NFL Line – St Louis vs Oakland

For those who like to attack the NFL line every week, there may be no other way to out it than to say that two of the league’s biggest losers get together on Sunday – maybe to decide the "Biggest Loser"? It’s the Oakland Raiders playing host to the St. Louis Rams, in a game that begins at 4:05 PM ET at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (natural turf) in Oakland. In the NFL line, somebody has to be favored, and in this case it’s the home-standing Raiders, who are laying three and a half points, with the total on the game posted at 38 points. We base our football betting prediction on those numbers.

St. Louis Rams (0-1 SU & ATS) at Oakland Raiders (0-1 SU & ATS)

Live at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Sunday, September 19 — 4:05 PM ET

TV: CBS

NFL Line:

Oakland -3.5

St. Louis +3.5

Total 38

[Off topic: by the way, do you want to get a 60% bonus on your first deposit here at BetOnline? If so JOIN NOW.]

The Raiders didn’t really have much of a chance last week as they were buried to the tune of 38-13 by the Tennessee Titans, failing to cover as a 6.5-point underdog in the NFL line. Chris Johnson ran over them, gaining 142 yards, and that brings out a fatal flaw in Oakland’s action, which is a defense that ranked 29th in the league against the run last year (and will have to deal with Steven Jackson this week). Meanwhile, new quarterback Jason Campbell had a relatively rough time of it, passing for less than five yards an attempt and sustaining four sacks. Campbell, of course, is the guy who is supposed to be offering a steadier hand at the quarterback position than JaMarcus Russell, whose errant passes were all over the place.

The Rams broke in a new quarterback as well last week, but one that was very green. St. Louis really had no choice but to elevate Sam Bradford to the starting job, because of the poise he exhibited in the pre-season after AJ Feeley went out with an injury. The aforementioned Jackson had 22 carries, but Bradford had to hoist the ball up there 55 times against Arizona, and though he was sacked only twice (probably less than some analysts of NFL lines may have forecast) but he was intercepted three times. So naturally there were some drives that got killed.

Here are some of the NFL betting trends as they impact our football betting prediction on this game:

• St Louis has played five of its last six games UNDER the total
• St Louis has lost its last nine games SU
• St Louis has covered one of its last five games
• St Louis has played six of its last eight road games UNDER the total
• St Louis has lost 12 of its last 13 road games SU

• Oakland has played four of its last six games OVER the total
• Oakland has lost four of its last five games SU
• Oakland has covered eight of its last 25 home games
• Oakland has lost four of its last five home games SU
• Five of the last seven meetings have gone UNDER the total

…And by the way, bet on football with parlays of 16 through 20 teams for huge payouts at BetOnline Sportsbook!

Oakland has often taken steps to improve its football teams, but there have been countless errors in judgment when it comes to personnel, and much of that is blamed on the presence of Al Davis, who insists on being his own general manager. The arrival of Campbell is something that won’t elevate Oakland into the game’s elite, but should make them a little more formidable against teams like they’ll be facing Sunday. The NFL line has the Raiders laying more than a field goal, and that’s kind of scary, because Oakland has not covered in its last eleven attempts as a favorite. Yes, we keep that in mind. But there is no escaping the fact that Oakland has a signal-caller with a lot more experience than someone making his first road start, and though the Rams might have the best weapon on the field (Jackson) it may not be a bad policy for the Raiders to match up their capable cornerbacks one-on-one with the non-threatening Ram wideouts and put extra people in the box to make Bradford throw. There are more mistakes where those three interceptions came from. Don’t underestimate the value of Darren McFadden either (150 total yards last Sunday). St. Louis has not topped 17 points in the last eight games. Let’s go with the Raiders, favored by 3.5 points in the NFL line.

JAY’S PLAY: OAKLAND -3.5 **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Take advantage of more NFL betting options than anywhere else at BetOnline Sportsbook!