New England Patriots vs Los Angeles Rams Betting Predictions, Lines, Picks & Odds
For this week’s edition of Thursday Night Football, the Patriots (6-6 SU, 6-6 ATS), back in the playoffs hunt, are traveling across the country to take on the Rams (8-4 SU, 7-5 ATS) in a rematch of the Super Bowl LIII. Both teams are entering the matchup in good spirits, the Patriots after the 45-0 demolition of the Chargers and the Rams coming out of a quality road win in Arizona.
New England Patriots vs Los Angeles Rams Betting Line Movement
The Patriots opened as the +6 underdogs and with some early action backing them, the line dropped slightly to +5. We are obviously not used to seeing New England as the underdog by this many points in the Bill Belichick era, and when they have been valued like this, they’ve gone 10-5 against the spread, winning six times straight up. The total held steady for most of the week and currently stands at 44.5.
Notes On The New England Patriots
Not so long ago, the Patriots were seen as heading steadily towards the top of the draft and the losing season. But, Bill Belichick managed to work his magic once again and after four wins in the last five games, New England has emerged as a potential wild-card contender. The offense did a great job last week, although the special team deserves a fair share of the praise as they were responsible for 2 New England touchdowns on Sunday. Still, it’s the defense that was the key in these four wins, and in this department, the Patriots are finally starting to look like the defensive juggernaut they were last year. Bill Belichick opted to keep the team on the West Coast between the two LA games, so the short week shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Cam Newton has thrown for under 100 yards for the second straight week and his total of only 5 passing touchdowns for the whole season makes him an extremely unreliable fantasy option. He did score two rushing touchdowns against the Chargers but you can’t count on him doing it every week. This also decreases the value of his receiving corp. The rushing offense provides some options, but they’re not that great either. RB Damian Harris is leading the team in rushing yards and carries, but he has only 2 touchdowns to his name this year.
Notes On The Los Angeles Rams
Following the home loss to the 49ers, the Rams managed to bounce back and come back triumphant from Arizona, beating the Cardinals 38-28. They are tied with Seattle at the top of the NFC West at the moment, and the win on Sunday will get them much closer to securing the playoff berth. QB Jared Goff was solid in Arizona, throwing for 351 yards and a touchdown. More importantly, he threw no interceptions which have been a big issue for him so far. He now has thrown for 10 picks against just 17 touchdowns. On Sunday, he faces the defense that shut down Kyler Murray and Justin Herbert and will have to improve even more for the Rams to get something out of this game. The defense remains the better part of this team and now ranks 1st against the pass and 3rd against the run.
It’s hard to trust Jared Goff against this New England defense and probably the best fantasy options in the Rams team are in the backfield. Rookie Cam Akers has firmly established himself as a top rushing option and was very active last week with 21 carries.
NFL Week 14 Betting Predictions: New England Patriots
The Patriots have worked hard to get back in the playoff contention and it’s hard to see them letting go now. The duel between two of the in-form NFL defenses will probably result in a tight game likely to be decided by a couple of points.
