Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks at Patriots: Odds, trends, prediction

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

In the most anticipated match-up of Week 10, the Seattle Seahawks will travel to New England to take on the Patriots.

Sunday Night Football gets a rematch of Super Bowl 49, and as fans we can only hope and pray this one will be as good as advertised.

Both defenses allow under 17 points per game, with Seattle allowing just 16.8 to New England’s 16.5, but New England has the luxury of an offense that essentially plays defense as well. Combine New England’s ball control offense and their third down conversion of 47% and the Patriots offense stays on the field, converts drives, and most importantly keeps them on top on the scoreboard.

Seattle’s offense must not sputter early against New England. This year, Seattle hasn’t been able to create big splash plays down the field, and according to Sporting Charts, they have just 15 passing plays of 25 yards or more, which ranks 18th in the NFL.

New England will take exactly what the defense gives them. It’s universally known that Seattle plays lots of Cover 1/3 looks on defense. Tom Brady is the mastermind of taking everything underneath and giving the defense fits by completing short passes that can lead to big gains with the help of a missed tackle.

Odds

New England is favored by 7.5 points at home in this one. Anyone else finding it hard not to pick Seattle to cover that? Both teams are fundamentally strong and play sound football. If both teams live up to that, this one will go down to the wire. Bill Belichick stated in his weekly press conference that the Seahawks provide the biggest challenge yet for them.

Prediction: New England 27, Seattle 24