Thursday, May 17th, 2012
The San Francisco 49ers will hit the highway in NFC West divisional action in an NFL pro football week 17 game at the St Louis Rams on Sunday afternoon. Kick off time in St Louis is scheduled for 1PM Eastern Time with regional television coverage provided by Fox.
The LVSC NFL odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and San Francisco 49ers were opened as an 8 point favorite with the over under coming in at 38 ½.
The early money from the NFL betting public has come in on the home underdog St Louis Rams, as the San Francisco 49ers are currently a 7-point favorite. The total has seen early betting movement towards the over, as the over under is currently lined at 40 ½ for the NFL betting public to play into.
NFL money line gamblers can make a play on the favored San Francisco 49ers at –325 with the home underdog St Louis Rams bringing back +275 to win without the need for getting the points.
The San Francisco 49ers have long been eliminated from the playoffs and sits with a record of 7-8 this season. It has been 6 straight losing seasons entering the year for this franchise and with a win the team will finish with a non-losing record of 8-8 for a first in 6 seasons. The team is coming off a 20-6 victory over Detroit. The 20 points were another disappointment to a bad offense. The Lions are one of the worst defenses in the league and despite getting 6 turnovers the team could only produce 20 points. The 49ers offense received 7 turnovers a few weeks back against Arizona and generated a mere 24 points and on a Thursday Night Football game against Chicago, the 49ers received 5 turnovers and could only produce 10 points. This San Francisco offense played like a 3-13 team and was bailed out by their defense all season.
In their first meeting it was the San Francisco 49ers pounding the Rams 35-0 way back on October 4th. The Rams could only generate 95 rushing yards and 82 through the air in defeat. The Rams committed 3 critical turnovers in the game.
The San Francisco 49ers need an overhaul in their quarterback position. Alex Smith is not a capable quarterback and is only playing due to the ineffectiveness of Shaun Hill. Smith has hit on 60% of his passes with just 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He posted a day against the Lions where he hit on 20 of 31 for 230 yards 1 touchdown and no picks in victory. Smith is a quarterback who folds under pressure. Against the woeful Lions he could only convert 5 of 17 on third downs. This is exactly where Alex Smith has failed as a quarterback for San Francisco. The 49ers convert only 30% of their third downs this season and it all points to Alex Smith not handling pressure situations and not fit to be an NFL quarterback in this league.
Running back Frank Gore has produced with 1013 yards rushing this season with 8 touchdowns and an impressive 4.9 yards a carry average. Gore has rushed for 345 yards in his past three games.
Defensively the 49ers have played well allowing their opponents just 18 points per game. They are very good against the run allowing just 97 yards per game and are 2nd in the NFL allowing just 3.7 yards per rushing attempt.
St Louis sits with a record of 1-14 and with a loss will earn the #1 pick in the 2010 NFL draft. So losing is winning for Rams fans in week 17. With a Rams victory and a Lions loss it will be the Detroit Lions earning the #1 pick in the 2010 draft. With a hot commodity on defense in senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh coming out in the draft the Rams are in somewhat of a pickle. If they beat their hated rivals they could lose the opportunity of drafting a huge need on defense because the Lions would snatch Suh with the #1 pick. The Rams beat Detroit this season and the Lions would finish behind the Rams in the standings and would get the #1 pick should they end the season tied.
The Rams are coming off a 31-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals last week. The Rams were sloppy on offense allowing 4 turnovers in the game. Once again on defense the Rams gave up over 400 yard of offense to their opponent.
With injuries to their starting and backup quarterback it has been rookie Keith Null under center. Null has not played well passing for just 3 touchdowns with 9 interceptions in his three games. The Rams are 0-3 in Null’s starts averaging just 10 points a game.
Running back Steven Jackson had a Pro Bowl season and was named to the NFC squad. The 6-year back has rushed for 1353 yards with 4.5 yards a carry average. Making Jackson’s season even more impressive was the fact St Louis had an inept passing attack and most teams were playing run against the Rams this season. Jackson has been sporting a back issue and did not play last week against Arizona. It was second year back Kenneth Darby getting 11 carries last week. He produced just 40 yards on the ground last week and one would expect in week 17 for the young ball carrier to get the bulk of the carries this week.
The Rams defense has been poor this season allowing 27 points a game. The Rams are 0-7 at home this season. The team has struggled in their secondary position allowing 243 passing yards per game and a high 11.9 yards per pass completion.
For the Latest NFL Odds Please Visit our NFL Odds Page
NFL Trend: San Francisco 49ers are 8-2 ATS in their past 10 meetings with St Louis Rams
The Wagerline consensus has 73.5% of the NFL bettors on San Francisco -7
The Wagerline consensus has 50.8% of the NFL bettors playing over 40 1/2
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