Seahawks vs. Patriots Point Spread: NFL Week 2 Odds, Prediction
The Seattle Seahawks are going across the country in Week 2 to take on the feisty New England Patriots. Both clubs picked up opening-day victories, and while Seattle’s was expected, the Pats pulled off the upset of the week.
As nearly double-digit road underdogs, New England went into Cincinnati and ran off with a 16-10 victory, the first of head coach Jerod Mayo’s stint as the new man in charge in Foxborough. It wasn’t a pretty win but rather a clock-controlling, opportunistic performance you may see all season from New England. Seattle overcame a couple of first-half field position disasters to beat Denver 26-20. The win was also the first for new Seahawks head honcho, Mike Macdonald.
Both Seattle and New England went well over 30 rushing attempts last weekend. And likely the only thing preventing similar outcomes in Week 2 is the health of star Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III, who missed Wednesday’s practice with an oblique injury.
Kickoff at Gillette Stadium goes at 1 p.m. EDT with the Seahawks favoured at -3.5 on the road, and the over-under set at 38.5 on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Since it’s so early in the season, it’s tough to gauge how much of an upset last weekend was New England — a.k.a. wait and see to find out how good the Patriots may be. Instead, the total’s the area with more data to analyze, and more facts to back up. Last season the Patriots finished with 13.9 points per game, tied for last in the NFL. Seattle was below average in scoring too with 21.4 points per game. That alone is why the total in this Week 2 bout sits under 40.
New England’s likely going to be that scrappy team trying to replicate last week’s 16-10 kind of game. Seattle’s 26-20 win wasn’t any sexier. In fact, in the Seahawks win there were a combined 32 first downs and in New England’s there was a sum of 30. This indicates both Seattle and New England bolster strong defences, and their offences are still figuring things out.
Seattle Seahawks
Kenneth Walker III heated up for Seattle in a near-dominating second half last week, accounting for 84 of his 103 rushing yards in the final 30 minutes. But Walker III is nicked up, missing Wednesday’s practice. Second-year back Zach Charbonnet saw a fair amount of snaps though and is NFL-ready after 500-plus yards in his rookie campaign. Charbonnet started his sophomore season with a bang too, hauling in a 30-yard touchdown reception in Week 1.
The Seahawks defence allowed just 3.3 yards per play last week which could be a sign of things to come. 2023 first-round pick Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen are showing potential as one of the NFL’s top cornerback duos. But this unit may be down a bunch of bodies already as linebackers Uchenna Nwosu (knee), Tyrel Dodson (shoulder), and Jerome Baker (hamstring) are all on Seattle’s injury report this week — and that’s not good when going to face New England.
New England Patriots
Rhamondre Stevenson rushing the ball 25 times for 120 yards, but with a longest carry of 17 yards summarizes everything you need to know about the Patriots 16-10 win at Cincinnati to kick off the season. New England held the ball for over eight minutes longer than Cincinnati, also playing clean football and winning the turnover battle 2-0. Now it’s rinse and repeat time.
Veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett probably won’t be grounding and pounding like Stevenson — the quarterback’s seven carries for 32 yards last week may say otherwise — but the former has a clear role in this offence and that’s to play simple, smart football. And as long as the Patriots defence can get Brissett the ball back a couple extra times like last week, New England can be in prime shape to pull off some surprise wins.
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