Sports Blog 05/10/2015: NFL Preview – Seattle Seahawks vs Detroit Lions, Monday 5th October 2015

It’s the 4th week of the 2015 NFL season, and Monday night’s game sees the struggling Seattle Seahawks take on the dismal Detroit Lions at CenturyLink Field.

Despite still being 13/2 fixed odds to win the 50th Super Bowl, last year’s beaten finalists, and 2013 champions, haven’t gotten off to the best start this season,. The Seahawks lost their opening game to intra-division rivals the St Louis Rams 34-31, before a 27-17 defeat to the side they beat in the 2014 NFC Championship game, the Green Bay Packers (with the Packers sitting atop the NFC North win 4 wins in 4, and joint NFC leaders alongside the Carolina Panthers), left them without a win in their opening 2 games for the first time since their disastrous 2011 season.

They did manage a convincing 26-0 win over the Chicago Bears in week 3, boosted by the ‘Legion of Boom’ completing return of Kam Chancellor, who had missed the first 2 games due to protracted contract negotiations. However, that result still leaves Pete Carroll’s side sitting in 3rd in the NFC West division, behind the Arizona Cardinals (with 3 wins and a loss) and the aforementioned Rams (with 2 wins and 2 losses), but ahead of the San Francisco 49ers (one 1 and 3 losses, and the Seahawks next intra-division opponent at the end of October).



Yet just as Chancellor returns, the Seahawks lose star running back Marshawn Lynch, who, out with a hamstring injury, will miss his first game since 2011, but should be ably replaced by either Thomas Rawls or Fred Jackson. Jimmy Graham, meanwhile, is at a Super Mega Player Touchdown Minutes spread of 32-39 after scoring 2 touchdowns in 3 games since signing from the New Orleans Saints in March.

Their opponents, the Detroit Lions, face the unenviable task of facing a hungry Seahawks in the wall of noise that is the record-breakingly loud CenturyLink Field. It’s not the kind of environment the Lions will wanting to be playing in on a good day, let alone after having the worst start to the nascent 2015 NFL season of any side. The Lions lost their opener to the San Diego Chargers 33-28, before a 26-16 defeat at the hands of NFC North rivals the Minnesota Vikings and a 24-12 loss to the unbeaten Denver Broncos (who are 3rd in the AFC behind the New England Patriots and the Cincinnati Bengals) leaves the disappointing Detroit side at bottom of the NFC table.

A disappointing Calvin Johnson has been part of the problem, and with Megatron turning 30 a fortnight ago, some are beginning to question whether he can perform the way he used to. Nevertheless, he is still the top Lion on the Super Mega Player Touchdown Minutes table, with a 18-23 spread above Golden Tate’s 14-19 and Ameer Abdullah’s 14-18.

Despite both sides struggling at the start of the season, the Seahawks looked much improved with the return of Chancellor, and have the edge at a Seattle/Detroit Supremacy spread of 9-11, alongside a Total Points spread of 43-46.