{"id":6033,"date":"2018-12-07T10:30:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T00:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/?p=6033"},"modified":"2018-12-11T14:55:32","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T04:55:32","slug":"nfl-week-14-seattle-seahawks-vs-minnesota-vikings-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/2018\/12\/nfl-week-14-seattle-seahawks-vs-minnesota-vikings-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 14 – Seattle Seahawks vs Minnesota Vikings Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Week 14 of the NFL season concludes with an exciting NFC matchup as the Seattle Seahawks play host to the Minnesota Vikings. Both of these sides come into this match with playoff aspirations and currently occupy the #5 and #6 seeds in the NFC. After a shaky start to the season, the Seahawks have registered 3 consecutive conference wins to currently sit at 7-5. After making it to the NFC Championship game last year, the Vikings have had an inconsistent campaign and currently find themselves 6-5-1. Let\u2019s take a look at our 3 best bets on the board in this crucial NFC matchup.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Where to Watch:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0ESPN, 7 Mate or NFL Game Pass, Tuesday 12:20 pm<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n
Seattle Seahawks<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The Seahawks have saved their season in recent weeks, sitting at 7-5 and the outright #5 seed in the NFC. This is in large part due to improved play from their offence, which has put up at least 27 points in each of their last 4 games. QB Russell Wilson is having a truly excellent campaign, throwing for 2700 yards and 29 touchdowns to just 5 interceptions. Running Backs Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny are starting to form an excellent 1-2 punch, combining for just under 1300 yards from scrimmage this season. Against a tough Vikings defence, the Seattle offence will need to be at their best here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Seahawks are also playing some of their best defensive ball of the season, holding the 49ers to just 16 points last week. They did a particularly strong job in rush defence, allowing just 66 yards on the Niners 23 carries. Whilst they did allow 414 passing yards to QB Nick Mullens, a fair amount of this came in garbage time. In Bobby Wagner, Seattle has\u00a0one of the premier Linebackers in football, more than capable of wreaking havoc on opposing offences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The 6-5-1 Vikings have had an inconsistent season so far, entering this important matchup after losing 3 of their last 5 games. Despite a poor performance last week, Kirk Cousins has been largely very good this season. The newly-acquired QB has completed 71% of his passes this season, throwing 23 touchdowns to just 9 interceptions. In Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen and Kyle Rudolph, he has a trio of excellent pass catchers to throw to. If Dalvin Cook can provide some more explosive plays out of the backfield, this Vikings offence could really reach a new level.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensively, the Vikings have been largely strong this season. The only two games they\u2019ve allowed 30 or more all season was against the Saints and the Rams, widely considered to be two of the NFL\u2019s best offences.\u00a0They somewhat struggled against New England last week however, allowing over 470 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Patriots were able to control the game on the ground, running for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns on their 39 carries. Tom Brady was also extremely efficient, completing 24\/32 throws for over 311 yards. Against an improving Seahawks offence, the Vikings defence will need to be on their game here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bets<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n
Seahawks -3<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

The Seahawks have historically had one of the best home\u00a0field advantages in the NFL. The acoustics of the stadium really accentuate crowd noise and make it difficult for opposing offences. This trend has continued so far this season, with the Seahawks only losing at home to the Rams and Chargers. Russell Wilson is playing some of the best ball of his impressive career right now, and the Seahawks enjoy the clear edge at QB in this one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Minnesota has also struggled mightily on the road this season, winning only 2 of 6 games. They\u2019ve been particularly outclassed by their better opponents, losing by 14 to New England last week. At only 3 points, I believe there is significant line value on the Seahawks here. All we essentially need is a win here, which I\u2019m confident Seattle can achieve with their home\u00a0field advantage and matchup edge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over 45 points<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

Seahawks games have trended towards\u00a0the over in recent weeks, which I expect to continue here. Each of their last 4 games has\u00a0resulted in 51 or more points and I believe the market has been a bit slow to catch up. With deep-threat receivers like Tyler Lockett and Jaron Brown, the Seahawks have an explosive but underrated offence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason for this seemingly low total is Minnesota\u2019s offensive struggles of late, only totalling 45 or more points in 1 of their last 4 games. That said, this is a talented Vikings offence that just hasn\u2019t quite put it together. Kirk Cousins is a more than serviceable QB and I can see the Seahawks having some difficulties matching up with his excellent receiving corps. With both of these offences capable of putting up big plays, over 45 is the clear bet in the totals market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seahawks 1<\/b>st<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Half -2<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

In another game where I\u2019m very confident in my line bet, I\u2019m going to double down on the Seahawks here. This is a crucial game for the Seahawks season and a home win here dramatically increases their playoff odds. Century Link Field can be a very difficult place for opponents to play and I expect Seattle to race out to a fast start here. With the better team, better Quarterback, and an excellent home field advantage, I\u2019m very happy taking the Seahawks under the key number of 3 in the first half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Score Prediction:<\/b>\u00a0Seattle Seahawks 27-21 Minnesota Vikings\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week 14 of the NFL season concludes with an exciting NFC matchup as the Seattle Seahawks play host to the Minnesota Vikings. Both of these sides come into this match with playoff aspirations and currently occupy the #5 and #6 seeds in the NFC. After a shaky start to the season, the Seahawks have registered…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,344],"tags":[400,85,73,2144,276,47,48,234,2077,168,2099,72],"hub_post_cat":[],"class_list":["post-6033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-football","category-sports","tag-american-football","tag-betting","tag-betting-preview","tag-gridiron","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-betting","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-tips","tag-odds","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-tips"],"acf":{"md_tip_date":null,"md_tip_date_end":null,"md_market_url":"","tip_date":"07\/12\/2018","event_country":"Australia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6033"},{"taxonomy":"hub_post_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub_post_cat?post=6033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}