Two of the top teams in football square off in the early set of games on Sunday as the Seattle Seahawks take their act to Texas, to do battle with Matt Schaub and the Houston Texans. Seattle enters Week 4 currently looking like the most complete team in football, and the very early Super Bowl favourites. That said, their play away from the friendly confines of Seattle is well documented and they do struggle on the road, and in early 1:00 starts in the Eastern time zone. It will be interesting to see how Pete Carroll’s squad reacts to yet another tough spot. For the Texans, they’re coming off another harsh loss on the road to Baltimore. Their offense was stagnant, and they know improvements need to be made if they want to revert to their form of last season. It’s truly a watershed game for the Texans’ future and the remainder of their season. Read on below for our first selection of Week 4 and game thoughts on what promises to be quite the contest.
Seahawks at Texans Betting Odds:
Spread:
Seattle Seahawks -3 (+100)
@ Houston Texans +3 (-120)
Total:
Over 42 (-110)
Under 42 (-110)
Betting odds provided by Bovada.lv
Seahawks at Texans Pick:
Expect a very desperate Houston team entering Week 4. It was very evident throughout the Week that the Texans were embarrassed with their performance last week in Baltimore and view this game as a real opportunity to strut their stuff. New addition to the secondary, Ed Reed, has already gone so far as to deem this match-up a potential “Super Bowl preview.” While that is likely overstating things on the Texans end, they have the potential, it is just a matter of showing it on a consistent basis.
Speaking of consistency, that word is virtually non-existent in Seattle when assessing their play at home compared to it on the road. At home, they are simply dominant, but on the road they look like your average 8-8 squad. Let’s not forget Seattle lost to the Cards, Rams, Lions, and Dolphins on the road last season. Since 2005 Seattle is 70% against the spread at home, but just 39% on the road. That is a huge dichotomy and this game in Houston is by no means an easy contest to reverse their fortunes.
Houston struggled last week offensively, but much of that can be attributed to the absence of key target Andre Johnson who had to leave the game early. Johnson is likely back for Sunday’s contest and should be a big threat down the field against the Seahawks’ lethal secondary. That is definitely a match-up worth watching.
One of Seattle’s biggest strengths is rushing the football, an area where they likely won’t get anything going on Sunday. The Texans will be able to hang around because of how effective they are at stifling the running game of their opponents. Houston is fifth in the NFL at rushing yards per carry, and should be able to keep Russell Wilson to third-and-long situations for much of the game.
When it comes down to it, backing the Seahawks on the road is always scary. The Texans are better than they showed last week and will use this game to prove that to the football world. Russell Wilson, like his team struggles away from CenturyLink Field, and in his nine career road starts, Wilson has 10 touchdown passes, but also committed 10 turnovers. Seattle away from home scares nobody, including the Texans. In a low-scoring affair, side with the home team to not only get the cover, but emerge victorious in a very narrow fashion.
PICK = Houston +3 (-120)