Rams at 49ers TNF Odds, Expert Analysis & NFL Betting Pick

Rams at 49ers TNF Odds, Expert Analysis & NFL Betting Pick

Written by on September 19, 2017

The best rivalry in the NFL is the Thursday night game this week: Rams at 49ers! OK, it’s actually a pretty dreadful rivalry of late and I wouldn’t expect many points. The Niners only won two games in 2016 and both were against their southern neighbors. The Rams are the slight NFL betting pick against the 49ers, with LA at -2.5 in Week 4. But I don’t think this will change much for San Francisco.

Rams at 49ers TNF Odds, Expert Analysis & NFL Betting Pick

When: Thursday, 8:25 PM ET Where: Levi’s Stadium. Santa Clara, California TV: NFL Network RadioESPNLA 710AM (LA) / KNBR 680 (San Francisco) Stream Option: NFL Live Opening NFL Betting Lines: Rams -2.5 (40)

Latest NFL Betting Trends

  • LA Rams is 1-8 ATS in its last 9 games
  • LA Rams is 1-8 SU in its last 9 games
  • The total has gone OVER in 4 of LA Rams’s last 6 games
  • San Francisco is 4-12-1 ATS in its last 17 games
  • San Francisco is 1-16 SU in its last 17 games
  • The total has gone UNDER in 18 of San Francisco’s last 24 games at home

Last Season

In Week 1 in San Francisco, the 49ers beat L.A. 28-0. Carlos Hyde ran for 88 yards and two touchdowns and the San Francisco 49ers posted their first season-opening shutout in franchise history. The Rams barely even threatened the Niners as they were held to 185 yards and 10 first downs all game. Case Keenum was the QB then. In Week 16, the Niners won 22-21. Colin Kaepernick threw a 10-yard touchdown pass with 31 seconds remaining and scrambled for a 2-point conversion as the 49ers overcame a 14-point deficit. Jared Goff was 11 of 24 for 90 yards for the Rams.

NFL Week 3 Parlay Picks

Why Bet on LA?

The Rams do look improved under first-year coach Sean McVay. They crushed the Colts in Week 1 and then played pretty well last week in a 27-20 loss to Washington. Kirk Cousins threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Grant with 1:49 to play. The Rams had tied the game at 20 on Greg Zuerlein’s 40-yard field goal with 7:16 to play. Goff completed 15-of-25 passes for 224 yards with a touchdown and an interception while turning three carries into one yard. He was sacked twice for a loss of 12 yards. As expected, the Redskins presented a much stiffer challenge than the depleted Colts roster Goff faced in Week 1. Todd Gurley collected 88 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries while reeling in three-of- four targets for 48 yards and another touchdown. Sunday represented Gurley’s highest rushing total since Week 14 of his rookie season in 2015. Sammy Watkins caught both of his targets for 30 yards. Watkins broke loose for a 28-yard catch-and- run early in the third quarter, but was bottled up for the most part. Sunday was the debut of the Rams’ best player, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Aaron Donald. He held out all of camp and missed Week 1. He went into Sunday’s game having only practiced in pads one time, and he finished it with no sacks, one tackle for a loss and little else. Donald — first-team All-Pro after each of the past two seasons — said his body held up fine while playing 48 snaps, which accounted for 68 percent of the defensive workload and was only three shy of the lead for Rams defensive linemen. The Rams lost mainly because they couldn’t contain the Redskins on the ground, allowing 229 rushing yards on 39 carries.

Why Bet on San Francisco?

The 49ers (0-2) have scored just four field goals all season in losses to Carolina and Seattle. In last week’s 12-9 loss to Seattle, Carlos Hyde rushed for 124 yards, including a 61-yard run in the first half, but Brian Hoyer was 15 of 27 for 99 yards passing and an interception. Hoyer has been one of the NFL’s worst QBs. Hoyer failed to complete a pass more than 8 yards past the line of scrimmage against the Seahawks, averaging just 2.9 air yards on his 15 completions. And Hoyer missed on all four of his attempts that traveled 10-plus yards down the field. Through the first two weeks, Hoyer is 2-of- 13 with two interceptions on passes traveling at least 10 yards in the air. Are the 49ers a safe NFL betting pick in Week 4 against the Rams? Laken Tomlinson made his 49ers debut, starting at left guard in place of Zane Beadles. Tomlinson didn’t dominate but he was a clear improvement over Beadles, according to Pro Football Focus metrics. San Francisco rushed for 159 yards with a whopping 8.4 yards per attempt. That’s the sixth-highest yards per carry for a Niners team in a game in franchise history and the third-best performance ever against Seattle. San Francisco lost safety Eric Reid to a knee injury in the third quarter. Reid appeared to hurt his left knee in the first half trying to cover Tyler Lockett in the open field. He was helped to the sideline and sat the rest of the half before returning ion the third quarter. Reid is iffy for this one.

Series History

  • Total Meetings: 135
  • First Meeting: October 1st, 1950. Kezar Stadium. San Francisco, California
  • Last Meeting: December 24th, 2016. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Los Angeles, California
  • All-Time Series: San Francisco 68-64-3
  • Largest Margin of Victory: San Francisco 48-0 (1987)
  • Longest Win Streak: Los Angeles 17 (1990-1998)
  • Current Win Streak: San Francisco 3 (2016)

Expert NFL Betting Pick & Final Prediction

Love, love the under here. But I’d take the points too — the Niners have to win at least one game and it surely will come at home.