Atlanta Falcons at Los Angeles Rams - 9/18/22 NFL Picks and Prediction
The Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams face off on Sunday in a Week 2 NFL showdown at SoFi Stadium.
The Falcons have to still be thinking about how they were defeated in the first game of the season. The Falcons offense scored 26 points, but they were outscored 17-3 in the 4tb quarter and that led to the one point defeat. Marcus Mariota looked pretty good completing 20 of his 33 passes for 215 yards. He also rushed 12 times for 72 yards and a touchdown. Running back Cordarrelle Patterson had a big game rushing 22 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. Rookie wide receiver Drake London was also good finishing with five catches for 74 yards. On defense, they struggled through the air late, and they will need to be better on that side of the ball if they want to find success here.
On the other side of this matchup is the Rams and they didn’t look great in the first game of the season against the Buffalo Bills. The offense only managed 10 points while the defense gave up 31 points, and that led to the blowout defeat. Matthew Stafford tried to downplay his elbow injury, but he didn’t look great in the first game. Stafford completed 29 of his 41 passes for 240 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions. Cam Akers was expected to be the starting running back this season, but he only had three carries in the first game, and it’s unclear how much he will play in this game.
Tennessee is 6-2 against the spread in their last eight games on turf. Bills is 3-0-1 against the spread in their last four home games. The underdog is 10-1 against the spread in the last 11 meetings between the Falcons and Rams.
I’m not sold that Stafford is actually healthy and I think the interceptions are going to be an issue again in this game. Look for the Falcons offense to have another good game from Mariota and that is going to be the difference here. The Rams defense has issues and the Falcons will cover the spread. Back the Falcons against the spread.