Seahawks 2018 schedule preview: Seahawks host Rams in Week 5

The LA Rams will open the season as heavy favorites to win the NFC West. They had a fairly easy time winning the division in 2017 thanks to the number one scoring offense and a defense that may actually be better than that. The triple threat of the Rams comes in the form of arguably the best special teams unit in the NFL and so it’s fair to say that the 2017 LA Rams were a notable stretch ahead of the other three teams.

And over the offseason, the Rams appears to have only gotten better.

The offense returns Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, Andrew Whitworth, Rodger Saffold, and the rest of the 2017 offensive line, but also added Brandin Cooks as a potential upgrade over the departed Sammy Watkins. They also drafted three offensive linemen to protect their future at those positions, so things are looking reasonably good on that side of the ball.

Defensively, LA returns Aaron Donald, perhaps the best all-around player in the league, as well as Michael Brockers, Mark Barron, LaMarcus Joyner, and John Johnson. Added to the defense though are Ndamukong Suh, Aqib Talib, and Marcus Peters, three former or current Pro Bowl players.

Johnny Hekker remains the best punter in the NFL and Greg Zeurlein has a solid argument for himself at kicker. Yes, the Rams may have the most Pro Bowl players of any roster in the NFL. But it will be interesting to see what condition they’re in when they travel to Seattle to take on the Seahawks in Week 5.

While Seattle must deal with road games in three of their first four contests, the Rams have three of their first four games in LA. However, that includes a Week 3 game against the LA Chargers (the current favorite in the AFC West) and a Week 4 Thursday Night game against the Minnesota Vikings. They travel to Oakland in Week 1 and host the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2.

As of Week 5, the Rams seem likely to be sitting at 3-1 or 4-0, but I don’t think 2-2 would be all that surprising. The Seahawks have the benefit of hosting the game, but it’ll be LA who is coming off of a 10-day break. Also, the Rams went 7-1 on the road last season — including a 42-7 win in Seattle — so homefield advantage may simply not be a thing in this case.

I think the Seahawks are better off than most people do, and I’m more aware of the Rams’ susceptibility to being a complete disappointment to their believers, but this is certainly Seattle’s biggest challenge of the 2018 season so far. Will fans expect the Seahawks to come out ahead in this one, as they have in the previous four?

Week 1: Seahawks vs Broncos

Week 2: Seahawks vs Bears

Week 3: Seahawks vs Cowboys

Week 4: Seahawks vs Cardinals