It didn’t take the St. Louis Rams to shock the NFL—again. With a new quarterback in Nick Foles, the Rams defeated the favored Seattle Seahawks for the second time since 2014 on Sunday. They will look to make it two wins in a row when they fly to Landover for a showdown with the Washington Redskins.
The Redskins opened up the season with a familiar loss, dropping their matchup with the Miami Dolphins also on Sunday. Will the Rams bury Washington deeper into the NFC East standings? Or will the Redskins have an upset win in the cards?
For more Week 2 game preview, you can click here for Broncos vs. Chiefs and here for Cardinals vs. Bears.
[sc:Football ]St. Louis Rams vs. Washington Redskins Preview
Where: FedExField, Landover
When: Sunday, September 20, 1:00 PM ET
Line: St. Louis Rams (-3.5) at Washington Redskins (+3.5); total: 41.5 – see all NFL lines
TV Broadcast: Fox
Betting on the St. Louis Rams
Once again, the Rams proved to be a big thorn in the side of the defending NFC champions. Led by new quarterback Nick Foles, the Rams eked out a home victory on Sunday, beating the Seattle Seahawks, 34-31 in overtime.
[sc:NFL240banner ]Credit the Rams’ much-maligned offensive line for the success of Foles and the Rams’ backfield on Sunday. With sturdy protection, Foles was able to throw for 297 yards and a touchdown on 18 of 27 passing against the Seahawks. Foles had an average of 16.5 yards per completion with seven of his passes going for at least 20 yards. The backfield, meanwhile, had enough room to compile 76 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
It becomes all the more impressive when considering the fact that the Rams were without two of their top three running backs on the depth chart in Tre Mason (hamstring) and Todd Gurley (ACL). That left most of the workload to Benjamin Cunningham, who rushed for 45 yards on 16 carries. Tavon Austin and Foles, meanwhile, had a rushing score each. Hopefully for the Rams, the excellent job of their offensive line (which includes two rookies) was more of a sign of things to come and less of a fluke.
Defensively, the Rams will have to straighten out some wrinkles on run prevention. St. Louis didn’t allow the Seahawks to score a rushing touchdown but nonetheless let Seattle gain 124 yards on the ground. The Rams can’t relax against Washington’s backfield that boasts some talent in Alfred Morris and rookie Matt Jones.
St. Louis is 3-2 ATS in its last five road games.
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Betting on the Washington Redskins
The Redskins have long disappointed their fans. On Sunday, they came through again with another morale-deflating loss, as they allowed the Dolphins to complete a 17-10 come-from-behind victory.
Entering the fourth quarter with a 10-7 lead, the Redskins gave up 10 points in the period while coming up short on the offensive side to suffer a loss right in the very first week of the season. The Redskins will give it another go next Sunday at home, where they are 2-2 in their last four games against St. Louis.
If it wasn’t clear already, Kirk Cousins made sure that everybody gets why he isn’t the answer to the Washington’s quarterback malaise with a bad Week 1 performance. Cousins threw for only 196 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions.
The absence of star wide receiver DeSean Jackson sure made life hard for Cousins, but the Redskins were able to keep themselves in the game, largely thanks to their defense wjich limited Miami to only 256 total yards. The backfield also contributed significant numbers, as Alfred Morris hashed the Fins’ defense with 121 rushing yards on 25 carries.
Morris can have another game like that against the Rams, who were hurt by Seattle’s ground attack, but Cousins needs to come up with a big game to ease some pressure off the running back. Before that happens, though, Washington’s offensive line must be able to stave off St. Louis’ pass rush that sacked Russell Wilson six times.
Jackson was removed early in the first quarter of the Miami game because of a hamstring injury. Jackson is reportedly set to undergo an MRI test and his availability for next week’s tilt with the Rams remains up in the air as of this writing.
Writer’s Prediction
St. Louis (-3.5) wins, 24-10.
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