‘Thursday Night Football’ prediction for Seahawks vs. Cowboys

Here we go again…

The Seattle Seahawks are playing their second of two back-to-back Thursday games, and this week they have the wonderful fortune of taking on the Dallas Cowboys. Even as a Seahawks fan, I am not the least bit surprised to see DraftKings Sportsbook listing them as 8.5-point underdogs to the ‘Boys, who currently sit second in the NFC East. This game could prove to be pivotal for playoff positioning (or even making the playoffs), so both teams have plenty of motivation to pull from. But I think I speak for most of us when I say this matchup is poorly timed for a reeling Seahawks team.

I picked against them the last two weeks…. and unfortunately, I am going to make that three weeks in a row. I don’t think the ‘Hawks are burnt toast at this point, but they are getting there. In the past, Seattle has had a tendency to surprise and pull out an unexpected victory here or there; but do they still have any magic left in the tank? Hardly. They are 1-4 this season as underdogs, with their single win being the victory over the Detroit Lions, according to StatHead. As far as covering the spread in these games? Two out of five.

From what I have observed, the greatest predictor of future performance is past performance. This isn’t always the case (just as Geno Smith), but more often than not, it seems like teams and players generally regress towards the mean. In this sense, I am simply referring to the fact that the Seahawks have demonstrated a number of worrisome trends recently, and some of these — pass protection, play calling — are the exact types of weaknesses that Micah Parsons and the Cowboy can exploit. And sadly, I believe they will.

The pick: Under 46.5 points, Cowboys win and cover