The St. Louis Rams (3-3) host the San Francisco 49ers (2-5) at Edward Jones Dome this week in a battle between NFC West rivals. The game starts at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov 1 and can be seen on FOX.
This will be the first meeting of the season for the division rivals. They split a pair of games during the regular season last year. Robert Quinn led the Rams defense in the last game against the 49ers, totaling four tackles and two sacks. Chris Borland led the way for the San Francisco defense, registering 15 tackles.
The Rams are a heavy eight-point favorite and the Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is 39 points.
Heading into Week 8 of league action, the Rams are 3-3 for both Straight Up (SU) and Against The Spread (ATS). In the past five games, St. Louis is 2-3 for both SU and ATS. The Rams may look to take advantage of a San Francisco defense that allows an average of 13.6 yards per pass. St. Louis’s top-five scoring defense allows 16.3 points per home game. Don’t expect San Francisco to have much success throwing the ball against the Rams. The 49ers average 202.3 passing yards per road game, 27th in the NFL. One of the keys to the game will be if the 49ers can protect the quarterback against St. Louis’s aggressive pass rush. The defense ranks second in the league in sacks with 3.8 per game.
As for their opponent, the 49ers have 2-5 SU and 3-4 ATS records this season. In the previous five games, San Francisco has a record of 1-4 SU and 2-3 ATS as well. San Francisco may want to throw the ball frequently. Offenses have picked apart the pass defense of the Rams, which allows a completion percentage of 80.6% at home, the worst in the league. Penalties are an uncommon occurrence when the 49ers are playing. They average the fewest penalties in the NFL with 5.3 per game.
Predictions: SU Winner – StL, ATS Winner – StL, O/U – Over
Notes
St. Louis is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games.
St. Louis is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. Louis’s last 5 games.
St. Louis is 3-10-1 SU in its last 14 games, when playing San Francisco.
St. Louis is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against San Francisco.
St. Louis is 7-16-2 ATS in its last 25 games when playing at home against San Francisco.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of St. Louis’s last 5 games when playing at home against San Francisco.
San Francisco is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing on the road against St. Louis.
San Francisco is 2-0 SU when leading at the start of the fourth quarter this season. St. Louis is 3-0 SU when leading after three quarters.
This season, St. Louis is 2-1 SU in games where it loses the turnover battle.
Since the start of last season, St. Louis is an even 4-4 SU against NFC West opponents, while San Francisco is just 2-6 SU against division foes.
St. Louis is rated higher in the ground game on both sides of the ball. Its 13th-ranked rushing attack will face the 21st-ranked run defense of San Francisco, while its 14th-ranked rush defense will look to contain the 17th-ranked run game of the 49ers.
