those were on one pass to DK Metcalf. Smith wasn’t bad in the game but he just didn’t have a chance to do much. Things are different now that he is QB1 in 2022.
The Saints, though, have a good defense so expecting anywhere near 48 points, which is what Seattle scored in Week 4, would be a mistake. But this might be the week the Seattle defense looks better against a not-great Saints offense.
Bold predictions for the Seahawks and Saints in Week 5
Prediction 1: Tyler Lockett has 13 catches
One of the more intriguing matchups in Week 5 will be receiver DK Metcalf versus Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Lattimore is one of the better CBs in the league and is only allowing a quarterback rating-against of 74.5 in 2022. He has also allowed only 57.1 of passes to be completed against him when he is targeted. He’s good. But so is Metcalf so he should still get his catches.
But Tyler Lockett is so consistent and is more in a position to catch short passes that hopefully pick up first downs. In weeks 2 and 3, Lockett had 11 targets and 9 catches in each game. In Week 4, Lockett was targeted 8 times and had 6 catches. He is only averaging 11.2 yards a catch this year but he is catching 79.4 percent of his targets.
In Week 5, with Lattimore shadowing Metcalf, Lockett is going to get targeted a lot. I think he could see as many as 18 targets and catch 13 of those. He will just barely eek past 100 yards receiving but he will have a touchdown and pick up 6 first downs. Expect a lot of short down-and-outs for Lockett against the Saints, with a few passes in the middle of the field sprinkled in, and Lockett helps sustain drives.