NFL Opening Day Lines: St. Louis Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks | NFL Odds

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The St. Louis Rams travel to the Great Northwest on Sunday, September 13th to open their 2009 NFL season against NFC West division foes, the Seattle Seahawks, in a 4:15 P.M. (EST) start. Seattle, opening their season at home for only the third time in the last ten years, are currently a 7 point favorite and the over/under is set at 43. Opening their season on the road has not been kind to St. Louis as they are winless in their last 5 tries. Playing Seattle in general has not been kind, as the Seahawks have beaten the Rams eight straight games dating back to 2005.

Both these teams are coming off disappointing 2008 seasons. The Rams opened the season with four straight losses and never recovered ending up 2-14 on the year. St. Louis hired Giants defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo as their head coach with the hope of turning the franchise around. It will be a tall task as this team needs to be re- built from the ground up. Seattle started almost as bad, losing five of their first six with their only win coming against these Rams in week three. Injuries took their toll, especially losing QB Matt Hasselbeck for the season and they ended up 4-12. They also have a new head coach hiring Jim Mora, after Mike Holmgren retired at the end of the year. Mora will have less of a challenge as Seattle already has a solid roster was made even better by adding All-Pro WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh this past off season.

One area both these teams struggled with on offense was scoring points. St. Louis averaged 14.5 points per game which ranked 31st in the league, and Seattle averaged 18.4, ranking 25th. Their defensive rankings in points allowed were identical to their offense as the Rams ranked 31st, giving up 29 points per game, and Seattle ranked 25th, giving up 24.5. I think it will take a few weeks for either of these teams to get on track, so I would look for a low scoring affair even though the under/over is set pretty high at 43. Seattle should have the upper hand in this one for as I mentioned, the Rams have lost eight straight games to the Seahawks. Streaks like these are hard to break, especially when you are playing a better team on the road.

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