2022 NFL Season, Week 9 picks: Seahawks look to sweep Cards, Rams face must-win in Tampa

The Seattle Seahawks are in first place, the San Francisco 49ers are on a bye, the Los Angeles Rams are probably going to lose, and the season of unexpected glee powers ahead past the halfway point this week.

Draftkings Sportsbook has the Seahawks as a two-point road underdog, because DeAndre Hopkins is back and that makes Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals a different team. The formerly good Rams play the formerly good Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a battle of depressing quarterbacks. The Denver Broncos will not play which means they unfortunately cannot lose.

Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals - 1:05 PM PT on FOX

Are the Cardinals better with Hopkins? Sure. Are they 17 points better? Nope.

Arizona did less than nothing against Seattle last time around, needing a Michael Dickson dropped ball to even surpass three points. Murray ran around a bunch, which did not result in good offensive drives, and the score was deceptively close. Geno Smith’s offense made it into the red zone five times, and it likely won’t be the same amount of field goals again.

Pick: Under 49.5, Seahawks to cover and win their fourth consecutive game.

Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 1:25 PM PT on CBS

Every time Los Angeles has played a good team, they have lost (Bills, Cowboys, 49ers x2). However, we don’t know if the Buccaneers are one of those. They don’t make a ton of sense, what with their 18th ranked offensive DVOA and 5th ranked defense. In other words they fit just fine with the middle 20 teams in the NFL this year.

Tom Brady is diminished but not bad, Matt Stafford is bad but not Russell Wilson bad actually pretty bad, and they’re both among the worst teams trying to run the ball this year.

Pick: Under 42.5, Tampa Bay does not score much but somehow the Rams score less, who will still cover the three-point underdog spread.

Our Tallysight picks are below.