San Francisco 49ers vs St. Louis Rams Free NFL Pick

There’s not much too this game in my opinion. The Rams absolutely, in no way whatsoever, if the organization has any sense or feel for their own team and franchise, can not win this football game. They just can’t accept a win here. If they won, they would finish in a tie (likely) with the Detroit Lions, and that would go to a tie breaker for the draft, and that would give the Lions the number one pick over the Rams, and that would eliminate their chance at getting the best player in college football, Mr. Suh. So, like I said, they absolutely can not win this game.

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Luckily for them, they probably couldn’t win this game if they tried. They can’t throw the ball and they are playing against one hell of a run-stuffing unit in San Francisco – plus, the Niners are always trying to win, and their coach will make sure it happens, as a Week 17 win would assure the 49ers a .500 season, something they have to be trying hard to get to considering how much of a win that is for this once proud franchise.

The 49ers have been playing pretty good football over the last few weeks, beating Arizona and Detroit and losing to the Eagles. They’ve been running the ball a lot more, and that gives them the consistency they need to succeed against lesser teams. This one is easy folks, I like the 49ers by 17 points.

San Francisco 49ers (-7) @ St. Louis Rams:

St. Louis Rams vs Arizona Cardinals NFL Week 16 Picks

St. Louis Rams vs Arizona Cardinals NFL Week 16 Picks: First and foremost, 15.5 points is quite the freaking mountain to climb in the NFL. Remember when your grandpa used to tell you he had to walk five miles to school, uphill both ways? That’s kind of like a 15 point spread. Now, with an offense as explosive as Arizona’s, it might just be uphill one way, but when that offense hasn’t been all that efficient down the stretch, we’re getting dangerously close to that impossible uphill both way scenario.

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The Rams can run the ball, that’s another hill the Cardinals will have to climb. Steven Jackson hasn’t been feeling his best, but the guy is amazing. Despite every defense doing everything they can to make St. Louis want to throw the ball, he’s still getting close to 100 yards every game and going work against the NFL’s best. After Arizona gave up and gaggle of yards last week to the freaking Detroit Lions, I have a feeling the Rams will be doing their best to exploit the Cardinals again this week.

And now for the kicker, I don’t see any reason for the Cardinals to play their key guys very long, or give that much effort to win these meaningless games. I mean, sure, they could play a little harder down the stretch, hope to be a high enough seed to be the NFC home team if the best teams get upset throughout the playoffs, but seeing how last year’s slow finish to the regular season had absolutely no effect on their post-season success, I don’t know why they’d risk injury to guys like Kurt Warner in games that will mean nothing.

All things considered, this is Lucky Lester saying, “uphill both ways sucks”.

St. Louis Rams (+15.5) @ Arizona Cardinals:

Houston Texans vs St. Louis Rams: Free Football Picks

Houston Texans vs St. Louis Rams: Free Football Picks: This line has been weird all week, basically unbetable in most books, and I’m not really sure why that is. I know the Texans have an underrated defense, they are missing a rushing attack, but they have one of the better passing attacks in the league despite missing one of their best receiving options, TE, Owen Daniels.

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I know the Rams don’t have a very good rushing attack, but they do have Steven Jackson, though dinged up he be, and he’s good enough to be a threat and get close to 100 yards on the ground. I know that no matter who is healthy and who is injured for the Rams, they are going to have a bad quarterback with smallish wide receivers that rarely get the ball thrown to them where they can make a play. So exactly what the books are waiting for here is beyond me, but at -10, I think the Texans can do the job.

Those are the things, amongst other things as well, that I know.

Houston just needs to put two halves together and this thing will be more lopsided than NASCAR’s turning signals. If they don’t string together two well played halves, I still think 10 is a solid number for them to cover. Houston has been pretty solid on the road (3-3 with wins over Cincinnati and Tennessee) and they have beat up on bad teams (hello Bills -31 to 10, Raiders -29 to 6, and Seahawks -34 to 7). That’s good enough for the girl I go with, I’ll take the Texans.

Houston Texans (-10) @ St. Louis Rams

St. Louis Rams vs Tennessee Titans Week 14 NFL Free Pick

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St. Louis Rams vs Tennessee Titans Week 14 NFL Free Pick: This line moved from 11 (which I thought was a little high considering how well the Rams defense has played lately, and how the Titans don’t put up a ton of points per game – 20) to 13.5 at most books. The move was early, and as of Thursday Night you could get the game at 14 at one book. I’d be surprised if that option continues to exist, as +14 seems like too good of a deal despite the 60% public bet on the home team Titans.

