St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers, Candlestick Park, San Francisco, CA
Sunday, November 14, 2010, 4:15 pm EDT, TV: FOX
Opening Line: 49ers -5.5
Current Line: 49ers -6
Opening Total: 38
Current Total: 38
Money Line: 49ers -260 / Rams +220
If the San Francisco 49ers (2-6) are going to make the playoffs by winning the NFC West, they will need to win games like this divisional home matchup with the St. Louis Rams (4-4) on Sunday. The Rams surprisingly find themselves tied atop the division with Seattle, but it is the 49ers (-6) who were picked by most to win the West before opening the season at 0-5.
San Francisco has played better lately but still has a lot of work to do in order to seize the division lead. The team is coming off a bye week following a 24-16 win over Denver in London. Former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith made his first start under center for the 49ers and third of his career against the Broncos, completing 12 of 19 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown while also adding another score on the ground from a yard out. Smith got the job due to a shoulder injury to Alex Smith, who has already been ruled out for this game against the Rams.
Head coach Mike Singletary was looking for an offensive spark for his team, and he certainly appears to have found one in Smith. However, the running game fueled by Frank Gore remains San Francisco’s strength heading into this meeting with St. Louis. Gore ranks fourth in the NFC with 691 rushing yards, but he will be facing a Top 10 run defense in the Rams.
St. Louis is much-improved defensively under second-year head coach Steve Spagnuolo and has limited opponents to 97.8 rushing yards per game, which ranks seventh-best in the NFL. Defensive ends James Hall and Chris Long has also combined for 11 sacks while linebacker James Laurinaitis leads the team with 54 tackles.
Offensively, the Rams are banking on rookie quarterback Sam Bradford to continue his solid play. Bradford already has more than twice as many career starts (eight) as his counterpart for the 49ers, as he has started every game so far. He has also done a much better job of limiting his mistakes lately, failing to throw an interception in his last three games after tossing eight in his first five games combined. However, St. Louis has yet to win away from home this season in three attempts despite losing two of those games by a combined three points.
The 49ers won both meetings with the Rams last year by a combined score of 63-6 and is riding a four-game series winning streak overall. The UNDER has cashed in seven of the last eight games between the teams along with three straight overall for St. Louis. While San Francisco has been one of the most disappointing teams against the spread with a 1-3 mark in its last four games, the Rams have been one of the best in the league by covering six of their last seven.
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