The Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay has already decided to rest most of their offensive starters. Also, it has been reported that the majority of the defense is subject to in-game benching based on how the final game of the season against the Seattle Seahawks transpires.
This practice isn’t unusual around the NFL in meaningless Week 18 games. But this game isn’t meaningless. The outcome will determine the final seeding and playoff matchup for the first week of the postseason.
The Seattle Seahawks have already been eliminated from playoff contention but will come into the game motivated to win;
“We are going to go play to win the game,” Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald said. “There’s a standard here of what we’re trying to establish and show off our football character of what type of team we are, what type of people we are, and how we’re going to play.”
Rams Facing Highly Motivated Seahawks QB
But beyond the high-minded esoteric reasons to win this game, quarterback Geno Smith will be looking to secure cold hard cash. According to CBS Sports, Smith is 185 passing yards away from a $2 million bonus. He also needs just over a 69.7% completion rate to hit another $2 million bonus and is a win shy of another $2 million bonus.
The last time the two teams played Smith completed 62 percent of his passes for 363 yards in a losing effort in overtime. On the season, Smith is completing 70.2 percent of his passes for an average of 203 yards per game. Of course, the Rams decisions on what to do with the defense will significantly impact Smith’s ability to hit these numbers.
In terms of securing the win, Vegas has identified the Seahawks as 7.5 point road favorites.
Seattle has already said they have no plans to rest any starters this Sunday and Macdonald is on the record that he wants to put Smith in a position to get to those bonuses, with two small caveats.
“You want your guys to hit those numbers,” Macdonald said. “If it’s within your power, you’re going to try to make that come to life and create as many opportunities for those guys as possible, all within the lens of what’s best for the team and trying to win.”