Cardinals vs. Rams Thursday Night Pick Against the Spread

ARIZONA CARDINALS @ ST. LOUIS RAMS (+2)

I’m taking the Rams tonight. This is solely a situtional play for me here. 60% of the public likes the Cardinals. The Rams are at home twice in a row where they start the season 2-0. They found a win over the Seahawks and beat the Redskins at home thus far this year. The Cardinals aren’t going 16-0 and they should have lost to the Dolphins last week. I’m smelling a let-down game in the air for the Cards tonight.

Tannehill looked like the second coming of Dan Marino (absent the interceptions) by passing for over 400 yards last week. The Cardinals have played at home twice in a row and now have to travel to St. Louis on a short week to take on a Rams team that has looked solid thus far at home. Although the Rams topped the Seahawks last week, their lone touchdown came from a fake field goal. The rest of their points were on 4 field goals. The Seahawks have a strong defense though, so it’s no surprise that the Rams were stymied offensively last week.

What was impressive was the job that the Rams defense did against the Seahawks.  Picking off Russell Wilson three times, holding him to 160 yards, and allowing just 2-of-9 third-down conversions. The Rams defense has improved and Bradford has had two really strong games against the Lions and Redskins. Bradford is a much better quarterback than Kevin Kolb, which is another reason I’ll stick with the Rams at home. Kolb was sacked 8 times and he threw 2 INTs last week.

As I said before, the Rams looks like the play here solely as a situation play — they’re at home two weeks in a row against a 4-0 team coming off an overtime win, who now has to travel on the road on a short week. I believe the Rams have a better offense than the Cardinals and the Rams defense has thus far been respectable.  The Rams are ranked 14th in yards allowed, 16th in points allowed, and 2nd in interceptions.

The Cardinals offense is simply not very good as they lead the league in punts, tied with the Browns, who are followed by Bucs and Jaguars. Take advantage of the Cardinals dubious 4-0 record — they’re not as good as they’re chalked up to be. Their defense got them their first three wins and they then took a step back last week against the Dolphins by allowing over 400 passing yards to Ryan Tannehill. Sam Bradford will be able to find Danny Ammendola and the rest of his receivers plenty this in game and will be able to move those chains while the Cardinals anemic offense struggles to put this game away on the road.

Prediction: Rams 20 – Cardinals 16

Pick Against the Spread: Rams +2 (Confidence: 6/10)