LA Rams at Minnesota (1800 GMT, Sky Sports Action)
“It’s a crazy business. That’s what makes is so cool,” said Minnesota Vikings quarterback Case Keenum this week when asked on whether he expected both his team and the Rams to be 7-2 at this stage of the season.
It very much is a crazy business and I would have been a resounding ‘no’ in terms of the Rams' current record but some sort of perfect storm has suddenly produced a live Super Bowl contender in California.
Sean McVay is the NFL’s youngest head coach at 31 but seems to have completely energised an organisation that has not been to the play-offs since 2004 with some wily improvements in key areas.
Veteran additions like Andrew Whitworth on the offensive line, an improved group of wide receivers, a return to form for running back Todd Gurley and McVay’s superb handling of former No.1 pick Jared Goff at quarterback mean they are in pole position currently to claim the NFC West.
Veteran defensive co-ordinator Wade Phillips was brought on board in January as well and his unit leads the league in forcing turnovers with 12 interceptions and seven fumbles recovered.
They also possess perhaps the best kicker in the league in Greg "The Leg" Zuerlein, who has currently slotted home 28 out of 29 field goal attempts so it immediately becomes clear why this is such a good football team.
Goff’s improvement from year one to two has been startling with 16 touchdowns to four interceptions and now faces perhaps the toughest test of the year against an excellent Minnesota defense off a career-best effort in Houston with three touchdown passes and 355 yards.
The Vikings will be in no mood at home however, to relinquish a winning streak that now stands at five games with Keenum at the helm, ironically the player benched last season by the Rams and replaced by Goff.
Keenum joined his current team as a free agent to back-up Sam Bradford but the latter is on Injured Reserve due to a long-term knee issue and the offense has thrived as a result with Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs certainly in the argument when it comes to the most dynamic receiving combinations around.
An interesting issue brewing behind the scenes is the imminent return of Teddy Bridgewater following an extremely serious knee injury but it seems like madness to me to throw him back with Keenum in this sort of form.
This is the most interesting of the games on the early slate with obvious repercussions down the line when it comes to seedings in the NFC.
The hosts will have to give up 2.5 points to beat the spread but I would rather go down another route and back the longest field goal converted being over 44.5 yards as Zuerlein and Kai Forbath are both in great form, have a range of over 50 yards and the comforts of kicking indoors for this fixture.
Prediction: LA Rams 24-27 Minnesota
Recommended bets:
2pts longest field goal over 44.5 yards at 5/6
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Posted at 1030 GMT on 18/11/17.
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