LOS ANGELES RAMS (6-6) at BALTIMORE (9-3)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox
AGAINST THE SPREAD: Rams 5-5-2; Ravens 8-4.
SERIES RECORD: Ravens lead 5-3.
LAST MEETING: Rams beat Ravens 20-19 on Jan. 2, 2022, in Baltimore.
LAST WEEK: Rams beat Browns 36-19; Ravens off.
RAMS OFFENSE: OVERALL (13), RUSH (15), PASS (15), SCORING (13).
RAMS DEFENSE: OVERALL (16), RUSH (16), PASS (15), SCORING (14).
RAVENS OFFENSE: OVERALL (7), RUSH (1), PASS (20), SCORING (7).
RAVENS DEFENSE: OVERALL (2), RUSH (11), PASS (2), SCORING (1).
TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Rams minus-2; Ravens plus-5.
RAMS PLAYER TO WATCH: Last week, quarterback Matthew Stafford outperformed a formidable Cleveland defense by throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns. Since their starting quarterback made a full recovery from a thumb injury, the Rams have gone 3-0.
RAVENS PLAYER TO WATCH: Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. helped the Rams win a Super Bowl during his brief stay with the team at the end of the 2021 campaign. Since joining the Ravens, he has played a bigger role in an offense without injured tight end Mark Andrews.
ESSENTIAL MATCHUP: The Rams’ offensive line up against Baltimore’s pass rush. With 47 sacks, the Ravens lead the NFL and have recorded multiple sacks in 10 straight games, which is a league record. Throughout his team’s current three-game winning streak, Stafford has only been benched once.
KEY INJURIES: Puka Nacua, WR for the Rams, had limited practice this week due to a shoulder injury. Practice time was missed by LB Byron Young (knee), DB Quentin Lake (hamstring), TE Tyler Higbee (neck), and LB Michael Hoecht (knee). CB Marlon Humphrey of Baltimore (calf) attended practice this week following his absence from two games in a row. DT Justin Madubuike was limited due to a concussion.
SERIES NOTES: In the most recent meeting between the teams, Beckham scored the game-winning touchdown for the Rams with 57 seconds remaining. Lamar Jackson, the starting quarterback for Baltimore, was injured and missed that game. In the 2019 MVP season, Jackson led Los Angeles by five touchdown passes in a 45-6 victory.
DATA AND STUFF: The Rams are currently enjoying their first winning run of three games since their Super Bowl victory in February 2022. … Los Angeles, which had trouble stopping the run early in the season, has now held three opponents under 100 yards of total offense. For the first time in his seven-year NFL career, wide receiver Cooper Kupp has been held to less than 50 yards receiving in five straight games. … Despite spraining his shoulder during the Rams’ victory over Cleveland last week, Nacua set a record for the team’s single-season yards received by a rookie. To surpass the NFL rookie record, he would need to gain 445 yards in the final five games and 28 more catches. … If Mason Crosby, 39, is promoted from the practice squad, the Rams may have their third kicker of the year. Over the last two weeks, incumbent Lucas Havrisik has missed two field goals and an extra point. The Los Angeles defense has kept opponents to 21 points or fewer in four straight games. In six out of the last twelve games, the Rams’ opponents have scored a touchdown on their opening drive. Baltimore leads the AFC North by two games after winning six of its last seven. In the 16 seasons that head coach John Harbaugh has had the Ravens, they have already secured their 12th winning season. Following its opening date under Harbaugh, Baltimore is 12-3. In 28 straight games, the Ravens have gained at least 100 yards through the air.
This season, Baltimore has given up a league-low 16 touchdowns to touchdowns. In three games this season, Ravens running back Gus Edwards has scored multiple touchdowns on the ground. Four is the franchise record set in 2019 by Willis McGahee. Madubuike has at least one half-sack in nine consecutive games. There are eleven NFL records. The Ravens play three straight first-place teams: Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Miami, after taking on the Rams.
FANTASY TIP: Against the Los Angeles Chargers, Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely caught four passes for forty yards, showing that he was productive in Baltimore’s first complete game without Andrews. Whether he can contribute in the red zone in the same manner as Andrews is the key question.