Game: Minnesota Vikings @ Seattle Seahawks
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Odds: Vikings +3.5, Seahawks -3.5
Total: 35
The Minnesota Vikings head to Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, to take on the Seahawks in Week 1 of the NFL preseason. The Vikings are coming off a fantastic season in 2022 going into the 2023 campaign, but they did suffer a heartbreaking playoff loss to the Giants. Given that the Vikings were 11-0 in games decided by eight points or less during the regular season, many people believe that the team was extremely fortunate to finish with such a strong record.
Despite going 13-4, Minnesota actually ended the season having given up more points than they had scored. Kirk Cousins will continue to be the quarterback for the Vikings, but he won’t see any action in this contest tonight. The loss of Dalvin Cook, who will be replaced by Alexander Mattison, is one of the team’s biggest losses. There won’t be many starters on the field for this game, and Nick Mullens is the front-runner to start at quarterback tonight.
Seattle went 9-8 last year and qualified for the playoffs. They were beaten by the San Francisco 49ers 41-23 in the first round of the postseason. The Seahawks’ 2022 season was interesting because after starting 6-3, they finished 3-5 and almost missed the playoffs. Seattle, which placed ninth in points scored, was pretty strong on offense for the majority of the season. The Seahawks’ defense, on the other hand, gave up more than 23 points per game, ranking 25th in the NFL. That’s uncharacteristic of a Pete Carroll defense.
Seattle will once again start Geno Smith under center this season, but it is highly unlikely that he will participate tonight. Drew Lock and Holton Ahlers will take the majority of the reps at quarterback for the Seahawks. It will be interesting to see who can have an immediate impact here given that Seattle was able to acquire some solid playmakers in the draft.
Last year, the Vikings scored 40 points in three preseason games and went 0-3. Kevin O’Connell was in his first season as Minnesota’s head coach and he spent the better part of the preseason trying to figure out personnel in key positions. This preseason will likely focus on adjusting and adapting to new defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ defense. Flores was the former head coach in Miami.
The Seahawks are 1-5 over the past two preseasons. Head coach Pete Carroll doesn’t have too many position battles to be concerned with. He will sit most of his starters, if not all of them for most of the preseason. The one advantage the Seahawks may have over the Vikings is quality depth.
As is typical, tonight’s total is just 35. Scoring is typically lower in the preseason. Interestingly, the Under went 4-1 in Seattle’s last five games last season. In the series between these two teams in the regular season, the Under is 6-3 in the last nine meetings.
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