St. Louis Rams @ San Francisco 49ers, 8:25pm (49ers +3, O/U: 40)
Sheesh, what a matchup. These Thursday night games seem to be one bad matchup after another. Now, the Rams seem to have some things together on offense with their new coach, Sean McVay, but the faith in Goff still isn’t totally there. The rise of a semi stable passing game has taken a bit of the burden off of Gurley, who is having a good start to his third year in the league. This will be a battle of defenses all night. I’m actually shocked the over/under is where it is at 40. I’m hinting at half of my prediction.
The 49ers defense has been a surprising bright spot of this team. Losing key players on their defense over the years as hurt them but others have stepped up and a healthy NaVarro Bowman is the piece that leads this defenses success. Hoyer needs to settle in. Give the guy a break, it’s rather hard to go from system to system and play against tough defenses to start the season. If he can get consistent in the short passing game, Hyde can gash the defense, and the 49ers could push for a bounce back season, starting with this game.
Don’t let the Rams early success grab your faith just yet. This game could really give you a sense as to the capabilities of the Goff. Look for the 49ers to steal a win as a home dog in the under, because it’ll be an ugly one. 49ers win in the under, 17-16.
Necessary Roughness 