The Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl season began with a road game in which the team played poorly, but managed to win by a 12-7 score. Can this team be more impressive this time?
Seattle Seahawks @ San Diego Chargers
Sunday, September 14th – 4:05 PM ET
Odds: Seattle -5.5
Why The Seahawks Will Cover
They look like one of the best teams in the NFL. They silenced the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers last Thursday, taking command early in the second half and never looking back. Green Bay was a defeated team late in the third quarter, the victim of Seattle’s relentless defensive pressure from all positions and angles on the field. The Seahawks have found a way to play, especially on defense, that works for them. They know what to expect from the opposition, and their players know what to expect of themselves and each other. Communication is excellent, morale is very high, and there doesn’t seem to be in the early stages of the season any sense of overconfidence on the part of the Seahawks. This team is still hungry. It wants to do more. It wants to keep getting better. The fact that the Seahawks played on a Thursday night will also give them extra rest. In sharp contrast, the Chargers played a late Monday night game, not just the usual 8:35 p.m. start but a 10:20 (Eastern) kickoff, which should make them a little sluggish in this game. The situation sets up well for Seattle, and since the Seahawks played so well in their opener, they should be full of confidence as they take on a Charger team whose offense was not able to do much against one of Seattle’s NFC West rivals, the Arizona Cardinals. San Diego scored only 17 points against an Arizona defense that did not have pass rusher Darnell Dockett in the lineup due to a season-long injury.
Why The Chargers Will Cover
They are going to be fired up to play this game, and it’s going to feel like a mini-Super Bowl for the Chargers. Every team that hosts the Super Bowl champions is going to feel as though it has a season-making opportunity in front of its nose. The Chargers might have been sluggish against Arizona, but they can easily forget that memory with the champs coming to their stadium this weekend.
A deeper reason for picking San Diego in this game is that Seattle never really proved that it could beat good teams on the road last season. The Seahawks lost to San Francisco. They lost to Indianapolis. Yes, they beat Arizona before the Cardinals turned their season around. They beat Carolina before the Panthers developed into the good team they became. The Seahawks beat a bad Atlanta team and were fortunate to beat St. Louis by making a goal-line stand on the last play of the game. Seattle beat a bad Houston team, but only with the help of an interception return for a touchdown. Seattle is a respected team, but it can easily struggle on the road, especially on offense. Some people might reserve judgment about the Hawks until they show that their offense can play well against good teams on the road.
Outlook
If Seattle’s offense plays the way it did in most of its road games last season, San Diego is going to spring the upset. The Seahawks still have to learn how to do this one thing. They feeling here is that they’ll fail on Sunday. San Diego will win outright.
Pick: Chargers +5.5