Listen, I know the Rams have a single win to their name, and I know I’ve been quoted calling them the worst team in football, but I’ve seen one hell of a turnaround with this team, and it all started after the Colts pistol whipped them 42-6 in St. Louis on October 25th. Since then, the biggest loss they’ve had was a 10 point defeat to the Seahawks in a game that was pretty close. They’ve covered 4 of their last 5 spreads, and they even won a game (though it was against Detroit). I’m not ready to call them good, but their defense is playing good football, they have a good coach that is changing the losing mentality, and I wouldn’t be stunned if they found a way to pull a big upset over the next few weeks.

Do I think the Titans will lose? I’m not saying that, they’ve been playing even better football than the Rams over the last 5 weeks, and they have a very good rushing attack and a quarterback that rarely loses. They also have a pretty solid defense. But 13.5 points? No, I think that’s way too many, thank you. I’ll take the Rams.

St. Louis Rams (+13.5) @ Tennessee Titans:

St. Louis Rams vs Chicago Bears NFL Free Pick

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St. Louis Rams vs Chicago Bears NFL Free Pick: I don’t know what I’m up to, maybe I’m just a sicko that can’t help but bet against a bad team as a 10 point favorite, because you know it’s not because I think much of the Rams. I’ve been quoted calling the Rams one of the worst teams in football, but I’ve also seen an improving team, a defense led by a good coach, and a team that seems to be starting to figure it out. Plus, Marc Bulger is out and I’ve always liked anybody else when gambling on games.

The Bears are 4-7 and bad 4-7 at that. The Rams, well they are bad, but like I said, getting better. The Bears aren’t getting better, they have a coach that likely has seen his last season in Chicago – they have a team that doesn’t believe in their high-priced leader, Mr. Jay Cutler, and the one strong part of their offense of last season hasn’t produced at all this year, one Matt Forte and that broken rushing attack. To put their performances into perspective, Marc Bulger’s QB rating of 70.7 is less than four points lower than Cutler’s 74.4. And on a bad team that really only has a running back, Steven Jackson has had a very impressive year while Forte has really struggled.

The Bears haven’t won against the spread in over a month, they’ve won a single game (both SU and ATS) since mid-October. The Rams have won 3 of their last 4 ATS, and they’ve been in four straight games. That combo is enough for me to go with the points.

St. Louis Rams (+10) @ Chicago Bears:

Seattle Seahawks vs St. Louis Rams Pick & Preview

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Seattle Seahawks @ St. Louis Rams (+3) Pick & Preview: I think both these teams have been brutal, and I’ve been recorded saying (once or twice or twenty times) that St. Louis is one of the worst teams in football. But some how, some way, I’ve found enough that I like about them to go Rams as a small underdog at home. I’d say, “don’t ask me why” but that’s kind of my thing, I tell you why I do stuff – part of the deal. So here goes…

The Hawks are 0-5 on the road this year, and they generally stink away from the noisy home stadium in Seattle, even in solid seasons. They are even worse when they have to start playing football in the early game, 10:00 AM Pacific Time. That’s what they’ll be doing here.

Now, prior to a couple weeks ago in Detroit, the Hawks have played very well against the lower-case teams in the league, the rams, and  – well, that’s really the only bad team they whooped – ad that was in Week 1. They whooped the Jaguars, who played terrible that day in Seattle – but the Jags have been decent. They beat the Lions three week ago, 32-20, but Detroit was up early, and on top for most of that game. A late INT-TD gave them an undeserved cover. But they’ve learned how to try and play not to lose. One of the worst ways to win games in any sport.

The Hawks lack aggression, are predictable, and I think the Rams will sneak in and smack them in the mouth a little bit. St. Louis is bad, I hate them, their QB is a laughing matter unto himself, but what I’m seeing has St. Louis covering.

Arizona Cardinals vs St. Louis Rams NFL Free Pick

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Arizona Cardinals (-8.5) @ St. Louis Rams NFL Free Pick: The Rams have been very good lately running the ball. Steven Jackson has seemingly stacked each and every one of his teammates on his bulky shoulders, and carried them to some solid performances over the last couple weeks.

After carrying the entire load and getting the Rams their first win of the season two weeks ago in Detroit (probably counts as a half win), the entire Rams team, not just Steven Jackson (though he performed like a beast) took it to the Saints last Sunday. While they were never ahead in the game, it was tied at 14 at the half. And in the end, the Rams were driving to get that go-ahead score they needed to end the Saints run at undefeated. This is the Rams we’re talking about, so obviously it didn’t work, but there’s reason to believe that Steve Spagnola could be turning this franchise around. Even Marc Bulger’s ghost got into the act, throwing for 298 yards and 2 touchdowns as he moved the team down the field. Of course, Jackson’s 131 rushing yards, 9 catches for 45 yards, and 1 rushing touchdown helped too.

