Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks Odds, Pick, Prediction: Back Matthew Stafford, L.A. to Roll

Updated Rams vs. Seahawks Odds

The Seattle Seahawks have won a much-needed two straight games, but the competition stiffens as they take on the Los Angeles Rams, who are coming off their best win of the season. Now the Seahawks will need to show their recent offensive resurgence is not just a facade if they hope to make a late playoff push.

Meanwhile, after an excellent well-balanced victory, the Rams have hit a speed bump with one of the NFL's worst COVID outbreaks of the past week.

Eighteen of their players are still on the reserve/COVID list as of writing on Monday afternoon, but fortunately for the Rams, the league has relaxed its protocols for return to play (you can read the details here). Between those new rules and this game's postponement from Sunday to Tuesday, the Rams were able to get back key players like Jalen Ramsey, Darrell Henderson and Odell Beckham Jr. Their returns coupled with the Cardinals' loss to the Lions gives the Rams an excellent opportunity to gain some ground in the division race.

Still, with so many players out due to COVID, there's a lot of uncertainty around this game. The good news is that means there's more room to find value in the lines.

Let’s take a deeper dive to see what we can find.

Seahawks vs. Rams Matchup

Seahawks Have Something To Prove

The Seahawks are coming off their first game in which they started to look like the team pre-Russell Wilson injury. Unfortunately, it is hard to give too much credibility to the offense's performance given that it came against the Texans. Yes, Seattle did beat San Fran the week before, but it forced three turnovers and had a fake punt touchdown run to help.

The driving forces for the Seahawks against the Texans were Rashaad Penny and Tyler Lockett. Those two combined for 279 yards and three touchdowns. The problem this week is that Lockett may miss due to COVID and the Rams’ run defense doesn't rank last like the Texans.

With Lockett potentially out, the Seahawks should be more likely to feed D.K. Metcalf, though that might not be a good thing — Metcalf is currently playing through injury and was held out of practice a couple days this week. Being beat up will likely only make breaking his current slump more difficult. Over his past five games, Metcalf is averaging 34.6 yards and has not scored a touchdown.

Defensively, Seattle has one of the most interesting dynamics currently working in its favor.

The Seahawks rank last in yards allowed per game, but fifth-best in points allowed per game. This means opposing offenses have the freedom to march up and down the field against them, but when it comes down to crunch time, the Seahawks step up. This has led to the Seahawks ranking fourth-best in red-zone defense, allowing just 24 touchdowns on 49 attempts.

Rams Benefit From Postponement

Heading into last week's Monday night matchup, the Rams were seen as the team that fell just short when it mattered most. They broke that persona with one of the most well-rounded victories of this season. Matthew Stafford had his best game of the year, they were able to run the ball effectively and Aaron Donald completely wrecked anything the Cardinals did offensively.

This week, the Rams will hope Donald can dominate once again without Von Miller to draw some attention from the offense due to COVID. Fortunately, they have returned their star corner Ramsey after his stint on the COVID reserves. (SB Nation's Seahawks site is tracking both teams' COVID lists here.)

The postponement of this game did a huge favor for the Rams offense. They returned not only their starting running back, Henderson, but also their No. 2 receiver, OBJ. We finally saw some comfort for Beckham in this offense as he recorded 77 yards and a touchdown on six targets against the Cardinals. In the last matchup between these teams, we saw Robert Woods breakout for a 150-yard performance. Now with Woods out, had OBJ not cleared COVID protocols, there would be a massive question mark about who can be that guy.

We saw the Rams have great success moving the ball in their last matchup as they gained 476 yards of offense. They were unfortunate for that to translate to just 26 points, though. If Stafford can build on his 90.1 passing grade this week, they will have no problem raising that point total.

NFL Predictions: Rams vs. Seahawks

Even though they have won their past two games, it is hard to trust the Seahawks. They did show signs of the explosive offense from early in the year against the Texans, but that needs to be taken with a grain of salt — especially since one of the main contributors to that success, Lockett, could miss this game.

As for the Rams, the difference between good and great will come down to Stafford protecting the ball. During their recent losing streak (Weeks 9-12), he had at least one pick-six in each game. He also had several other turnovers in his own red zone that set up opponents to score. Fortunately, the Seahawks rank 25th in turnovers with only 13 on the year.

If Stafford can protect the ball as he did last week, this offense should still be productive thanks to Cooper Kupp. If Seattle does not allocate enough resources to the slot receiver, the Rams will happily feed Kupp down the field. If they do choose to step up on him, the Rams still have OBJ and Van Jefferson waiting to gash the Seahawks for a chunk play.

The Seahawks have to prove they are fully back since Wilson’s return while the Rams have shown they can play with the best, as long as they don’t shoot themselves in the foot.

Trust L.A. to control this one in its pursuit of the NFC's top-seed.

Pick: Rams -7 | Bet to: -9.5