Even with an early season loss to the Cardinals already in the books, many are taking the Rams in the rematch
Despite an early season 41-10 loss at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals, the Los Angeles Rams come in as favorites to cover in the rematch game this Saturday night. Fans nationally don’t seem to be bother by the Rams previous divisional loss, and that’s potentially because LA was dealing with a plethora of injuries during their first meeting with the Cardinals. Now with a clean bill of health for the entire roster, 81% are taking LA to cover the spread and win the game. At the time of the survey, Los Angeles was giving Arizona 5.5 points in the matchup according to FanDuel.
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The Rams playoff chances got a little more complicated after the Seattle Seahawks were able to squeak out a win vs. the Chicago Bears on Thursday. However, there is still a division clinching scenario in play for LA this weekend, with a victory against Arizona being the most important first step. On top of a win vs the Cardinals Saturday, Los Angeles would also need help in the form of four out of these six teams winning their games:
- Vikings win over the Packers
- Bills win over the Jets
- 49ers win over the Lions
- Commanders win over the Falcons
- Bengals win over the Broncos
- Browns win over Miami
If Los Angeles has four out of the six games go the way they need, they would clinch the division based on the strength of victory tie breaker. The Vikings, Bills, Commanders and Bengals are all favored this week, so as long as the Rams also beat the Cardinals, Week 18 could essentially be meaningless for Los Angeles outside of determining the #3 or #4 seeding.
Jared Verse and the defensive unit as a whole struggled to tackle in their first meeting with Arizona, however the young group was only two games into their tenure and have since improved greatly, holding their last three out of four opponents to 14 points or less. LA will also have their full starting offensive line, WR Puka Nacua, TE Tyler Higbee and DB Darious Williams this time around, all of whom missed the previous game.
The Rams cannot start listening and buying into to all of the the playoffs noise just yet though. The Cardinals will be looking to play the role of spoiler tonight, as their post-season chances have already been dashed, and sometimes that can make for an even more dangerous opponent because they have nothing to lose. LA will need to make sure they are on top of their game and focused on the now, because if they want any shot of clinching a playoff spot this weekend, it starts with getting a win first and foremost.
