The Seattle Seahawks are two-time defending NFC champions, but they appear to be a bit unsteady heading into the Sunday Night Football game against the Green Bay Packers. Seattle allowed an unfathomable 34 points against the St. Louis Rams in a Week 1 overtime loss, and now face the prospects of needing to beat the Packers in their house or become 0-2.
TV: NBC
Time: 8:25 p.m. EST
Online: NBCSports.com
Mobile: Verizon Mobile (subscription needed)
Odds: GB (-4)
Seattle is going to be without Kam Chancellor, who is still holding out for a new deal despite having three years remaining on his five-year, $30 million contract. Chancellor wants to be shown more respect by general manager John Schneider, who has doled out extensions for Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner over the past two years. Of course, Chancellor is already playing on his original extension, leaving player and team on opposite sides of the fence.
Meanwhile, Green Bay took care of the Chicago Bears in Week 1 at Soldier Field. The Packers are without star receiver Jordy Nelson for the season after tearing his ACL in the second week of the preseason, but they have plenty of firepower on the outside with Randall Cobb, James Jones and DaVante Adams.
The main matchup to watch will be Aaron Rodgers against the Seattle secondary. The Legion of Boom is currently on hiatus, with Chancellor holding out and Byron Maxwell having been replaced by Cary Williams. Last year, the Packers isolated Sherman by not throwing once in his direction. It will be interesting to see if Rodgers tests Sherman this year, or consistently picks on Williams.
Should Green Bay win the contest, it has a huge advantage on the Seahawks. The Packers will have a two-game lead for the race towards home-field advantage and hold the tiebreaker.