NFL Odds: Can Rams top Cardinals for third straight win on Thursday night?
The St. Louis Rams will try to win their third straight game and even their season record at 7-7 when they host the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals in a divisional matchup on Thursday Night Football. The Rams have covered the spread in each of their past four games, and they are consensus 4.5-point favorites as of Wednesday afternoon against a Cardinals team that has suffered two of its three losses in the last three weeks.
• Power Rankings: Seahawks back in top three | Current postseason picture
Need a quarterback? Here's who could be available in the offseason
St. Louis is coming off a dominant 24-0 victory against the Washington Redskins last week as a 2.5-point road favorite at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Rams were favored away from home for the first time in nearly four years and have now blanked their last two opponents, routing the Oakland Raiders 52-0 in their previous home game in Week 13 as six-point chalk. The St. Louis defense has racked up 13 sacks in the past two games and will next try to take down Arizona’s Drew Stanton, who has been sacked just twice in the team’s last two games combined.
The Cardinals edged the Kansas City Chiefs 17-14 last Sunday, with the closing NFL betting lines showing them as 2.5-point home underdogs. They trailed the Chiefs 14-6 at halftime, but a 39-yard field goal from rookie kicker Chandler Catanzaro just after the intermission and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Stanton to second-year wide receiver Jaron Brown with 3:26 remaining in the third quarter helped them pull off the victory. Arizona’s Pro Bowl WR Larry Fitzgerald had four receptions for 34 yards after missing the previous two games with a knee injury. Fitzgerald still leads the team with 50 catches for 692 yards this season.
• Missed out on fantasy playoffs? Play FanNation's weekly game
This Rams vs. Cardinals betting matchup looks to favor the home team based on past situational trends. St. Louis is 6-2-1 ATS in its last nine December home games against NFC West opponents, while Arizona is 2-10 straight-up in its previous 12 divisional road matchups. The Cardinals have also lost in their past two trips to the Edward Jones Dome after winning seven in a row there. The OVER has cashed in three of the last four meetings overall following an 8-1 UNDER run in the previous nine games between the teams. In addition, the OVER is 4-1 in the past five home games for St. Louis this year.
