Seattle Seahawks Just 2 1/2 Point Favorites Over St. Louis Rams

NFL News - November 24th, 2009 - Written by John

The Seattle Seahawks begin to wind down it's NFC West schedule when they travel to St. Louis to play the St. Louis Rams in a battle for the basement of the NFC West.

The Seahawks are favored by 2 1/2 points, according to the NFL Week 12 Betting Odds as found at BetUS Sportsbook, with a total of 42 1/2.

The teams combine for four wins this season, with only a two-game chasm between third and fourth place.

The Seattle Seahawks already beat the Rams 28-0 in the season-opener, although they haven't won another division game since. In nine meetings, the Seahawks are 9-0 SU and 7-2 ATS against the Rams.

Seattle can probably least afford to lose on Sunday considering the lofty expectations the team inherited with a healthy Matt Hasselbeck and free agent acquisition T.J. Houshmanzadeh. None of those expectations came to fruition this year, and Houshmanzadeh could only sit and watch as the team he slighted in favor of Seattle, the Minnesota Vikings, blew up for 35 points.

Matt Hasselbeck has put up relatively good numbers despite the losing record, throwing for 1,853 in only seven starts, with 300 yards in two of the last three games. Julius Jones leads the team in rushing with 392 yards and Houshmanzadeh is putting up solid, if not unremarkable, numbers. He has 618 yards on the year, just 46 behind Nate Burleson for the team lead.

It's been somewhat of the opposite for St. Louis, which was selected to finish last in the division by almost every preseason publication. While it's only won one game, it has been relatively competitive recently in close losses to the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. St. Louis Rams' unning back Steven Jackson is the league's second-leading rusher with 1,031 yards. And the defense forced Drew Brees into three turnovers, then knocked Kurt Warner out of last week's game.

If the Rams lose on Sunday, it won't be on the efforts of Jackson, who has rushed for over 100 yards in four-straight games.