The Los Angeles Rams (+1200 to win Super Bowl 54) and the Houston Texas (+2800) are both having difficult preseason when it comes to winning games. The Texans are especially beleaguered right now, with how things turned out for them last week. Can the Rams capitalize on the troubles of Houston and win this Thursday’s matchup? Or will the Texans dig deep and score their second win of the preseason?
The Rams finally broke into the preseason win column by defeating the Denver Broncos at home last week, 10-6. The defense has been clicking for the Rams in the preseason, with none of their three opponents so far scoring more than 14 points. Against the Broncos, Los Angeles allowed just 140 passing yards and 73 on the ground. The Rams are ninth in the preseason with 290.3 total yards allowed per game. Of course, Sean McVay is barely playing any starters on both ends of the ball, but it speaks a lot about how deep the Rams are — at least defensively. Heading into the final week of the preseason, many eyes are on the backup running back battle between rookie Darrel Henderson and John Kelly. The Rams looked poised to give the job to Henderson prior to the preseason, but the latter has made a strong case for himself while capitalizing on the mediocre play of Henderson. The meeting with the Texans could determine the result of this battle.
The under is 4-0 in the Rams’ last four preseason games.
Betting on the Houston Texans (1-2)
Was there ever a team in Week 3 of the preseason with a bigger blackeye than the Texans? Sure, the Indianapolis Colts lost Andrew Luck to retirement, but Houston did not just lose running back Lamar Miller to a gruesome lower-body injury but the Texans were also crushed senseless by the Dallas Cowboys, 34-0 in Arlington. So bad was the Texans’ performance that Houston barely bothered to play Deshaun Watson, taking him out of the game after three snaps. With Miller gone, the Texans will now turn to Duke Johnson as their go-to guy on the ground. That’s unless they sign someone off the free-agent market. Until then, Johnson is the No. 1 running back on Houston’s depth chart. The Texans’ offensive line can’t repeat the performance it had in the Dallas game. It surrendered eight sacks for a loss of 38 yards.
The Texans are 7-2-1 against the spread (ATS) in their last 10 home preseason games.
