Early NFL picks, predictions for Week 1 of 2023 season

Los Angeles Rams (5-12) @ Seattle Seahawks (9-8)

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET, Lumen Field, Seattle

The 2023 season opens up out West with a battle between two NFC West rivals that went completely opposite directions than what the masses assumed in the 2022 season.

The Los Angeles Rams were fresh off of a Super Bowl win, but injuries and offseason losses absolutely decimated their hopes of repeating, even as division champions. The Rams were barely even a shell of the team that we saw dominate in 2021 en route to a Super Bowl win.

The Seahawks were expected to be bad after trading Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos and opening up a camp battle for the starting QB job with Geno Smith and Drew Lock. Nobody could have known that Geno Smith would go out and win NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

But he did.

Now, it’s Matthew Stafford’s turn — along with wide receiver Cooper Kupp — to go out and make a bid for that particular award. The Rams are going to be a young team in some areas, but they certainly have veteran experience where it matters. And they have great coaching.

Speaking of, Pete Carroll deserves a ton of credit for not just keeping the Seahawks afloat last year, but getting them back to the playoffs considering the circumstances. This team is going to run the ball and play physical in that phase of the game.

As far as NFL picks, it’s so early anyway but it’s way too early to know just what these two teams are going to look like in terms of the players the Rams have coming back from injuries. I think if Matthew Stafford is healthy, as well as Cooper Kupp, the Rams win this one.

Prediction: Rams win 23-21