It will be hard for any Monday Night Football game in 2013 to be worse TV than last week’s 23-7 Giants win over the Vikings, but it appears to be another less-than-appealing matchup this week when Seattle visits St. Louis in an NFC West showdown.
The Seahawks are 12-point Bovada favorites, and there will be live betting.
If there’s one reason for Patriots fans to watch, it’s because the game offers a potential Super Bowl scouting report on Seattle, perhaps the best all-around club in the NFL. The Seahawks’ only loss came at Indianapolis, a team that also has beaten San Francisco and Denver. One of the most impressive performances of the season was Seattle’s 29-3 win over San Francisco in Week 2. The Seahawks are the second-favorites to win the Super Bowl behind Denver at 9-2.
The Seahawks (6-1) look unbeatable at home — second-year quarterback Russell Wilson has never lost there — but mortal on the road this season. They won by just five points in Week 1 at Carolina and probably should have lost in Week 4 at Houston. Their loss to the Colts was away from home. Seattle did look better on the road last Thursday in Arizona, winning 34-22 behind three touchdown passes from Wilson.
Seattle’s passing offense hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t had top offseason pickup Percy Harvin to help. The former Vikings receiver practiced this week for the first time since summer hip surgery. He could debut Monday. Anything Harvin adds makes Seattle that much better, with the Seahawks already No. 2 in the NFL in rushing despite both starting tackles being out with injuries. The Seattle defense is considered the best in the NFC and is led by the NFL’s top secondary. The Seahawks are tied with Kansas City entering Week 8 for the NFL lead with 19 takeaways.
That defense could have a field day against Rams backup quarterback Kellen Clemens. He was forced into action during last week’s 30-15 loss at Carolina when Sam Bradford was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Clemens, the former Jet, has a career rating of just 62.2 with a terrible completion percentage of 51.8 to go with seven touchdowns, 13 interceptions and 12 fumbles. The Rams are so desperate at QB they called Brett Favre this week, but he will stay retired — for good, he says.
This will be Clemens’ 13th career start and first since 2011. He started three times for the Rams in 2011 when Bradford was also hurt, and St. Louis lost all three. Bovada lists Clemens’ stats for Monday as over/under 195.5 passing yards, 1.5 touchdown passes and 0.5 interceptions. Seattle is No. 2 in the NFL in passing yards allowed (190.5 per game) and has given up only six touchdown passes while picking off 11.
