Before taking on two division rivals in their last two games, the Los Angeles Rams will pay the Dallas Cowboys a visit in Week 15. It’s a rematch of last year’s divisional round, a game the Rams won to advance to the conference championship.
Each of the last three meetings between the Rams and Cowboys has been decided by one score, however, so these two teams are not only familiar with each other, but their games often come down to the wire.
Entering this one, the Rams have won two straight, while Dallas is on a three-game losing skid. Yet, despite the Cowboys being two games behind the Rams and looking like a non-playoff team the last three weeks, they’re in better shape than Los Angeles is.
The Rams badly need this win, sitting one game behind the Vikings in the wild-card race. The Cowboys look like an inferior opponent, but on paper, they’re one of the more talented teams in the league; cohesively as a team, though, it’s a different story.
The Rams should take advantage of Dallas’ issues at linebacker, with Leighton Vander Esch out and Sean Lee questionable. The Cowboys missed 19 tackles alone in Week 14 against the Bears, and having backup linebackers on the field won’t help their current trend of missed tackles.
Picking on Dallas’ cornerbacks isn’t necessarily a wise approach, especially with Byron Jones on one side. Chidobe Awuzie can be beaten by double-moves and Jourdan Lewis only became a starting nickel corner recently, so the Rams’ wide receivers should have a good game.
Defensively, the Rams have the cornerbacks to match Dallas’ receiving corps of Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and Randall Cobb. Cory Littleton is rangy at inside linebacker and the Rams’ defensive front is stout, which doesn’t bode well for Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys’ ground game.
On paper, this is a game the Rams should win. But as we often see in the NFL, anyone can beat any other team in a given week. There are no cakewalks in this league and the Cowboys – who very easily could make the playoffs – certainly aren’t an easy matchup.
Still, the Rams will leave Jerry’s World with a victory, putting them at 9-5 with only two games left.
Final score prediction: Rams 28, Cowboys 24