On Sunday, the high scoring Los Angeles Rams travel east to take on the desperate Tennessee Titans. The Rams are in a position to clinch the NFC West Division for the first time since 2003 if they can beat the Titans this weekend. Tennessee is fighting for its playoff life as they’re now in a 3-way tie with the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens for the final 2 AFC Wild Card spots. Kickoff inside Nissan Stadium is at 1 PM ET.
Since their epic Super Bowl encounter in January 2000, the Rams and Titans have played 3 more times. Tennessee has gone 2-1 against the Rams during that span and have won the last 2 meetings by a combined score of 75 to 28.
Los Angeles (10-4) has a fantastic 6-1 record on the road and comes into this matchup having won 3 of their last 4 games. Their only road loss of the season was 5 weeks ago at Minnesota. The Rams are coming off an impressive blowout victory over the Seahawks and most likely knocked their divisional foe out of playoff contention. This week, the Rams look to do the same to the Titans.
Tennessee (8-6) has an impressive 5-1 home record, but has lost 2 straight and 3 of their last 5 games. They have fallen into a tie for the last playoff spots and need a win this weekend to stay ahead of the pack of teams chasing them down. Tennessee needs to find some offense during the week if they want to hang with the high scoring Rams.
The spread opened with the Rams favored by 6.5 points and it remains unchanged with most books. The Over/Under opened at 49 points and it has come down to 47.5 total points.
The Rams come into this matchup scoring 31.3 ppg, tied for 1st in the league with the Eagles. Their offense is 10th in the league with 366 total ypg, 12th in passing at 253.8 ypg, and 7th in rushing with 123.9 ypg. Over their last 4 games, they’ve averaged nearly 34 ppg and are red hot right now.
The Rams are led by running back Todd Gurley who is 3rd in the league with 1,187 rushing yards and leads the NFL with 17 touchdowns. 2nd year QB Jared Goff also deserves credit for his stellar season as he’s thrown for 3,503 yards, 24 TDs and just 7 interceptions.
I don’t believe the Titans defense can stop this offense. The last team that the Titans played with a comparable offense to the Rams was the Steelers and Tennessee lost 40-17. I see this game being similar in score as I believe the Rams are going to crush a falling Titans team. Tennessee is good against the run at just 87.2 ypg, so Gurley won’t duplicate his awesome performance from last week when he scored 4 touchdowns and totaled 152 yards on the ground. But, I do see him scoring 2 TDs this week as the Rams offense will move the ball up and down the field on a Titans team that allows 260.1 passing ypg. I expect Goff to throw for nearly 300 yards and open up the field for Gurley to run and wear down the Titans defense late in the game.
Defensively, the Rams are coming on strong as they squashed the Seahawks on the road and only allowed 7 points. For the year, they allow just 19.4 ppg. They will cause a lot of problems for Titans QB Marcus Mariota who has 14 interceptions on the year. That’s 2 more picks than touchdown throws (12). The Rams do give up 120.8 rushing ypg and that is where the Titans do shine on offense with 115.7 rushing ypg. However, with no real passing consistency over the last 5 weeks, I expect the Rams to stack the box and force Mariota to throw the ball. Ultimately, Mariota will make a few mistakes and the Rams won’t take their foot off the gas pedal until they’ve won the game 34-16.
The Rams are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games, 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road games, and 7-3 ATS as a favorite this year. The Titans are 4-8 ATS in their last 12 games as an underdog of 3.5 to 9.5 points and are 4-5 ATS in their last 9 games against an opponent with a winning record.