Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks: NFL betting picks, odds and analysis

It is a short week for the Rams with a tough division game Thursday night against the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams followed up their impressive win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by coming up short against the Arizona Cardinals to fall from the ranks of the unbeaten.

In a lot of instances, a short week is a bad thing because the team has to rest, recover and prepare for another opponent with a lot less time, but getting back to work and not letting last week’s loss linger could be a positive for the Rams.

Is it enough of a positive to overcome some of the struggles we saw from the Rams in Week 4?

Los Angeles Rams (-2, 54.5) at Seattle Seahawks

Early bettors seemed to think so. The Rams opened -1 for the short-week road game and have grown into a slightly bigger favorite. There is an interesting narrative swimming around about the Cardinals being the best team in football. It would appear those feelings are allowing bettors to give the Rams a pass for last week’s performance.

You can really take a glass half-full and a glass half-empty approach to last week. The Rams had three turnovers (one on downs) and the Cardinals scored 13 points off those. Los Angeles also punted in plus territory on fourth and three and missed a field-goal attempt. The Cardinals took advantage of every little mistake from the Rams.

Seattle won last week, but the box score tells a different story. The 49ers nearly doubled the Seahawks in yards (457-234) and had two more yards per play. The Seahawks won with just 129 net passing yards from Russell Wilson. The Seahawks also allowed more yards per play than their season average on defense and found a way to win. Usually you want to go against a team like that the next week.

The Rams might benefit from facing a Seattle team with a mobile quarterback in Wilson. The game plan, while poorly executed against the Cardinals, should not change that much for the Rams. Meanwhile, the Seahawks go from a run-first offense to a pass-first offense. These teams obviously know each other extremely well, but Sean McVay’s playbook should run deeper with a QB like Matthew Stafford as opposed to Jared Goff. There are simply more throws that Stafford can make.

The Rams deserve the benefit of the doubt, as the Seahawks have some injuries on the edges defensively and don’t project to get much pressure on Stafford. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett were also hurt going into last week’s game. Injuries are a huge part of the Thursday handicap.

Ultimately, the Rams are just the better team, despite last week’s disappointing performance. The line says so and the line movement says so as well.

Pick: Los Angeles Rams -2

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.