Carolina Panthers @ Seattle Seahawks Week 13 Football Picks

Carolina Panthers @ Seattle Seahawks Week 13 Football Picks: Oh Seattle can’t lose this game, can they? The NFC West playoff spot is right there for the taking, and at 5-6 the Hawks are just a couple wins away from taking the worst division in football. They sit in second (via tie breaker because of their loss to St. Louis) but if they can just go 3-2 the rest of the way, it’s there’s. I expect 8-8 to be the golden .500 mark for the NFC West. But the Seahawks have shown they can easily lose to the teams they should beat.

Seattle took a nice plane ride down to Oakland to play the Raiders 5 weeks ago, and since they are just 1-4 with a victory over the hapless Cardinals down in Arizona. But the 1-4 mark doesn’t even tell have the story. Seattles was out-gained by 380, 325, 70, and 215 yards in their last 4 losses – which means they average 250 yards per game less than their opponents in those 4. I’m sorry, but that puts them right on pace to be the team that snaps Carolina’s 5-game losing streak. But, in a completely different light, it’s very hard to find a reason why Carolina will win another game this season. What do they have? Nothing.

Their running game has come back to life a little in the last few weeks – but Seattle is pretty solid against the run, and especially against teams that aren’t prolific on the ground. Jimmy Clausen played better last week, I actually believed for a while that he could be a decent starter in the league one day – but the Hawks defense is playing fast (despite getting torched by the Chiefs on the ground last week). I think they should give Jimmy trouble.

It will all come down to what Seattle team comes to play – the guys that have beaten up on the poor or the team that has been crushed by their own mistakes. 6 points is a lot for a bad team to give up, but against the worst team, it might just be understandable.

Carolina Panthers @ Seattle Seahawks (-6)