The Los Angeles Rams put the NFL on notice with an excellent performance in Week 1 as the Chicago Bears were put to the sword and now head out on the road to face Indianapolis.
While debutant quarterback Matthew Stafford was putting on a show in Tinseltown for the Rams, Carson Wentz’s maiden appearance for the Colts didn’t go so well as they fell to a 28-16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The Colts will hope to bounce back against another NFC West opponent but that won’t be easy based on what we saw out of the Rams last Sunday.
An intriguing game deserves an intriguing parlay and we’ve put together a four-legger that returns at odds of +750 with DraftKings. Check it out below and then let’s dig into each leg.
LA Rams -3.5 (-110)
Matthew Stafford over 279.5 passing yards (-114)
Cooper Kupp over 64.5 receiving yards (-114)
Jonathan Taylor over 2.5 receptions (+120)
Parlay odds: +750
LA Rams -3.5 (-110)
After the Rams put the Bears away by a 20-point margin last week and with Seattle easily covering a -2.5 handicap against the Colts, a larger spread had been expected. Granted the Colts are a better team than the Bears but they are a work in progress with Wentz having had minimal time to work with the offense in preseason after his foot surgery.
They found finishing drives against Seattle tough, while the offensive line gave three sacks and they could be in trouble again when trying to stop Aaron Donald and the Rams defense.
The Colts defense also has some work to do to get back to the level they were last season. Indianapolis struggled to cover the Seahawks receivers all afternoon and the Rams will present a similar problem given their myriad of options.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Los Angeles Rams vs Indianapolis Colts
Matthew Stafford over 279.5 passing yards (-114)
Speaking of the problems the Colts’ secondary could have trying to cover the Rams receivers brings us nicely to our second leg. The win over the Bears felt like a coming-out party not just for the whole Sean McVay playbook but for Stafford himself after years of working with a substandard operation in Detroit.
Stafford posted the highest passer rating of his career (156.1) in Week 1, throwing for 321 yards and three touchdowns against Chicago.
With top cornerback Xavier Rhodes either not at 100% or missing entirely for the Colts, Stafford could enjoy another productive day. Even when on a bad Lions team last year, Stafford had over 280 passing yards on six occasions in 2020 and can easily move past that target this week.
Cooper Kupp over 64.5 receiving yards (-114)
Stafford’s favorite target in the win over the Bears was Cooper Kupp, who registered 7 receptions on 10 targets for 108 yards and a touchdown. With Robert Woods, Van Jefferson, Tyler Higbee, and DeSean Jackson all wanting to be fed as well, there is a danger Stafford could spread the ball around more in future.
However, Kupp has a knack of making himself the go-to option for Rams quarterbacks, registering eight games featuring over 64 passing yards last season. With the Rams’ running game still to get going, Stafford could be forced into plenty of passing situations so look for Kupp to get his fair share of receptions.
Jonathan Taylor over 2.5 receptions (+120)
Wentz leaned heavily on lead back Jonathan Taylor when the Colts were forced to chase the game against Seattle and he could feature prominently again in the passing game this week.
Indy found it very difficult to establish a ground game, averaging 3.8 yards per carry with Taylor going for 56 yards on 14 attempts.
Taylor would prove more useful in the passing game as he registered six receptions, turning those into 60 yards. Having stirred away from checkdowns early on in his career, Wentz has developed more of a tendency to take the short option and he’ll lean on Taylor heavily until he gets more comfortable in the offense.
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