Thursday Night Football: Cardinals vs. Rams Point Spread
The Thursday Night Football Cardinals vs. Rams point spread had St. Louis as a -4.5 home favorite at Sportsbook.ag. Place your 1st bet here, get your 2nd bet FREE.
ARIZONA CARDINALS (10-3) at ST. LOUIS RAMS (6-7)
Sportsbook.ag Line and Total: St. Louis -4.5, Total: 40
Opening Line and Total: St Louis -3, Total 40.5
The surging Rams look to get back to the .500 mark when they host the Cardinals on Thursday night.
Arizona defeated the Chiefs 17-14 as 3-point home underdogs last week to improve to 10-3 SU (9-4 ATS) on the season. One week after a 52-0 home thrashing of the Raiders, St. Louis pitched its second consecutive shutout in Week 14 with a 24-0 blanking on the road versus the Redskins. The Rams have now covered in four straight games (3-1 SU), and carry a three-game home winning streak with the first two of those wins coming against last season's Super Bowl participants, Seattle and Denver.
These NFC West foes met earlier in the year on Nov. 9, when the Cards won 31-14 as 7-point home favorites. The Cardinals defense held the Rams to just 244 total yards in that game and scored two defensive touchdowns in the final 5:22 of the game with a Patrick Peterson pick-six and Antonio Cromartie fumble return TD. That gave Arizona three straight ATS wins in this series, but it has not won outright at Edward Jones Dome since 2011, dropping both of its past two trips to Missouri.
The Cardinals are 7-0 ATS off a non-conference game over the past two seasons and 15-6 ATS against conference opponents during that span. The Rams, however, are 18-7 ATS in home games after winning their previous game by 14 or more points dating back to 1992.
Arizona's top RB Andre Ellington (hip) is out for the season and the secondary is thin with S Tyrann Mathieu (thumb) out, and CB Antonio Cromartie (Achilles) doubtful. St. Louis also has a couple of injuries to its secondary in CBs Lamarcus Joyner (groin) and Marcus Roberson (ankle), but DE Chris Long (ankle) has been upgraded to probable for Thursday night's game.
The Cardinals hosted the Chiefs last week and they were able to defeat a team that desperately needed a victory. Arizona's defense was excellent in that victory, holding Kansas City to just 14 points and forcing two turnovers. This team is still excellent at stopping the run, allowing just 92.1 rushing yards per game (6th in NFL), but could have a tough time slowing down Tre Mason, who is running the ball extremely well for St. Louis.
The Cardinals offense is going to need to play better going forward, but that will be much tougher with top RB Andre Ellington (1,055 total yards, 5 total TD) out for the season. RB Kerwynn Williams saw his first touches of the year for the Cardinals last week. He rushed 19 times for 100 yards and will likely be the Cardinals’ main ball carrier going forward.
QB Drew Stanton (1,602 pass yards, 7 TD, 5 INT) threw for 239 yards and a touchdown in the win over the Chiefs, but he needs to be more productive under center, as he has just two touchdowns with three interceptions over the past three games. Stanton has weapons around him, such as WR Larry Fitzgerald (50 rec, 692 yards, 2 TD), who exploded for nine catches for 112 yards in the Week 10 win over St. Louis.
The Rams have played some excellent football recently, winning two straight and three of their past four games. The team really hit the ground running when they benched QB Austin Davis in favor of QB Shaun Hill (895 pass yards, 6 TD, 3 INT). Hill stepped in and led this team to a victory over the Broncos in his first week starting and he had 213 yards with two touchdowns and no picks in a win over the Redskins last Sunday. The Cardinals passing defense has been brutal as of late, so Hill should be able to have a productive night on Thursday.
While Hill has given this team a reliable pocket presence, RB Tre Mason (628 rush yards, 3 TD) has given the Rams a consistent rushing attack. Mason has rushed for at least 60 yards in each of the past four weeks and has the explosiveness to find the end zone on any given play.
This defense has been the real story as of late though, shutting out their opponents in back-to-back weeks. St. Louis is now allowing 240.2 passing yards per game (15th in NFL) and 104.8 rushing yards per game (10th in NFL). The Rams are more than capable of shutting down the pass and run on any given Sunday and they will be looking forward to a team that is down to competing with their backup quarterback and running backs.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
