Seattle Seahawks vs Los Angeles Chargers 8/18/18 Odds, Preview and Prediction

The Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Chargers collide at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles on Saturday, August 18, 2018 in Week 2 of the 2018 NFL preseason.

The Seahawks and Chargers each finished with a 9-7 record last season and both placed second in their respective conferences with Seattle finishing behind the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC West while the Charges coming up second to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. Both teams failed to make the playoffs last season.

Both squads are also coming off losses in their preseason opener last week. The Seahawks suffered a two-point loss at home to the Indianapolis Colts while the Chargers dropped at 17-24 contest to the Cardinals in Arizona.

Strong Performance From Shaquem Griffin

The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Indianapolis Colts 19-17 in last Thursday’s preseason encounter. The Seattle offense looked bad for the most part of the game but that was expected since starting quarterback Russell Wilson only played one series and went 4-5 for 43 yards with 1 touchdown.

Back-up quarterbacks Austin Davis and Alex McGough could not duplicate Wilson’s strong effort as they combined to throw for a total of 99 passing yards without a touchdown and one interception. Chris Carson paced the Seahawks with 26 rushing yards on four carries while David Moore had 35 receiving yards on two catches and Nick Vannett catching 2 passes for 20 yards including a touchdown.

But while the offense sputtered, there was a bright spot in the Seattle defense as Shaquem Griffin delivered a strong performance with a team-high 9 tackles. The one-handed linebacker from Central Florida, who was the Seahawks fifth-round pick in the 2018 draft, isn’t sure of making the final team yet but given how he played last week plus the positive reviews by the coaches, he may have a spot on the Seahawks’ regular roster.

Like the Seahawks, the Los Angeles Chargers lost their preseason opener on the road. The Chargers suffered a 17-24 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in a game where starting quarterback Philip Rivers sat out. In Rivers’ absence, it was former Ohio State star Cardale Jones who got the most exposure. Jones played almost the entire first half while converting on 6 out of 12 passes for a total of 50 passing yards without a touchdown or turnover.

Geno Smith, the man Jones is competing with for the backup job, finished the game at 14-23 for 218 yards with one touchdown and one interception. A third play caller in Nic Shimonek went 8-14 for a total of 39 yards. Austin Ekeler led the Chargers’ ground game with five carries for 22 yards. Artavis Scott and Geremy Davis combined for 122 receiving yards on nine catches with one touchdown.

On defense, it was Roschell who led Los Angeles with four tackles. Uchenna Nwosu recorded one sack while Brandon Facyson forced one turnover for the Charges. However, the Chargers offense coughed up the ball four times and despite having 12 more first downs and running 28 more plays than the Cardinals, the Chargers lost the game.

Who Wins?

The Seahawks have won seven of their last nine preseason games while the Chargers have won just once in their last seven preseason games. But that’s as far as an advantage as the Seahawks have on the Chargers, really.

Los Angeles could have easily won their preseason opener had it not been for four costly turnovers. Their back-ups played well, their offense was solid and their defense good despite giving up 24 points in week 1. In fact, the Cardinals went 0-11 on their third downs against the Chargers.

On the other hand, the Seahawks weren’t as good as their 17-19 scored would indicate. They were down 19-10 when the Colts snapped the ball on top of their quarterback’s head and into the end zone for the gift. Seattle looked bad offensively regardless of who was in the field. There’s no reason to think that the Seahawks’ offense would be different, unless Russell Wilson is going to get his regular minutes- which he isn’t going to on Saturday.

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