The Las Vegas Raiders (5-7 SU, 6-6 ATS) will try to win their fourth consecutive game when they visit the struggling Los Angeles Rams (3-9, 3-8-1) for the Week 14 Thursday Night Football matchup as solid road favorites at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark. The defending Super Bowl champion Rams have fallen on hard times due to injuries, riding a season-high six-game skid into this one while the Raiders have won three in a row for the first time this year after a 27-20 victory against the Los Angeles Chargers last week.
Las Vegas is finally rolling following the team’s second three-game losing streak of the season, going 3-0 both straight up and against the spread in its last three, with two of the wins coming as an underdog. The Raiders opened as small home underdogs for last Sunday’s game vs the Chargers too but closed as 2.5-point favorites to reward their backers, obviously.
Meanwhile, the Rams ended a five-game winless streak against the number in a 27-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, covering as 6.5-point home dogs to halt an 0-4-1 ATS run. But Los Angeles is still worth fading in the eyes of many bettors, moving up to +6 in early action for this prime-time game while the total has also risen to 44.
Las Vegas Motivated By Doubters During Winning Streak
After the Raiders cashed for bettors in two straight road games that were decided in overtime, they came back home and trailed 10-0 to the Chargers early in the second quarter before seeing running back Josh Jacobs continue his dominant run with a 20-yard touchdown to cut the lead.
They later tied it up 10-10 on a 55-yard field goal by kicker Daniel Carlson, although he missed another attempt right before halftime, and then quarterback Derek Carr and wide receiver Davante Adams took over in the third quarter.
The former college teammates hooked up on a pair of long touchdown passes to give Las Vegas a 24-13 lead, and the defense held up for the most part after being called out by the opposition beforehand. Los Angeles wide receiver Keenan Allen had said his opponent’s secondary was “barbecue chicken” in reference to getting burned on a regular basis. While Allen scored the game’s final touchdown, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was sacked five times, including three by Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones.
Injuries Insurmountable as Los Angeles Continues to Lose
The Rams were very competitive in their latest loss to the Seahawks, holding a 23-20 lead with 2:56 left after the second scoring run of the game by embattled running back Cam Akers, who had been an afterthought in the offense.
Akers rushed 17 times for 60 yards, but backup quarterback John Wolford threw two interceptions in his return as the fill-in for injured starter Matthew Stafford. With Stafford placed on IR for the rest of the year because of a spinal cord contusion, Wolford and fellow reserve Bryce Perkins are left to call signals for one of the most disappointing teams in NFL history.
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Los Angeles is missing its three best players now in Stafford and a pair of All-Pros in defensive tackle Aaron Donald and wide receiver Cooper Kupp with high-ankle sprains. Kupp had surgery while Donald missed a game due to injury for the first time in his career, so the situation is bleak moving forward for a squad that won the Vince Lombardi Trophy only 10 months ago.
Raiders: Keys To Victory
Las Vegas must keep its foot on the gas and not allow opponents to stick around. The Raiders avoided another meltdown last week when they led 27-13 in the fourth quarter despite giving up the touchdown to Allen on a fourth-and-12 play. But they got a 14-point lead by continuing to take advantage of the mismatch for Adams rather than running the ball with Jacobs the rest of the game. That second touchdown by Adams was huge and proved to be the difference. They will need that killer instinct here again to win and cover.
Rams: Keys To Victory
Los Angeles still has one of the premier cover cornerbacks in the league in Jalen Ramsey, who will most likely be responsible for tracking Adams throughout the game. If Adams cannot get open regularly like he has recently, then the Rams will only really need to worry about containing Jacobs, who continues to deal with a calf injury. That could be a win for Los Angeles and leave Carr to beat them in other ways, also helping them cover.
NFL Computer Pick: Rams +6
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