Can the Los Angeles Rams’ good fortune follow them east for Sunday night’s Week 3 tilt with the Cleveland Browns? We’re about to find out. Benefitting from another gift from the officials, the Rams improved to 2-0 for the second straight season and they are the team to beat in the NFC now that the Saints are without Drew Brees for a few months. The Rams are laying 3-points on the current NFL odds, the 19th consecutive regular season games they’ve been favored. This intraconference tilt gets underway at 8:20 p.m. ET from FirstEnergy Field and will air on NBC.
NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
Los Angeles Rams -3
Cleveland Browns +3
Over/Under 49
Los Angeles Rams at Cleveland Odds Analysis
The line hit the board at Rams -2.5 and saw a slight bump to -3 following Cleveland’s casual effort against a depleted Jets squad on Monday night. The Rams are getting nearly 70 percent of the early public money causing the slight rise. This is a rare matchup with the teams facing each other just for times since realignment in 2002, and the Rams were still calling St. Louis home in all of them. Cleveland hasn’t impressed enough bettors on offense this season with the total dropping 2-points to its current 49.
Los Angeles Rams Odds
Despite posting a NFL-best 13-3 record last season, the Rams were a loser against the line going just 7-8-1. They held New Orleans without a touchdown last week, though the loss of Brees to injury certainly had an impact. Still, the Rams covered as a 3-point favorite in their 24-9 victory to improve to 2-0 ATS. It’s hard to get a fair assessment of the Rams after opening with a win over a Carolina squad that has issues. Holding the Saints to three field goals was epic, though it came against a backup who hasn’t seen much action in the last few years. Since Sean McVay took over in 2017, the Rams are 26-8 SU and 18-15-1 ATS with the over going 20-14.
Cleveland Odds
We haven’t gotten a fair read on the Rams, and the same can be said about the Browns. They haven’t matched the preseason hype, but the Brownies did get their first victory of the season on Monday night, taking down the Jets and their third-string quarterback. A win’s a win and each week is different, so wipe the slate clean. Cleveland is hoping to do that and show its fans they are ready to compete. The home opener was a dud against Tennessee and the Browns have scored just 36 points in two games.
Key Stats or Trends
While the outcome was different and the Browns showed improvement in some areas, some of the same problems existed in Monday’s game that plagued them in the opener. After being flagged a whopping 18 times for 182 yards in Week 1, the Browns committed “just” nine infractions against the Jets. Cutting the penalties in half is great, but when you start with such a high number there is still plenty of room for improvement. Third down has been an issue as well. After going 1 for 10 in the opener, the Browns converted 4 of 13 against the Jets. Their 21.7 third-down success rate ranks near the bottom and will be a problem against the Rams.
Player to Watch
Adding flashy playmakers to Baker Mayfield’s arsenal was huge for ticket sales. Failing to address the offensive line will eventually cost the Browns games. We’ve seen a number of QBs go down already this season and it would behoove the Browns to step up protection for the franchise, especially with two-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald making an appearance. Mayfield was sacked five times by the Titans and sustained seven hits. He was brought down three times by the Jets and absorbed an additional six hits. Donald briefly left last week’s game with an injury and has been a non-factor so far. That won’t last for long.
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