The Titans are coming off a big win but it was costly likely losing star RB Derrick Henry for the season. The team now heads to La La Land to take on a Rams team that has won four in a row.
The oddsmakers have the Rams as a 7.5-point home favorite in this non-conference game with the total sitting at 53.5. Even with Henry out the spread has not changed drastically, as the Rams opened as a 6.5-point favorite and as of Thursday are a 7.5-point favorite.
After Week 8 the Titans are 6-2 and 6-2 ATS and the Rams are 7-1 and 4-4 ATS.
In their last game the Titans won their fourth in a row with a 34-31 OT win over the Indianapolis Colts. The team picked off Indy QB Carson Wentz in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal.
In their last game the Rams were on the road and beat the hapless Houston Texans 38-22. The team was up 38-0 after the third quarter before putting in backups and they racked up nearly 470 total yards.
These teams have not met since the 2017 season.
Who Will Be in the Backfield for Titans?
Henry leads the NFL in rushing yards and QB Ryan Tanehill ranks second on the team in rushing yards. Jeremy McNichols has a grand total of 38 rushing yards and after the Henry injury the team signed Adrian Peterson and D’Onta Foreman to the practice squad and each may be active for this game.
Ryan Tannehill (2,002 yards 10 TD 7 INT) has to step up his play with the big gun in Henry behind him. He does rank eighth in the league in QBR and had three TD passes in the win over the Colts but he was picked off twice and has four INT in the last three games.
A.J. Brown leads the team with 509 receiving yards and he has been huge in the last two games where he had at least 133 receiving yards in each one. Julio Jones (301 yards) has not had a huge impact in his first season with Tennessee and does not have over 59 receiving yards in his last three games.
The Rams’ defense picked up Von Miller before the trade deadline but the former All Pro may not play in this game. Even with Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey the L.A. defense still only ranks 21st in the league defending the pass and 11th defending the run. However, the team does rank a legit 10th in points allowed per game.
Rams are All In
The trade for star Von Miller showed the Rams are Super Bowl or bust this season.
L.A. is tied with the Arizona Cardinals atop the NFC West. Matthew Stafford has transitioned well in his first season with the Rams ranking second in the NFL in passing yards and he leads the NFL in QBR. In his last two games he has three TD and no INT and has passed for over 300 yards.
Cooper Kupp leads the NFL with 904 receiving yards and in his last three games has five TD and at least 115 receiving yards in each one. The deep Rams also have Robert Woods and Van Jefferson, who have combined for 850 yards and seven TD.
Darrell Henderson (507 yards 5 TD) leads a run unit that ranks 19th in the league in rushing yards per game and he rushed for 90 yards in the last game.
Tennessee ranks a solid eighth in the league in run defense but only 24th in pass defense, which is not good facing Stafford and company.
The Prediction
Tennessee has not only won four in a row but they covered in each of those games as well. However, that trend ends in L.A. on Sunday night.
Without Henry the Titans will struggle big time, as he not only is a beast but helps the team control the clock. Tannehill will do his best to keep up with Stafford but that is a tall task. Tennessee will surprise some and stay with the Rams for a while but in the end L.A. has too much talent and they will win and cover.