The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 14 Seattle Seahawks vs Los Angeles Rams Sunday Night Football game on December 8, 2019 at 8:20 pm ET.
Seattle | Rank | @ | LA Rams | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
-1 | Spread | 1 | ||
24.5 | Implied Total | 23.5 | ||
27.4 | 5 | Points/Gm | 23.6 | 12 |
24.4 | 23 | Points All./Gm | 20.8 | 13 |
66.2 | 8 | Plays/Gm | 64.2 | 14 |
63.2 | 16 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 67.4 | 31 |
47.4% | 4 | Rush% | 38.3% | 20 |
52.6% | 29 | Pass% | 61.7% | 13 |
34.3% | 2 | Opp. Rush % | 41.8% | 20 |
65.7% | 31 | Opp. Pass % | 58.2% | 13 |
- The Seahawks are the only undefeated road team in the league and have won six consecutive road games, their longest road winning streak in franchise history.
- The past three meetings between these teams have had 59, 67, and 64 combined points scored.
- The Rams lead the league in 20-plus yard play differential at plus-31.
- Russell Wilson is averaging 18.2 fantasy points per game on the road as opposed to 26.4 per game at home, the largest differential for any quarterback in the league.
- 18.1% of Wilson's completions have gained 20 or more yards, sixth among all passers with 100 or more pass attempts on the season.
- 8.9% of the completions allowed by the Rams have gained 20 more yards, the lowest rate in the league. League average is 15.0%.
- The average touchdown length against the Rams is 10.1 yards, the lowest in the league.
- The average touchdown scored by the Rams on offense is 9.3 yards, the lowest in the league.
- Jared Goff has just one passing touchdown on throws 15 yards or further downfield, the fewest among full-season starting quarterbacks. He had nine touchdowns on those throws in 2018, tied for sixth in the league.
- Cooper Kupp leads the league in targets (42), catches (29), yards (481), touchdowns (four), and first downs (21) on third downs this season.
On the Cusp (proxy of a player’s average)
- Russell Wilson: Wilson continued his pedestrian stretch last week with a QB16 (16.9 points) week. It was his fifth time in six games closing the weeks as the QB16 or lower. But Wilson has been a top-5 scorer in each of his past three games versus the Rams, throwing 10 touchdown passes in those games with an extra 124 rushing yards despite passing for 198, 176, and 268 yards in those games. This Rams defense is a bit different than the one Wilson faced in Week 5. Since that game, the Rams have allowed just one QB1 scoring week and 6.2 yards per pass attempt, but have faced just three top-12 scorers on the season over that stretch in Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Matt Ryan.
- Robert Woods: Woods has 26.2% (7-95), 24.3% (6-97), and 42.2% (13-172) of the team targets over his past three games played with three top-20 weeks despite still failing to reach the end zone in the receiving game yet this season.
- Cooper Kupp: After three straight games with single-digit scoring, Kupp bounced back last week with a 6-65-1 game. He’s cleared those 65 yards just one other time over his previous seven games, but had a big 9-117-1 line on 17 targets when these teams played earlier in the season. If we like Goff, we inherently like Kupp.
- SEA RBs: Chris Carson (39 snaps) and Rashaad Penny (35 snaps) continued to split work last week, but it didn’t impact Carson’s bottom line in Week 13 as he had 24 touches for 109 yards and a touchdown. Penny added 19 touches for 107 yards and two scores. The one area where Penny really made an impact was catching four passes on 19 pass routes while Carson caught one pass on just 12 routes. The Rams rank 14th in rushing points allowed to backfields per game (12.5) but that will be a vacation for the Seahawks who have faced four top-10 teams in the same category over their past four games and have averaged 169.8 yards per game through their backs in those games.
- Todd Gurley: Gurley has given us flashes lately that he still has some juice left. He’s had games of 20 touches for 115 yards and 28 touches for 133 yards over his past three games. His production is still anchored by touchdown output (36.1% of his fantasy scoring is from touchdowns) and he’s had more than three catches in just one game this season, but it’s hard to be upset by 100-yard games after he topped 73 yards just once over his first eight games of the season. Gurley had 18 touches for 57 yards when these teams played in Week 5, but found the end zone twice.
- D.K. Metcalf: Metcalf has turned into a high floor option, finishing as a WR3 or better option in four of his past five games. He’s had six or more receptions in three of his past four. There’s a chance that Jalen Ramsey could match up more with Metcalf over Tyler Lockett given Metcalf (6’3” 229 pounds) has such a massive size advantage on both Troy Hill (5’11” 183) and Nickell Robey-Coleman (5’8” 180). The Rams have also used Ramsey to start shadowing receivers, even in the slot. Over his past three games, Ramsey has allowed six catches for 51 yards in coverage.
- Jacob Hollister: The yards per catch (8.1) are pedestrian, but Hollister has had 24.0% of the team targets over the past three games, with six or more receptions in two of the past three. The Rams are 20th in yards per target (7.6) allowed to tight ends.
If You Must (intriguing bench option or deeper league play)
- Jared Goff: If you’ve been following this post all season, you know when it comes to Goff, we care about one thing firsthand and that is pressure rate. Goff has faced five teams in the bottom-10 in the league in pressure rate and in those five games, he’s been a top-12 scorer in all five and average 8.7 yards per pass attempt. In his other seven games, he’s been a QB1 just once and the QB23 or lower in six with 6.4 yards per pass attempt. One of those games was against Seattle, who rank 30th in pressure rate (18.0%) and 29th in sacks (23) on the season where Goff was the QB12 (17.9 points). Seattle hasn’t allowed any quarterback to thrown more than two touchdown passes in a season.
- Tyler Lockett: It’s come to this with Lockett for a few reasons. Lockett was sick last week and coming off a leg injury the week prior, but he’s played 86.2% and 88.0% of the snaps in those weeks as well and totaled just five targets and one catch for 38 yards. Lockett has had more than six targets in just two of his past nine games with more than seven in just one of those weeks. We can’t project volume for him and when he does get looks, he has to be hyper-efficient with them. The Rams allow the lowest rate of explosive pass plays in the league.
- Tyler Higbee: Higbee was already playing more than Gerald Everett the two games prior to last week. He has six (16.2%) and eight (17.8%) targets the past two games and is coming off a career-high 7-107-1 game. He won't get the Cardinals this week, but the Seahawks are also a favorable matchup for opposing tight ends. Tight ends have scored 21.9% of the fantasy points allowed by Seattle, which trails only Arizona (24.0%). Rams tight ends caught 10-of-14 targets for 183 yards when these teams met in Week 5.
More Week 14 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet:
DAL at CHI | DET at MIN | BAL at BUF | SF at NO | IND at TB | CIN at CLE | DEN at HOU | WAS at GB | CAR at ATL | MIA at NYJ | LAC at JAX | TEN at OAK | KC at NE | PIT at ARI | SEA at LAR | NYG at PHI