Los Angeles Rams at New York Jets
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS.
BetMGM NFL odds: Rams by 3 1/2.
Against the spread: Rams 7-7; Jets 5-9.
Series record: Rams lead 10-5.
Last meeting: Jets beat Rams 23-20 on Dec. 20, 2020, in Inglewood, California.
Last week: Rams beat 49ers 12-6; Jets beat Jaguars 32-25.
Rams offense: overall , rush , pass , scoring .
Rams defense: overall , rush , pass , scoring .
Jets offense: overall , rush , pass , scoring .
Jets defense: overall , rush , pass , scoring .
Turnover differential: Rams plus-4; Jets minus-1.
TE Tyler Higbee. He’s set to make his season debut after injuring a knee in the NFC wild-card loss at Detroit. Higbee, 31, has been a reliable part of the Rams’ offense by creating movement in the run game and averaging 59 catches, 586 yards and four touchdowns over the past five seasons. The presence of Higbee occupying defenders between the numbers can only make the WR tandem of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua that much more dangerous.
QB Aaron Rodgers. The 41-year-old quarterback has played well the past two weeks, a late-season resurgence that has some believing Rodgers still has plenty left. He’s 43 of 69 for 628 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in his past two games. Rodgers also reestablished his connection with buddy Davante Adams, who had nine catches for 198 yards and two TDs last week.
Rams WRs Kupp and Nacua vs. Jets CBs Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed. Matthew Stafford’s favorite targets are having solid seasons again as perhaps the best wide receiver duo in the league. But Kupp is coming off a game in which he was held to no catches on three targets in the Rams’ win over the 49ers. New York’s secondary should get a boost with Reed on track to return from a groin injury and join Gardner, who had his first interception in two years last week after missing a game with a tweaked hamstring.
The Rams could have their top cornerback available this week with CB Cobie Durant practicing on a limited basis after a chest injury kept him out against the 49ers. … Jets DT Quinnen Williams is dealing with a hamstring injury that kept him out of practice early in the week. … S Jalen Mills was placed on IR after breaking his collarbone on an interception last Sunday.
The Jets have won three of the past four meetings. … New York got its first win of the 2020 season after starting 0-13 the previous time the teams met, when the Jets won 23-20. Sam Darnold had a touchdown pass and Frank Gore ran for a score and Sam Ficken kicked three field goals. The Jets finished 2-14 that season and Adam Gase was fired as coach. … The Rams won seven in a row against the Jets before New York ended the skid with a 47-3 victory in 2008 behind three TD runs by Thomas Jones and Brett Favre at quarterback. … The Jets won the first meeting between the teams 31-20 in 1970.
The Rams have won three in a row and four of five, and look to maintain their place atop the NFC West standings. They’re tied with Seattle, which hosts Minnesota on Sunday, but currently hold the tiebreaker after a 26-20 overtime win on Nov. 3. Los Angeles hosts Seattle in the regular-season finale. … Stafford hasn’t turned the ball over in the past five games, his longest streak in 16 years as an NFL QB. … The Rams are 4-2 when totaling under 200 net yards passing this season, including both victories over the 49ers. They were 3-13 when failing to gain 200 net yards in the previous three seasons. … RB Kyren Williams has consecutive games with 29 carries, the two highest tallies of his career. He also has 31 total touches in both games, Williams’ second-heaviest workloads as a professional. He had 27 carries and five receptions against Washington on Dec. 17, 2023. … DT Kobie Turner had two sacks of San Francisco’s Brock Purdy. It was his second two-sack game of the season and fourth of Turner’s bright brief career. … Los Angeles had 14 first downs against San Francisco, its fewest in a win since notching 13 in a 17-7 triumph over Chicago on Nov. 17, 2019. … The Jets snapped a four-game skid with their win at Jacksonville. They look to win consecutive games for only the second time this season. … New York scored a touchdown on its opening drive for the first time this season on Rodgers’ touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson. … Rodgers has passed for 3,225 yards, the 14th time in his career he has reached the 3,000-yard milestone. He joined Tom Brady as the only QBs to do so in their 20th NFL season. … Rodgers ran for a team-leading 45 yards on six carries last week, his most yards rushing since 2019 and the seventh most of his career. It was also the second-most yards rushing by a player 40 years old or older since the 1970 merger, trailing only Doug Flutie’s 53 for the Chargers in 2003. … Adams had two TD catches last week, giving him 101 for his career. He’s the 12th player to reach 100 TD receptions. … Adams had 135 yards receiving in the final four minutes of regulation, the most by any player in that timeframe in this century, according to ESPN Research. He finished with nine catches for 198 yards. … Rodgers and Adams have combined for 81 touchdown passes, the fourth most in NFL history. They are one behind Miami’s Dan Marino and Mark Clayton for third. … Wilson has 84 catches for 933 yards this season to join Odell Beckham, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Michael Thomas as the only players with 80-plus catches and 900-plus yards receiving in each of their first three seasons. … DL Quinnen Williams has 45 pressures as an interior pass rusher this season, second to Denver’s Zach Allen , according to Next Gen Stats. His 39 career sacks are the most by an interior D-lineman in franchise history. … S Ashtyn Davis had a 21-yard run on a fake punt last week, his third such conversion of his career.
If you have Kupp and are still alive in the playoffs, you were fortunately able to overcome his shutout last week. He’s still a must-start, even though the Rams face a solid Jets secondary. Kupp has great value in the red zone, where he could snag a TD.
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