Third year quarterbacks Carson Wentz of the Philadelphia Eagles and Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams will forever be linked. They were the top two picks in the 2016 NFL Draft with the Rams trading up to select their QB of the future while Philly used the second overall selection to take a kid from an FCS school. Wentz also has a connection to the Coliseum since that is where he sustained a season-ending knee injury last season, forcing him to miss the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl title. The two face each other for the second time when the clubs meet in the Week 15 Sunday Night Football game.
Watch this Week 15 regular season matchup live on Sunday, December 9, 2018, at 8:20 p.m. ET at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Opening NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
Philadelphia Eagles +9
Los Angeles Rams -9
Over/Under 53.5
The Eagles used a two-game winning streak to put a scare in the Cowboys, but losing to them for the second time in a month evaporated any hopes they had of winning the NFC East. And last week’s overtime loss in Dallas likely extinguished Philly’s postseason hopes as well. And the failure was due to many of the problems that have plagued the Eagles all season. The offense has been misfiring and a beaten up defense just couldn’t hold on.
When the Eagles invaded the Coliseum at this time last year, they were leading the league in scoring and Wentz was the top touchdown passer in the NFL. Wentz went down with a serious knee injury and it’s apparent the recovery hasn’t reached 100 percent. Neither has Philly’s offense. The ground game suffered when Jay Ajayi went down earlier with an injury and LeGarrette Blount was let go. As a result the Eagles own the 28th ranked ground game with fewer than 98 yards per outing.
Last season when the Eagles were rolling, they relied on the ground game to set up Wentz. That hasn’t been the case in 2018 and we’ve seen them struggle. They were held scoreless in the first quarter for the 10th time in 13 games last week at Dallas and were shutout in the first half. Now they won’t have Corey Clement against a Rams defense that’s turned things up a notch. Play the Eagles under their first half point total on the live betting lines at BookMaker.eu.
Wentz picked things up in the second half against a strong Dallas defense and the Eagles benefitted from a few turnovers. He threw three touchdown passes in the second half to get the Eagles even, and he had to throw since the run game produced only 34 yards on 14 attempts. Throwing the football against the Rams could be a problem. Since allowing Patrick Mahomes to shred them a few weeks ago, the Rams have stiffened against the pass. They held Matthew Stafford in check to beat the Lions and the Bears did absolutely nothing.
Since acquiring Dante Fowler from the Jags in the middle of the season, we’ve seen his playing time increase and the Rams pass rush has another formidable player. Aaron Donald was held without a sack last week, but he still leads the league with 16.5 while Fowler has a pair with several other disruptive plays. Watch for the front to pin their ears back and go after Wentz with the likelihood of a few sacks, and Donald can’t go too long without getting one.
And the Rams are probably licking their chops at the thought of playing a beaten down Eagles defense. Philly allowed Dak Prescott to throw for 455 yards and three touchdowns last week as the Boys amassed 576 yards of offense. Zeke Elliott ran for 113 yards and you can bet the Rams will get the ball in the hands of Todd Gurley a lot more than they did last week. Gurley had season-lows of 11 carries and 28 yards against the Bears and Sean McVay was critical of his game plan. In other words, get Gurley the damn ball. He will get it and he will exceed his rushing yardage total while getting back into the end zone at least once, so play Gurley on a prop bet at BookMaker.eu.
Eagles at Rams Live Betting
The Rams haven’t played at the Coliseum since that classic Monday night matchup against the Chiefs when they scored 54 points, and they have performed admirably on their home turf all season. The Rams have scored at least 29 points in each of their six home games and average nearly 38 points per contest. Those scuffles on the road should be fixed with a return home and against a beleaguered Eagles defense.
NFL Betting Odds
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