Preseason games don’t mean anything when it comes to teams’ regular-season records, but they matter to those who bet on the contests. As difficult as these exhibition games are to predict, especially when starters play so few snaps, there’s a lot of money wagered on the preseason.
For the Rams, they open as underdogs against their roommates, the Los Angeles Chargers. The two L.A. teams will square off on Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET at SoFi Stadium and the Chargers are 3.5-point favorites over the Rams.
Believe it or not, but that’s the second-biggest spread of any preseason game in the first week. Only the Bengals (+5.5) are bigger underdogs. Here are the betting lines for Rams-Chargers this weekend, via Tipico.
- Rams +3.5 (-130)
- Chargers -3.5 (+105)
- Money line: Rams +140, Chargers -170
- Over/Under: 33.5 (O: -110, U: -110)
Part of the reason for the Rams being 3.5-point underdogs is the fact that none of their top starters will play. Matthew Stafford, Darrell Henderson Jr., Andrew Whitworth, Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and their other key players will all sit throughout the preseason, which obviously makes it difficult for the Rams to win these games against teams that are playing their starters for a quarter or two.
Not to mention, backup quarterback John Wolford is week-to-week after having an appendectomy, so it’ll be the Rams’ third- and fourth-string quarterbacks, Bryce Perkins and Devlin Hodges, leading the offense against the Chargers.