St. Louis Rams (1-2, 1-2 ATS) @ Philadelphia Eagles (3-1, 2-2 ATS)
*ATS= against the spread
BETDAQ Line: Philadelphia -7 (47.5)
Significant Injuries
St. Louis: QB Shaun Hill (questionable– thigh), WR Tavon Austin (questionable– knee), CB Brandon McGee (questionable– foot), CB Trumaine Johnson (out– knee)
Philadelphia: LB Mychal Kendricks (doubtful– calf), C Jason Kelce (out– abdominal), G Evan Mathis (out– knee)
Recent Trends
St. Louis is 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games vs. a team with a winning record
St. Louis is 17-37 ATS in their last 54 road games vs. a team with a winning record
Philadelphia is 8-1 ATS in the last 9 meetings between these 2 teams
Philadelphia is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games vs. NFC opponents
Philadelphia is 7-22-1 ATS in their last 30 home games
The UNDER is 7-1 in St. Louis’ last 7 games overall
The OVER is 4-1 in Philadelphia’s last 5 home games
The UNDER is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between these 2 teams
Three reasons to back St. Louis
1. The Rams are coming off a bye so they’ve had an extra week to prepare for the unique Philadelphia offense, which should give them an edge not usually enjoyed by Philly’s opponents. The fact that the Eagles are a bit discombobulated on offense right now– they managed just 213 total yards in a loss to San Francisco last week– should certainly help the visitors, as well.
2. St. Louis has steadily improved on offense this season and their last game was their best game, as they put up 31 points against a better-than-expected Dallas defense. On Sunday they’ll face an Eagles defense that ranks 29th in yards allowed and surrenders 26 points per game, so they’ll have an excellent opportunity to build on their recent success.
3. Because of injuries to their offensive line the Eagles just haven’t been able to run the ball this season, ranking 24th in rushing yards per game after leading the NFL in that category a year ago. That’s especially problematic because quarterback Nick Foles is coming off the worst back-to-back performances of his brief career. Philadelphia is a team that seems to be moving in the wrong direction, while the Rams are getting better.
Three reasons to back Philadelphia
1. The Eagles are better than St. Louis by any objective measure. They’ve won more games, they’ve had more success against the spread, they score more points, they have more Pro Bowlers… there really isn’t much to like about the Rams in this situation except for the generous point spread, but even that doesn’t seem so “generous” when you consider that Philadelphia averages 30.5 points per game.
2. The Rams are terrible against the run, surrendering a staggering 155 rushing yards per game this season. That’s bad news in this matchup, because the Eagles led the NFL in rushing offense last season and they’re surely eager to get the running game rolling after a quiet couple of weeks for star tailback LeSean McCoy. Plus, Philly gets one of their best offensive lineman, Lane Johnson, back from suspension this week.
3. St. Louis is starting young Austin Davis at quarterback, who has just 2 career starts under his belt and is surrounded by one of the worst collections of skill-position talent in the league. Can Davis possibly outduel Nick Foles and the high-powered Philly offense? Can he even keep it close? Based on what we’ve seen out of both teams this year, it sure doesn’t seem likely.
Prediction
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
