The Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings Wild Card matchup has moved to Glendale, Arizona due to the ongoing wildfires in Southern California. In what is an extremely difficult time for the Los Angeles area, this game seems to hold a lot of stakes for plenty of reasons.
We have Sam Darnold attempting to complete his unbelieve transformation with a playoff victory, Kevin O’Connell against Sean McVay on offense, and the Rams attempting to win a ‘home’ game for the city of Los Angeles. This should be a great matchup with Puka Nacua and Jordan Addison serving as the x-factors.
I find it extremely difficult to envision a world where Kyren Williams hits around the 100-yard mark in this ball game. After the Vikings and Brian Flores allowed Jahmyr Gibbs to score not one… not two… but FOUR touchdowns on top of 150 total yards last week, this defense should key in on defending Kyren Williams and slowing his pace early on in this Wild Card matchup.
After Kyren’s performance against the Cardinals, I didn’t see the kind of pop in his first cut we saw earlier in the season and that is extremely concerning.
KW totaled 350 touches during the regular season and mixed in with a solid showing from Ronnie Rivers in Week 18 alongside Minnesota’s defense turning it up a notch in Glendale, I’m taking Williams’ under in this matchup.
Two bets for Nacua this Monday night! In his 11 first-quarter regular season games this season, the Rams superstar has caught 15 passes, including a 16-yard catch to open the game against Arizona two weeks ago.
With Sean McVay needing a massive performance from his offensive superstars, he’ll be able to scheme Nacua open during the first drive and first quarter. As for first downs, Puka averages 4.3 during the regular season.
Again, with McVay’s schemes getting Puka open (37 catches over the last four games) while securing plenty of YAC opportunities, this is the receiving bet of the night.
Jalen Nailor has sneakily become a talking point within this Vikings offense - mostly due to defenses taking a keen interest in stopping Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson.
While T.J. Hockenson will cut into some of Jalen’s opportunities, the Vikings WR3 is playing around 50% of snaps while catching 8 balls from Darnold throughout the last two games.
A receiver that Darnold has heavily targeted in the red zone (6 TDs this season), this is the flier bet on the Vikings' side, especially with a +300 tag on anytime touchdown.
With Addison hitting this prop mark in 10 of 15 regular season games for the Vikings and the Rams secondary focusing on Justin Jefferson’s speed deep, Jordan Addison has a great chance to break away for a big gain in this matchup.
The 2nd-year wideout didn’t have a great performance in the Vikings’ Week 8 loss to Los Angeles with just two catches for 22 yards.
While Justin Jefferson and Aaron Jones were the offensive weapons to beat the Rams in that game, Addison once again will serve as the x-factor in the postseason for Minnesota.