But the Cardinals are stout against the run. They’ve played awesome football on the road this season. This is Kurt Warner going up against the team that gave up on him, replacing him with a clown name Marc Bulger, despite Warner’s MVP’s and NFL Championship Trophy. Kurt’s the kind of guy his teammates rally around, and you can bet he’ll be demanding perfection this week. I think Beanie Wells has another big game for the Cardinals, and that will make all the difference.

New Orleans Saints vs St. Louis Rams Pick & Preview

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New Orleans Saints (-13.5) @ St. Louis Rams Pick & Preview: Maybe Vegas knows something we don’t. I say “we” because “we” are picking the Saints. Shoot, 84% of the bets are coming in on St. Louis – that’s never a good sign. And while I am picking New Orleans here, I figure I might as well dig into why Vegas has this line where it is, -13.5, almost begging bettors to take the Saints on the road. This is what I came up with…

This game, pitting these two teams against each other, hasn’t been decided by more than 13 points in any of the last 8 meetings. In the last 10 match-ups, the Saints have never beaten the Rams by more than 6 points. The Saints, despite their undefeated record, have really struggled in each of their last three games. They’ve fallen behind early and had to fight back with everything they’ve got to beat the Dolphins, Falcons, and just recently the Panthers (though all they really had to do against Carolina was wait for them to implode). And to be honest, they didn’t play real well against the Bills or Jets either. People forget that Buffalo was down just 3 points 5 minutes into the 4th quarter. And if it wasn’t for the Jets handing the Saints turnover after turnover, and getting two defensive touchdowns, that game would have been completely different. So there you have it, the Saints have played three dominating games (against the Lions, Eagles, and Giants) during their undefeated 8-0 start to the year, and yet they are being discussed as the best team in football. Well they certainly know how to get the win in tough situations.

So I hope that explains what Vegas is trying to do, and they may be on to something here – but I just can’t buy in enough to go against the grain. I guess I see the Rams games against good teams as a precursor for what’s going to happen Sunday, and a 6-42 loss to Indy, a 10-38 loss to Minnesota, and then 0-35, 17-36, and 0-28 losses to San Fran, Green Bay, and Seattle just doesn’t let me give St. Louis a chance. Who shall win? Vegas or Lucky?

St. Louis Rams vs Detroit Lions Free NFL Pick

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St. Louis Rams @ Detroit Lions (-3.5) Free NFL Pick: This game should be switched into the Monday Night slot, why you ask? because we deserve to see it, that’s why! St. Louis and Detroit, two of the more mortal teams in the league, and everyone could be on the edge of their seats hoping for a 0-0 tie. My question is this, if no team every scores, can it really be considered a tie, or can we just go ahead and call it two losses? But lets not talk about losses, because everybody wins in a game like this. It’s a shame the Lions already got of the snide this season, or this could be really special. Okay, all jokes aside, I think the Lions are a much better team that the Rams, but that could just be me getting in the way of my eyes. I’ve said for quite some time, since Week 6 last year maybe, that the Rams were the worst team in football. Don’t look now, but I think I’m right. The Lions are favored by more than a field goal, something I never thought would happen this season, and their best player (Calvin Johnson) is once again probably out for the game. But hey, this Lions team is better defensively, they have an offensive line that cares a little bit, and I think they string together their 2nd win of the season, keeping the hapless Rams, well, hapless – and winless too! You can bet that Detroit doesn’t want to be a team’s first win this late in the season, think of how great it would be for the Lions if somebody else went 0-16. If they win here, that chance remains. Go Lions, boo Rams!

Indianapolis Colts vs St. Louis Rams Free NFL Pick

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Indianapolis Colts (-13) @ St. Louis Rams: The Colts are too good to go against here. The Rams may have given Jacksonville a scare last week, and I know this is the NFL, so anything crazy can happen (see Philadelphia’s breakdown in Oakland last week) but does anyone really see the Rams having a chance here? I’ve never been a huge Peyton Manning fan, but I can respect the man’s work, and he does it perfectly. He has all the tools, the accuracy, and the know-how – not to mention the work he puts in to be great. And he’s going up against the Rams, a defense that doesn’t successfully stop anyone. Offensively, the Rams just aren’t good enough to oust the Colts. Not only are the Colts a team that makes you be efficient and methodically move the ball to stand a chance, but they have a front 4 that constantly puts opposing offenses in tough situations. And this week they will likely get Bob Sanders back. Yeah, that’s right, the Colts have done this all without their best secondary player, the human missile, Bob Sanders. Marlin Jackson (the best corner on the team) might also be back after missing the first handful of games. I know it’s a double digit spread, but if there’s ever a time to take a road favorite in this situation, it’s now. The Colts have a very quick strike offense with one of the best QBs of all time. They limit big plays defensively and get after opposing QBs. Marc Bulger is a turnover machine under pressure and he just happens to be quarterbacking the worst team in football. That’s all I’ve got, give me the Colts.