Now having won four of their past five games, the Seattle Seahawks look to go 2-0 in the AFC South thus far with a win over the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football.
Seattle is on their bye in Week 8 and does have some tougher games down the stretch. Fortunately, Houston is a bit worse than most expected coming into the season, so this should be a game where Seattle takes care of business and improves to 5-2 on the season.
With a scoring offense and scoring defense each ranking in the top-6, this is one of the more balanced teams in the NFL, and frankly, a borderline Super Bowl contender. Let's whip up a few bold predictions for their primetime showdown against the Texans.
Bold predictions paint a pretty picture for the Seahawks in Week 7 against the Texans
Seahawks sack Texans' QB CJ Stroud at least seven times
Seattle ranks third in the NFL with 20 sacks, so they have been able to get to the QB this year. Twelve players have at least a half sack, and five players have multiple sacks. Byron Murphy leads the team with 4.5 sacks. DeMarcus Lawrence leads the team with four tackles for loss, and Murphy again leads the team with nine QB hits.
This is an aggressive and suffocating defense, and they have the luxury of being able to tee off on a poor Texans' offensive line at home. Even with Houston having a bye, Seattle is going to get the best of the Texans' OL. The main issue with Houston's offensive line is that it simply has bad players within the unit.
And at the end of the day, there is only so much coaching that can help out a unit like that. The Seahawks have another great day getting to the QB and sack CJ Stroud seven times.
Seahawks' defense keeps Texans out of the end zone
The Houston Texans took a two-game winning streak into the bye, but those two wins came against the lowly Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens. Their three losses have come against the 4-2 LA Rams, 5-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and 4-2 Jacksonville Jaguars.
This is a classic example of a team simply not being good enough to handle the big-dawgs, so do not let the small winning streak fool you. Houston is still a weaker team and struggles to protect CJ Stroud. Mike Macdonald has made quick work of the Seahawks' defense, as that unit is quite literally good at everything.
Lastly, Houston has averaged just 12.7 points per game against their tougher opponents this year. Seattle is going to keep them around that total but will be able to keep them out of the end zone entirely.
Seahawks win by at least 14 points
The Seahawks will have an easier time with the Houston Texans. Led by a top-tier offense and punishing defense, Seattle is going to cruise to a victory of at least 14 points. This game is simply going to be too much for the Texans to handle.
Not only is QB CJ Stroud going to be brought to the ground a lot, but Seattle's offense is going to have an efficient day as well. It'll be a 24-9 final score that propels the Seahawks to a 5-2 record heading into their Week 8 bye.