Dear Seattle Seahawks Fan,

I really hope that our Seahawks are able to beat these dreaded Los Angeles Rams this weekend. I need this. I’m going to guess you might need it, too.

This has been kind of a sucky year for our team. It started in the off-season with Russell Wilson grumbling about the team’s failure to sufficiently put together a decent offense line for him over the years, which that led to a weird list of teams he would be willing to waive his no trade clause for. It followed by the team inexplicably not finding him a better center either through free agency or the draft. Then the defense started the season on a historically bad pace again, Russ got injured, Chris Carson got injured (again), and Jamal Adams played well under expectations before he got injured and done for the season.

The result of all this, of course, is the Seahawks sitting at 5-8 with only the faintest of hopes of post season play if they win out, and enough teams in front of them lose enough games. Not an ideal spot to be in when it was said that Seattle and Russ were going to put any notion of trade talk on the back burner to see how the season would go for him and the team with Shane Waldron as the new offensive coach.

Thus anytime we fire up an internet search for our team, we have to sift through all the trade speculation articles that are coming out more and more and more now. Not a lot of fun for the likes of me.

So, gosh darn it all, wouldn’t it be fun if we could just sit down in front of the tube, and witness our Seahawks beating the Rams on the road this Sunday?

Can we just have this gift?

It feels like Mother Nature is practically gifting it to us with Covid running rampant in all the LA strip clubs where now over 20 members of the Rams roster have contracted the virus. The Rams could be without such prominent players as Jalen Ramsey, Odell Beckham Junior, Von Miller, defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day, running back Darrell Henderson, tackle Rob Havenstein, and safety Jordan Fuller. That’s a lot of A-list talent that might not suit up for them.

Given this status down there, can these Seahawks get the W this Sunday? Is it possible?

I really want to say that they can. I want to say that they can gut and scrap and claw themselves to a victory that puts them at 6-8 and on a three game win streak in December. I’m dying to type it out. I’m beyond tempted to do it. I think it’s possible that they could, but it’s not likely going to be easy in any way.

Not going to lie, with Seattle suddenly having Covid now impact their own roster with Tyler Lockett and Alex Collins on the list, that’s not going to make things any easier for Seattle’s offense in this one. This is a bummer.

Lockett, in particular, has been Russell Wilson’s main security blanket in his resurgent play as of late. I’ve personally gotten the vibe while watching the last couple games the Russ has gotten back to where he once belonged by leaning into his mild melding magic with Lockett. I don’t think he has that chemistry with DK Metcalf nearly as much, and I suspect with Lockett out, the Rams are going to shift extra attention towards taking DK out of the picture and force Russ into beating them by throwing to Dee Eskridge and others who the mind melding thingy probably isn’t there yet.

And alas, these are the mother flipping Rams we are talking about, here. Even with all the Covid spreading about their roster, they still have two very big things that work in their favor to secure victory over Seattle this Sunday. Head coach Sean McVay has a comfortable blue print to beating Pete Carroll’s defense, and defensive tackle Aaron Donald makes his living by living well inside the head of Russell Wilson.

Without a consistent pass rush from Seattle, I see it being a very hard time slowing down Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense, and with a gimpy offensive line, I see Donald getting to Russ enough to make his chore of playing catch up in the points column a daunting one. I also see that even though Covid is trying to maybe help Seattle out in this one, the Rams have one of the deepest rosters in the league, and they have one of the very best offensive minded head coaches in the game.

So, I have to put my gut over my heart in this one. My heart really needs to see Seattle sneak out the win this Sunday, but my gut says that they are going to come out short. I think they narrowly lose, though, and I’m going to project a 30-27 loss with possibly Matthew Stafford leading a drive that puts LA on top in the final seconds.

I see a bitter sweet finish, and that feels fitting. There will be some moral victories to take away from this one, but it won’t take the sting out of being 5-9, and firmly out of the playoff picture.

When that happens, you can bet your bottom dollar that all the speculation talk over the futures of Russ and Pete are going to ramp up bigly. The Los Angeles Rams will be all to happy to usher that in for them. They will be on a mission to bury Seattle, possibly end an era, and solidify themselves into the playoffs once again.

Poo.

Go Hawks.