Seahawks @ Rams Week 11 Game Preview
Jonathan Fuller breaks down the Week 11 matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams from a fantasy football and betting perspective.
Seattle Seahawks @ Los Angeles Rams
This NFC West divisional showdown will see the Rams and Seahawks meet for the second time this season after the Rams took the first meeting 30-13 in Seattle. Despite this, the Seahawks are currently favored by one point on the road after the wheels have fallen off the Rams season a bit in recent weeks.
Much of the Rams' struggles have had to do with the health of Matthew Stafford, who suffered a thumb injury in their Week 8 loss to the Cowboys and then missed their Week 9 loss to the Packers.
Stafford is expected to be back in the lineup this week following the Rams bye, a much-needed boost for the offense. The Rams' offense has been very inefficient in their last two games, ranking 30th in EPA per play. When Stafford was healthy (Weeks 1-7), they ranked seventh in the NFL in offensive EPA per play.
With Stafford back, both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua are really strong fantasy plays against a Seattle defense that ranks below average in terms of fantasy points allowed to opposing WRs.
Kyren Williams isn’t eligible to return until next week, so the backfield will continue to be a split between Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman, who have split work fairly evenly on the ground, but Henderson has offered more fantasy value thanks to his role in the passing game.
Neither RB is a great fantasy option, but with Stafford back, you could do worse than Henderson in your flex spot against a Seattle defense that isn’t scaring anyone.
For the Seahawks, they managed to get a much-needed win in Week 10 after getting destroyed by the Ravens in Week 9. They will likely need to win again to keep pace with the 49ers in the division and maintain their status as a strong playoff contender.
From a fantasy perspective, this is another decent matchup for the Seahawks' top weapons after we saw DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Kenneth Walker all deliver strong fantasy performances last week.
Metcalf and Lockett are both solid fantasy starters this week, ranking as top-30 WR options in the Fantasy Life consensus ranks. Although neither guy delivered in this matchup in Week 1, we’ve seen them both post huge games against the Rams in the recent past, and there are no star defensive backs to worry about shutting down either receiver.
It was encouraging to see Ken Walker get back on track last week with a long TD reception, but fantasy managers do have some cause for concern with Zach Charbonnet’s role growing in recent weeks.
Charbs is nowhere close to flipping Walker on the depth chart, but if he siphons enough work, it could put a real dent in Walker’s fantasy value. Walker is still a top-10 RB for the week, but I’ll be watching their RB utilization closely for hints at how this split will develop in the coming weeks.