THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Las Vegas Raiders (-6) @ Los Angeles Rams 38.5 [U]
Every week, some “expert” on one platform or another pulls this gem of a comment, or some form of it, out of their colon:
“Well, the Rams went all in last year—and it paid off with a Super Bowl win—and that’s all that matters…”
The Gairzo vehemently disagrees.
L.A. gave up Jared Goff two 1st rounders and a 3rd to replace Goff with Matthew Stafford.
Yes they got a shiny new Lombardi trophy, but they have no number one pick—and they will have the worst record of any defending Super Bowl Champion this year.
BTW, next year is a crapshoot for L.A. because Aaron Donald might retire, Kooper Kupp will be returning from ankle surgery, and Matt Staford will be a year older. Odds are the Big Horns might stink worse next year as the QB arrows of their three division rivals are all pointing upward.
The NFL is designed to produce 32 8-8 teams. If three-win squads can’t/don’t immediately upgrade via the draft, they risk being bad for 1-3 years. If they miss a shot at that needed impact player improvement for two years, they quickly become like, well, the Raiders.
Las Vegas or their California incarnations have won four playoff games since 2000. That’s because Al Davis, a true maverick, missed on more first round picks than his son Mark misses picking competent barbers.
The Chiefs, The Chargers, Buffalo, Miami, Cincy, the Magpies all experienced a perfect storm of blind luck, wise choices or just sucking so bad they couldn’t miss picking a franchise quarterback.
Teams like the Patriots—cheating aside—Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Da Bears, ‘Zona, Seattle, the Niners, are all waiting to see if the storm will very soon be perfect enough for them.
For tonight the Raiders have shown enough of RB Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams to prove they, along with QB, Derek Carr, can put 30+ points on a Rams squad without its superstars on either side of the ball.
Injuries and the Stafford trade, make the Big Horns the steamiest mess of 2022 NFL teams.
Lay the 6.5 and play the Under.
Raiders 27
Rams 16