Rams vs Saints Week 11 Picks and Predictions: Offensive Ineptitude Marks Conference Clash

Two struggling offenses will meet on Sunday afternoon in NOLA when the Los Angeles Rams travel to face off with the New Orleans Saints.

The Rams have lost three consecutive games since their bye week and are in serious jeopardy of losing any hope for the playoffs. The Saints have the fortune of playing in a struggling division, but could still be too far gone with another loss. 

Which desperate contender will come out on top on Sunday?

Find out in our free NFL betting picks and predictions for the Rams vs. Saints on Sunday, November 20.

Rams vs Saints best odds

Rams vs Saints picks and predictions

Quarterback Matthew Stafford should return this week after missing the last game due to a concussion. However, he will be without his Pro Bowl wide receiver, Cooper Kupp, who was sidelined with an ankle injury last week. Not great news for an already struggling offense.

The Rams rank 29th in the NFL in scoring at only 16.4 points per game and dead last in the league at 282.7 total yards per contest. A lot of this blame goes on a rushing game that only averages 68.1 yards per game and 3.2 yards per carry. 

Stafford has not been much better in the passing game. Stafford’s 241 passing yards per game and 9.9 yards per completion are both career lows. He also only has eight touchdowns in eight games and he has never had less than 20 passing touchdowns in a season in which he played at least 11 games. 

Things are not much better on the other side of the field for the Saints. Since their Thursday night shootout with the Cardinals in October, they have averaged 15.7 points per game. Andy Dalton may be the safer option over Jameis Winston, but he certainly is not getting the job done for the offense.

Dalton is only averaging 222.7 passing yards per game and has only 11 touchdowns through seven games. He also has seven interceptions and three fumbles. 

With two offenses that are struggling this hard and no real reason for optimism on immediate improvement, the Under certainly looks like the play here. The Saints have played three straight games that have gone Under the total and this Sunday will mark a fourth consecutive game as such.

My best bet: Under 39.5 (-118 at FanDuel)

Rams vs Saints spread analysis

Not only are both teams sitting on bad records, but they are both terrible against the spread. The Rams are 2-6-1 ATS and the Saints are 3-7 ATS. The Rams are the worst team ATS in the NFL and the Saints are tied with the Jaguars with the second-worst ATS record.

And, not only are both offenses bad, but neither defense is great at forcing turnovers. The Saints have a -12 turnover differential and the Rams have a -7 differential. Somewhere with these two teams, there must be an edge to determine who to play ATS. 

That edge may be in the Saints’ defense keeping the Rams’ offense out of field goal range more than the Rams’ defense will be able to do so to the Saints’ offense. The Saints have attempted 20 field goals this season compared to only 13 attempts for the Rams. 

The home team is 8-1 ATS in the last nine meetings between these two and the Rams are 0-5-1 ATS in their last six November games. This is not a strongly confident pick, but I must go with the Saints at home to win a field goal battle with the slightly better offense. 

Rams vs Saints Over/Under analysis

We already talked about how bad the offenses are, but now let’s look at the defenses. The Rams’ defense ranks sixth in the NFL at 310.8 yards allowed per game and ranks fourth in rushing at 96.1 yards allowed per contest. They have only allowed a team to surpass 100 rushing yards three times this season.

The Saints rank 13th in total offense in the league and sixth in passing yards allowed per game. They have also only allowed 11 passing touchdowns on the season. Their weakness comes in stopping the run, but the Rams are their perfect opponent with their lack of a run game. 

The Under is 4-0 in the last four road games for the Rams and 6-2 in their last eight games following a SU loss. The Under is 8-2 in the last 10 Saints games following a loss ATS. Everything about this game leads to yet another Under for both teams.  

Rams vs Saints betting trend to know

The Under is 20-7 in the Rams’ last 27 games following an ATS loss. Find more NFL betting trends for Rams vs. Saints.

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