Seattle at Washington

Last week I picked the Lions to upset the Raiders largely because Oakland was in the midst of major turmoil. The team was losing and losing bad. And worse yet, the players had lost confidence in their coach. Sound familiar? Washington is in big trouble. Spurrier is getting hammered from all angles: the media, his players, and his owner. And for good reason. He hasn’t prepared his team to win games and he hasn’t adjusted in obvious ways. He’s on his way out and my guess is he knows it and at least privately admits it. As I said last week in the Oakland situation, no good can come out of this situation. His players aren’t putting forth a full effort this week. In fact, subconsciously they may be holding back in an effort to speed his demise. In comes a team that is brimming with confidence and one that remains hungry. Seattle is 6-2 but both losses have come on the road. They will be focused on taking advantage of a good situation to turn around their road woes this week. The recipe for Seattle is simple – rush Patrick Ramsey. Spurrier’s “max protect” scheme allowed 4 sacks last week and forced Ramsey out of the game twice with injuries. Based on the stats, I think Seattle should be closer to a touchdown favorite here (my Matchup Power Ratings have Seattle a 6.7 point favorite). I see no reason why this shouldn’t be trusted and the turmoil in DC is just icing on the cake.