WASHINGTON REDSKINS @ SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 
Vegas Line: Redskins + 3
Rob’s Line: Redskins + 4.5
These are heady days in Seattle and all of a sudden fans in the Pacific North West can look forward to football on a Sunday. The Seahawks victory over the Ravens two weeks ago was far from pretty, but it was never going to be. What happened that day, apart from causing widespread celebration in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, instilled belief in the ‘Hawks that they’re not as bad as everybody made them out to be.
Yes, Baltimore have a habit of playing down to their opponents’ level, but all season long Seattle’s had a solid defense and when you saw them drafting offensive linemen with their first two picks in this year’s Draft, you saw a team looking to win football games in future the old school way.
This is the only fixture in the NFL where you can legitimately write that the away team travels to a place with the same name. It’s a wonderful quirk, but Washington travelling to Washington for a road game is a little gem I just had to wheel out. Please excuse me my indulgence, reader.
The Redskins played fantastically against Dallas last week, only going down in overtime and it was the best they’d played since beating the Rams in Week 4. There is a galaxy load of mitigating circumstances behind Washington’s demise this season and practically all of them injury related, but what doesn’t seem to be in doubt is that they possess a far better chance of winning when Rex Grossman is in at quarteback. It’s anybody’s guess as to whether he’ll remain in the capital beyond this season, but if he does it’d probably only be as a backup.
I’ve never before seen a quarterback throw two interceptions on his first two throws, but it’s exactly what Seattle QB Tarvaris Jackson did last week in St. Louis. That he came back from that probably says more for the Seahawks defense than it does Jackson as they helped strangle both Steven Jackson and Sam Bradford as Seattle ran out comfortable 24-7 winners. If they could pick a team to play against at home this week, chasing a .500 record for the first time this season, a disjointed Washington team would be high on the list and that’s without mentioning the cross country trip they have to make for this one.
Not only did (Tarvaris) Jackson cope admirably last week, but so did his offensive line, missing, as they are, the rookie combo of right guard John Moffitt and right tackle James Carpenter. Running back Marshawn Lynch still rushed for 88 yards and he looks to be enjoying himself all over again. However, the Redskins are surprisingly good on defense, ranking 18th against the run and 10th against the pass and this could be a low scoring affair for those of you who like to bet on the over/under.
Totally unrelated to my Seahawk allegiance, I really like Seattle here. The aforementioned journey to the West coast probably hasn’t done the Redskins any favours and that comes on top of an emotional loss to the Cowboys. Be still my beating heart, but the Seahawks to cover.
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