There are a lot of different trends to consider when trying to predict which team will win a game. You can look at their recent performance, a quarterback’s history against an opponent, a team’s track record in prime time or their record in a particular month.
If you buy into a quarterback’s history against a specific team, the Saints are likely in trouble against the Rams tonight. Derek Carr’s career numbers against the Rams are atrocious. They’re the worst against any team he’s faced in the NFL, and it’s not particularly close.
In three career games against the Rams, Carr is 0-3. He has zero touchdown passes and seven interceptions, throwing at least two picks in every game. While he did have 303 yards in their 2018 meeting, he had just 173 yards (2014) and 137 yards (2022) in his two other games against the Rams.
Obviously, all of those games came while he was a member of the Raiders, but that doesn’t change the fact that individually, he’s been awful in his career against the Rams. His career passer rating is only 52.3 against the team he’s facing tonight.
The Rams are the only team Carr has faced that he hasn’t thrown at least one touchdown pass against, and his 52.3 passer rating is by far the worst against any opponent he’s faced. The next-closest is Washington, who he has a 73.8 passer rating against. He has a passer rating of at least 82 against every other team.
Matthew Stafford may not have a great track record against the Saints, going 3-6 in his career with 19 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions, but his numbers aren’t nearly as bad as Carr’s are against the Rams.