The Los Angeles Rams take their unbeaten record to Colorado when they face the Denver Broncos on Sunday 10/14/18 at Broncos Stadium in Mile High.
The Rams are no strangers to beating teams from the west this season as they have already conquered Oakland, Arizona, Los Angeles and Seattle in the first five weeks of the 2018 NFL season. Meanwhile, the Broncos suffered their third straight loss by dropping a 16-34 contest to the New York Jets the last time out. The last time the Rams and Broncos played each other was in 2014 when the Rams were still playing out of St. Louis. The Rams won that game 22-7.
After five weeks on NFL action, the Los Angeles Rams are still perfect on the season at 5-0. Their close 33-31 victory over the Seattle Seahawks last week made them the only unbeaten team in the NFC right now. As usual, Jared Goff had another productive outing with 321 passing yards.
Although Goff threw two interceptions too, the early MVP favorite has thrown for at least 300 yards in each of his last four games while averaging 354 passing yards per game this season. After just five games, Goff has already racked up 1,727 passing yards with a TD:INT ratio of 12:4.
Running back Todd Gurley rushed for 77 yards last week to up his season total to 415 rushing yards on 101 carries with 7 rushing touchdowns scored. Gurley has also 19 catches for 235 yards with two receiving touchdowns. Wide receivers Brandin Cook and Cooper Kupp both left last week’s game due to a concussion and their status for this game isn’t known yet as of this writing.
The Denver Broncos season opened on a high note after former Rams’ quarterback Case Keenum was instrumental in their opening game win over the Seattle Seahawks. But after a strong Denver debut, Keenum has looked mediocre at best and the Broncos have lost their last three games.
Keenum’s poor play in recent games has hurt Denver as he’s thrown just two touchdowns and four interceptions in his last four games. He enters this game with the 30th best passer rating among NFL quarterbacks and a total of 1,365 passing yards with only five touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Rookie running back Phillip Lindsay had a good game against the Jets, notching 65 rushing yards on 12 carries. Lindsay is averaging 5.8 yards per carry for a total of 328 yards on the ground. Emmanuel Sanders leads Denver’s receivers with 386 receiving yards on the year.
Los Angeles is still unbeaten this season at 5-0. They are 8-2 SU in their last 10 late afternoon games and 5-0 SU in their last five games on the road. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos are 4-13 SU in their last 17 games overall and 1-4 SU in their last 5 games against the Los Angeles Rams.
The Broncos haven’t been great in either offense or defense this season. What’s worse is that they are one of the more inconsistent teams in the league right now. That’s plenty of trouble when you face an unbeaten opponent which possesses explosive offense.
Jared Goff is playing MVP football right now and the offense is working like a well oiled machine. The Rams’ defense has also been terrific, allowing the 10th fewest passing yards per game. On the other hand, the Broncos’ Case Keenum has one of the worst passer ratings in the league (30th overall). I just don’t see the Broncos scoring enough points to beat the Rams. We’re not even talking about defense yet. We’re picking the Los Angeles Rams to beat the Denver Broncos on 10/14/18.
The Rams are 6-3 ATS in their last 9 games on the road and are 12-5-1 in their last 18 Week 6 games played. On the other hand, the Broncos are 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games and 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 games played at home.
The Rams’ average winning margin this season is 15 points and it’s hard to bet against Jared Goff this season. The Broncos meanwhile are just 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 games at home. I’m going to ride the Rams’ winning streak here. Prediction: Rams -7
The total has gone over in 8 out of the last 11 games played by the Rams and also over in four out of their last five games on the road. On the other hand, the under is 6-3 in the Broncos’ last 9 games.
The over is also 8-2 in the Rams’ last 10 road games with a combined score of 54.5 points. Los Angeles has one of the top offenses in the NFL while Denver just gave up 34 points to the Jets in their last outing. Goff and company should have a field day scoring here. Prediction: Over 52.5
The best value bet to make here is the Rams covering the 7 point spread at even money. While picking Los Angeles straight up as the winner may be the surest, it will cost you -290. I’m going with the even money bet here because I don’t think an additional touchdown is going to help the Broncos in this matchup.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
