The Seattle Seahawks are back on the road for a second straight week. This time, they’ll go marching down to New Orleans to face the Saints.
This has been a competitive and memorable conference rivalry throughout the years. Arguably the most iconic play in Seattle franchise history was Marshawn Lynch’s Beastquake run against the Saints in the 2010 Wild Card round, where the 7-9 Seahawks upset the defending world champions. Seattle would defeat the Saints in the playoffs 23-15 a few years later in the 2013 postseason, en route to their Super Bowl XLVIII title.
Since then, it has been all Saints as they have won the last three matchups, including two straight in Seattle. The most recent was last year on Monday Night Football when New Orleans edged out a 13-10 victory. Quarterback Geno Smith opened the game with an 84-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf but was unable to do much of anything else afterwards.
Last year, Jameis Winston was the winning quarterback for New Orleans. This time around it seems his injuries will keep him from the field, as Andy Dalton will get the start.
In his career against Seattle, Andy Dalton is 2-1 as a starter. In London last week against the Vikings, Dalton moved the ball well and had the Saints in a position to force overtime had it not been for a 61-yard field goal attempt to bounce off the upright as well as the crossbar.
The Seahawks offense is humming at the moment but they will face a unique challenge in one of the most difficult road environments in the NFL. Defensively, the Saints matchup very well versus Seattle.
The ultimate deciding factor in this game is the fact the Seahawks defense has shown absolutely no signs of growth since Week 1. In fact, they are arguably getting worse. New Orleans may be without some of their best play makers, but so were the Lions, and that didn’t stop them from scoring 45 points with ease.
If Seattle wants to pull off another road upset they will need to show considerable improvement defensively.
Prediction: Saints over Seahawks 24-17
