Los Angeles Rams at Houston Texans
The Los Angeles Rams will travel to NRG Stadium on Sunday afternoon to take on the Houston Texans in a Week 8 battle. The Rams are second in the NFC West with a 6-1 record and are coming off a 28-19 home win over the Detroit Lions.
Matt Stafford finished 28-of-41 for 334 yards with three touchdowns. The Texans are last in the AFC South with a 1-6 record and are coming off a 31-5 road loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Davis Mills finished 23-of-32 for 135 yards.
Best in the NFL
The Los Angeles Rams have been incredible this season and wide receiver Cooper Kupp has been dominant. So far this year, he is leading the league in catches (56), receiving yards (809), and touchdown receptions (9).
In his last game against the Lions, Kupp finished with 10 receptions on 13 targets for 156 yards (15.6 yards per catch) and a pair of touchdowns. If he can continue to be a threat, it will do wonders for the Rams.
The Los Angeles Rams have been a solid defensive unit this season as they are allowing 20.9 points per game. In their last game against the Detroit Lions, the Rams gave up 19 points on 415 total yards of offense (278 passing, 137 rushing). The Rams have to improve a little bit as the Lions finished 6-of-15 on third down and 2-of-3 on fourth down attempts.
The biggest need for improvement is the fact they gave up 4.9 rushing yards per attempt. If the defense can step up here, they will be in a great spot to win this game against one of the worst teams.
Cooking Up Something
The Houston Texans are trying to improve as they just traded away running back running back Mark Ingram II, but wide receiver Brandin Cooks has been doing well. So far this season, Cooks has 45 receptions for 502 yards (11.2 yards per catch) with a touchdown.
In his last game against the Arizona Cardinals, Cooks was able to rack up five receptions on seven targets for just 21 yards (4.2 yards per catch). Brandin Cooks needs to be more involved if the Texans offense wants to move the ball down the field.
The Houston Texans have not been a good defensive team as they are giving up 29 points per game. In their previous game against the Arizona Cardinals, they allowed 31 points on 397 total yards of offense (225 passing, 172 rushing). The Cardinals are one of the best offensive teams and averaged 5.8 yards per play.
Houston also allowed Arizona to control the time of possession as the Cardinals finished with 34:03 time of possession. The Houston Texans defense have not been doing well this season and this is not a good matchup for them to improve.
Who to Bet on Rams at Texans
The Houston Texans are beginning to sell off pieces already as they traded away running back Mark Ingram II on Wednesday, and with the Trade Deadline looming there could be more moves made. The Rams are one of the best teams in the NFL this season and the offenses are one of the biggest differentiating numbers.
Los Angeles is scoring 29.6 points while Houston is scoring 13.9 points per game (7.8 points per game in their last five outings). The Los Angeles Rams covered the spread in their last four games against the Houston Texans so go with the Rams to cover here as well on the road.
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