Cardinals vs. Rams: Preview, score prediction for Week 7
By Nick Sparrow
Arizona Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Rams
The Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams will travel to Twickenham Stadium for the third London game of the NFL season.
This will be a tough NFC West matchup as the Rams currently hold a one-game lead over the Cardinals. The Seattle Seahawks, coming off of a bye in Week 6, are also a half-game behind the Rams. Everything is shaking out for a close division race between three good teams. The Rams are coming off of a 27-17 road win over the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, whereas the Cardinals beat the Buccaneers 38-33 at home.
Los Angeles may currently be in the driver’s seat of the division, but they haven’t won an NFC West title since 2003 (as the St. Louis Rams).
Keys to Victory
To battle against the Cardinals strong offense and talented secondary, the Rams need to get production out of their offensive weapons, especially when it comes to Sammy Watkins. When the Rams traded for Watkins in early August, giving up cornerback E.J. Gaines and the second-round draft pick, they knew they were trading for an extremely talented player who had trouble living up to his potential in Buffalo.
Combining Watkin’s stats in Week 1 and Week 3, he caught 11 passes on 12 targets for 164 yards and two touchdowns. However, in the four other games the Rams have played this season Watkins has just four receptions for 58 yards and no touchdowns, an average of just 14.5 yards per game.
While Todd Gurley is the best player of the Los Angeles offense, Sammy Watkins is far and away the team’s best receiver. In all likelihood, Watkins will be shadowed by Patrick Peterson this week. Peterson is the best cornerback in the league and it will be extremely difficult for Watkins to get open this week if he is already struggling. However, Arizona can score a lot of points and Watkins may be a needed part of the Rams plan to match those points.
The Cardinals need to continue to improve their blocking. Arizona appeared to have one of the worst offensive lines in the league through the first few weeks of the season but improved last week against Tampa. The Cardinals enter Week 7 ranked 31st in rushing with a total of 419 yards and three touchdowns through the first six weeks. Two of those touchdowns and 134 of those yards came from Adrian Peterson in Week 6, who had only been on the Arizona roster for five days. Peterson may be a significant improvement over any other active running back on the roster but the line was a large reason for his success.
Betting Odds
Point Spread: Los Angeles -3.5
Moneyline: Los Angeles -180, Arizona +155
Over/Under: 47
All betting odds provided by BookMaker via the Sportsbook Review
Next: NFL: 5 Teams on upset alert in Week 7
Prediction
It is difficult to predict this game without knowing what version of the Cardinals will show up in London. Has Adrian Peterson returned to elite status or is the Tampa Bay defense worse than we all believe? In a lot of ways, this game comes down to defense. I believe Patrick Peterson will be able to successfully cover Watkins and force Jared Goff to go elsewhere.
Gurley may have a big game on the ground but I expect Goff to turnover the ball multiple times against a great Cardinal secondary. On the Cardinals side, Peterson will be running directly at Aaron Donald, who may be the best defensive player in the league. However, no corner on the Rams roster is fast enough to keep up with John Brown or skilled enough to cover Larry Fitzgerald.
Final Score: Arizona Cardinals: 27, Los Angeles Rams: 18