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NFL Week 1
Seahawks at Bills
The final year of the Mike Holmgren era begins this Sunday at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium, where the longtime head coach brings his Seattle Seahawks in for a season-opening interconference matchup with the Bills. Seahawks relised their long time RB, Shaun Alexander in off season, after pretty bad 2 seasons, but they left most of their Pro Bowl players signing with them luckrative deals (quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, offensive tackle Walter Jones, defensive end Patrick Kerney, middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu and cornerback Marcus Trufant).
Seahawks are well known pass happy team, and they will continue to produce big numbers in that area. QB Matt Hasselbeck (3966 passing yards, 28 TD, 12 INT in '07) will not have 2 of his favorite recivers in Sundays game, because Bobby Engram (94 receptions, 1147 yards, 6 TD), will miss up to month with a cracked bone in his shoulder, and Deion Branch (49 receptions, 4 TD), who hasn't fully recovered from ACL surgery. For the running game, after Alexander departure, Seahawks signed ex-Cowboy Julius Jones (588 rushing yards, 2 TD, 23 receptions) in an effort to boost a ground game that ranked a disappointing 20th in the league (101.2 ypg) during 2007. Still big problem last year was underachiving offensive line, who had problems opening lines for RBs, and defending Matt H against blitzes.
Buffalo, on the other hand, has not reached the playoffs since 1999 and recorded its third losing season in a row with last year's 7-9 finish. Still Buffalo managed to sign some interesting players in off season, three-time Pro Bowl tackle Marcus Stroud in a trade with Jacksonville for example.
Seattle has an edge on the Bills in experience and overall talent, but the Seahawks have also shown a tendency to come up short on the road in recent years. They have real problems on the road, and I think young Bills team can snatch this season opener.
Bills -1 @1.96 Pinnacle 6/10
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