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The NFL Draft has come and gone, and free agency is mostly done.
By most accounts, the Seahawks did well on both accounts.
The deadest part of the NFL year approaches.
But not without some final fanfare.
On Thursday, the 12s got the Seahawks’ official schedule release for the 2023 season, and on Friday, Tyler Alsin made his game-by-game predictions for how Seattle’s season will play out.
Spoiler: Tyler predicts a 2-game improvement on last year’s 9-8 record.
In addition to a 12 Thoughts article about Seattle’s schedule (coming soon), I considered making my own predictions.
That seemed redundant though, so I put a twist on it.
Instead of predicting game-by-game results, I’m going to predict:
- Which games the Seahawks should be favored in;
- Which games Seattle could be favored in; and
- Which games our favorite team will almost certainly not be favored in.
Let’s have some fun!
Games in which Seattle SHOULD be favored
Week 1: Vs. the Rams - This is an easy one since we already know that Seattle opened as 5-1/2 point favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Week 3: Vs. Carolina - Bryce Young’s third game should be a rough one for him, especially after starting the season with a pair of division games (at Atlanta, vs. New Orleans).
Week 7: Vs. Arizona - The Cardinals are expected to be one of the worst teams in the league and they won’t have Kyler Murray for this one.
Week 8: Vs. Cleveland - I have zero faith in Deshaun Watson making the Browns good.
Week 10: Vs. Washington - It’s hard to believe that Ron Rivera is willing to bet his job on Sam Howell or Jacoby Brissett as QB1, yet that’s exactly what he appears to be doing.
Week 11: At LAR - This could be the first road game Seattle is favored in, but it won’t be the last. Season sweep time . . . again.
Week 16: At Tennessee - Will Will Levis be starting by this point? FTR’s Magic 8-Ball says, “Yup!”
Week 17: Vs. Pittsburgh - Their Over/Under on wins matches ours - and we’re at home. As a kicker, we’re sandwiched in between games vs. Cincinnati and at Baltimore. Methinks the Steelers season won’t be ending on a high note.
Week 18: At Arizona - Unlike Houston in 2022, the Cardinals won’t win a meaningless game and cost themselves the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft.
Games Seattle COULD be favored in by game time
Week 2: At Detroit - A lopsided win by Seattle (vs. LAR) and a lopsided loss by Detroit (at Kansas City) in the season openers could tilt the line in Seattle’s favor.
Week 4: MNF vs. the Giants - I’m defaulting to the home team being favored in this one, but the Giants could easily be 1-2 coming in versus a 3-0 Seahawks squad that beat them by 14 points last season . . .
Week 9: At Baltimore - Their Over/Under is 9-1/2 games and they’re at home; Vegas will like them early, but Seattle could (and probably should) have the better record coming into the game. Either way, I think the line will be close (3-1/2 or less).
Week 12: Vs. San Francisco - The early line will definitely favor the Niners since their Over/Under is 3 games higher than ours, but waiting until Week 12 for our first match-up gives the sportsbooks plenty of time to tilt this line in the home team’s favor.
Week 13: At Dallas - This is another line that seems somewhat “destined” to change with the Cowboys (O/U 9.5) getting the early nod and the Seahawks ending up as the favorite by game time.
Games Seattle will probably NOT be favored in
Week 6: At Cincinnati - This could be a battle of unbeatens (Cincy starts off at Cleveland, vs. Baltimore, vs. LAR, at Tennessee, and at Arizona), and Seattle will be coming off their Bye. I doubt it matters though; the home team will get the nod with the sportsbooks.
Week 14: At Santa Clara - Seattle could win the Week 12 matchup by 3 scores and I’m confident that the sportsbooks would still favor the Niners in the rematch.
Week 15: Vs. Philadelphia - Remember that I’m only predicting who will be favored, not who will win.
Fun Fact: The Seahawks are 7-0 vs. the Eagles under the current regime and have won those seven games by an average of 10.6 points, with the Eagles never scoring more than 17.
Final Thoughts
13-4.
Go Hawks!
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