Rams vs. Ravens Week 14 Spread Pick

The Los Angeles Rams come to MT&T Bank Stadium on Sunday for a week 14 showdown with the Baltimore Ravens. The Rams have won three in a row to breathe a little life into their season at 6-6. On Sunday, they beat Cleveland 36-19 and have looked like a different team the last few weeks. They have a tough one this week, going into Baltimore to face a rested Ravens team coming off the bye, which followed a 20-10 road win over the Chargers. Who will get the cover this week in Baltimore?

Tough Spot for the Rams?

I wonder if this is tougher than it looks for the Rams, going into a stadium where they rarely play against a good and consistent team coming off the bye and looking to put the finishing touches on a good regular season. Beating Seattle again, Arizona, and Cleveland is nice, but in Baltimore, they’re going against a healthy and winning team coming off a break. It’s where we could see recent strides they’ve made hit a wall.

At the same time, the Rams are really better off with Kyren Williams in the backfield, as his presence seems to lend a dimension that makes this offense a different animal. This is a team that has played with a wide range of success this season, oscillating between looking like a marginal contender to a near-laughingstock. But with the feisty version of the Rams we’ve seen in recent weeks, you get an offense with a lot of vitality that sort of camouflages the inadequacies of what can be an overachieving defense at times. But here’s where we see if what they’ve been doing well can stick in this higher context—facing a tough road defense that, more often than not, gives opposing offenses a hard time.

Issues for Baltimore?

Losing tight end Mark Andrews could prove to be costly. They can run the ball well, with Lamar Jackson still useful with his legs, along with Gus Edwards and Justice Hill picking up the slack. And there is talent in the pass-catching department with Zay Flowers an exciting rookie and some resurgent play at times from Odell Beckham, Jr. But for a touchdown underdog, the Rams really have the superior individual pieces. Lamar is hard to duplicate, but Stafford is still dangerous. With Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua (questionable), and Kyren Williams, the nod at WR and RB squarely goes to the Rams. Still, before scoring 20 in their win over the Chargers before the bye, the Ravens had scored between 31-38 points in five straight games.

For the purposes of this game, it’s important to not look at it just as the Rams are coming into town. We’ve seen the Rams up this year and down. So, we can’t look at the Rams as a composite, a team that’s pretty good when they’re on and readily-exploitable ATS when they’re not. Right now, they might be on. You can say it came against the right opponents or that this will be where they hit a wall, but it would be wrong to assume some subpar team is coming in that the Ravens are just going to mop. The Rams worked hard to get this back to .500 and know a win like this would put a lot of wind in their sails to make a late-season run.

Who Should We Get Behind?

A Baltimore backer this week should be worried about that touchdown-sized spread. We see a Rams team running hot right now. They could get a fast start and put the Ravens behind the 8-ball in terms of surpassing this spread. We’ve seen a Rams offense hitting the ground running in recent games, with big plays from Williams and Stafford completing big passes to set the tone. But the Ravens expect that and look for a superior defense to put a kink in the Rams’ plans this week. The week off helped in terms of health, and they’ve been able to soldier through a lot of injuries while maintaining their edge for the most part.

It’s one of those games where either side has to brace for the possibility of being wrong by a large margin. A lot of Ravens’ wins, they’re putting teams away, as their 8-4 record against the spread will attest. We’ve seen the Rams look good and suddenly fall off a cliff. But I don’t think a position on the Rams has to be a result of low-rating Baltimore or trying to put a different spin on their success. Sure, their only real standout win was against the Lions, but they’ve been doing really well. I just sense that the Rams have latched onto some good momentum and are ready to make a run at this thing.

Take the Points on the Road Underdog

Again, with the Rams susceptible to seeing their form plummet from week to week, they are hardly iron-clad in this foreign out-of-conference road context, even getting seven points. The Ravens being rested wouldn’t appear to help, either. I just sense with some good momentum, an offense that has found its footing, and their good coaching, they can keep it going this week. It won’t be easy in a tough matchup for their offense, along with their own “D” seeing a more functional offense than they’ve been seeing lately. But I see the Rams riding their superior offensive pieces to a competitive game where they cover the spread on Sunday. I’ll take the Rams.

Loot’s’ Prediction to Cover the Point Spread: I’m betting on the Los Angeles Rams plus 7 points. Bet your Week 14 NFL picks for FREE by scoring a 100% real cash bonus on your first deposit of $75 to $300 when you use bonus promo code PREDICT100 at MyBookie Sportsbook!