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Another crucial battle in the NFC as playoff positioning becomes important down the final stretch.
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The Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks are right in the middle of the postseason picture, in fact they held down the two wild card spots in the conference heading into the weekend, so that tells us just how critical this game is. And there certainly won’t be a shortage of prop bet options for the Week 14 Monday Night Football clash as the Seahawks go for their fourth straight victory.
Minnesota Vikings at Seattle Seahawks
Date and Time: Monday, December 10, 2018, 8:15 p.m. ET
Location: CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA
NFL Odds: Seahawks -3, O/U 46
Vikings at Seahawks TV Coverage: ESPN
We expected the Vikings to be more prolific on offense with Kirk Cousins running the show, but that hasn’t’ been the case. Sure, Cousins has put up good numbers but he’s been forced to with a run game that ranks 30th in the NFL. Minnesota abandoned the run game in its loss to New England last week and Mike Zimmer said afterwards he should have continued to run the football despite falling behind by a touchdown.
That certainly isn’t a reason to quit running the ball and when the head coach says it was a bad idea, you can expect the Vikings to try and pound the rock against Seattle’s 18th ranked run defense. Dalvin Cook had a nice game last week with 84 yards on nine carries before the Vikings stopped giving him the ball. Minnesota finished with just 13 rush attempts for 95 yards and an impressive 7.3 yards per carry. However, the Vikings moved away from the run in the second half when they fell behind.
The Vikings need to and the Seahawks can, so I fully expect both teams to stick to the run, for the first half at least. Cook and Latavius Murray are two capable backs who have been inconsistent behind an offensive line that’s struggled. But the Vikings are committed and I like what Cook has done since rejoining the lineup. His two best games have come in the last four and he was on his way to a monster outing in New England. Cook will get his carries and I expect him to go over his rushing yard total on a prop bet at BookMaker.eu.
Cousins will throw the ball and he’s more effective when the run game is working. He will have Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs healthy and they are two of the best pass-catchers in the game. If the game plan works the way Zimmer hopes it will, the Vikings will throw less and that limits opportunities for Cousins and his receivers to put up numbers. And with the ball in the hands of Cook and Murray, that should limit the scoring. The Vikings have been sluggish out of the gate averaging just over 10 points per game in the first half. Playing a prop on the under for their first half point total looks like a good bet.
Seattle has gotten back to being a workhorse team on the ground behind a three-pronged attack led by Chris Carson, Mike Davis and Rashaad Penny. The Seahawks lead the NFL with 148.8 yards per game, but they could have a tough time against the Minnesota defense, which allows only 99.8 yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry. The X-factor here is Russell Wilson, one of the most dynamic playmakers. His ability to escape pressure should be what puts the Hawks over the total on their team rushing yards.
The Seahawks don’t throw the football much, but they have a tendency to get sacked when they do. Their 326 pass attempts are the fewest in the NFL, yet they’ve allowed the eighth-most sacks. That sets up well for Minnesota’s front, including Danielle Hunter, who has a team-best 11.5 sacks. Wilson’s escapability in the pocket is also what allows the Seahawks to possess the third-worst sack percentage. The QB will try to make something out of nothing and it costs his club on occasion. Hunter would be a good bet to get a sack and the teams could easily exceed the combined number of sacks on a prop bet at BookMaker.eu considering Cousins has been brought down 30 times.
This has the makings of a grinder game with both teams leaning on the run. That will allow for ball control and time-consuming drives. As long as neither side doesn’t hit too many chunk plays, the under on the scoring total looks like a safe bet at BookMaker.eu.
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