Rams vs. Jets: 7 things to know for Week 15 matchup

Adam Gase has more double-digit losses than he has wins in the NFL.

After getting a mini-break following their Thursday night win over the Patriots, the Los Angeles Rams will be back in action on Sunday afternoon against the New York Jets – the last of their AFC East opponents.

The Jets come in at 0-13, ranking last in just about every offensive category. They’ll go up against the Rams’ top-ranked defense in terms of yards allowed, making this a very lopsided affair.

Here are seven things to know for this Week 15 tilt at SoFi Stadium.

Rams are favored by most points since 2001 vs. winless Jets this week

This is the fifth time since 2000 that the Rams have been favored by at least 15 points, going 4-0 in the previous four games.

The New York Jets have a good chance to become just the third team in NFL history to finish a season 0-16. The Los Angeles Rams can help make that more likely in Week 15 when they host the winless Jets at SoFi Stadium.

As expected, the Rams are massive favorites over New York. According to BetMGM, the Rams are currently favored by 17 points against the Jets, by far the largest spread of any game in Week 15. The over/under has been set at 44.5 points, which isn’t very high because the Jets rank last in the NFL in points and yards.

To put this huge spread into perspective, it’s the most points the Rams have been favored by since they were 18-point favorites against the Panthers in 2001. It’s just the fifth time this century that the Rams have been favored by at least 15 points.

They won each of the previous four games when favored by at least 15, going 2-1-1 against the spread in those matchups. The total also went over in all four of those games.

Since 2000, there have been 31 games with a team favored by at least 17 points. The favorite is 30-1 in those games, with the only loss coming by the Patriots against the Dolphins in Week 17 of last season.

If the Rams beat the Jets, they will clinch a playoff berth and move one step closer to clinching the NFC West. After facing New York, the Rams will visit the Seahawks and then host the Cardinals in the final two weeks.

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Sean McVay not worried about Rams overlooking winless Jets

The Jets are 0-13 and easy to overlook, but the Rams remain motivated heading into Sunday’s game.

In the last five weeks, the Los Angeles Rams have won four games against teams that were .500 or better. They knocked off the Seahawks, Bucs and Cardinals before blowing out the Patriots in Week 14.

Their only loss since the Week 9 bye came against the 4-6 49ers, who stunned the Rams with a 23-20 victory on Nov. 29. Los Angeles will face another sub-.500 team on Sunday, but this one isn’t nearly as likely to upset the Rams.

The 0-13 New York Jets will visit SoFi Stadium in Week 15 as the Rams host what’s been a historically bad team led by Adam Gase. The Jets were just crushed by the Seahawks, 40-3, two weeks after getting blown out by the Dolphins, 20-3.

After being so many quality teams, it might be easy for the Rams to overlook the winless Jets. But Sean McVay isn’t worried about that happening. He knows his players and coaches will be motivated and ready to go come Sunday afternoon, even with such an easy opponent on the schedule.

“I do trust the maturity of this football team,” McVay said last week. “I mean, you look at it, the Raiders are a really good team. Shoot, I’ve seen them in a couple of prime-time games, they beat the Saints, they go to the wire-to-wire with the Chiefs and they’re a Hail Mary away from losing to (the Jets). Even when you flip on the tape, the way that the Jets played the Patriots about a month ago on Monday Night Football, this is a team that – sometimes you throw records out the door, the tape is where the truth really is revealed. There’s a lot of different ways that games are won or lost in this league. I don’t worry about our football team’s maturity to handle getting ready to ultimately try to clinch a playoff spot by winning that game. But, stay on track to give ourselves a chance to compete for trying to win a division.”

Unlike the Jets, the Rams are coming off a mini-bye after playing against the Patriots on Thursday night. They’ll have four extra days of rest to get healthy for this Week 15 matchup, and will be at home waiting for the Jets to travel across the country.

The Jets may not have anything to lose, but the Rams also have a lot to gain by beating New York on Sunday – which should have McVay’s squad fired up to continue its winning ways in the second half of the season.

“I do think it’ll be good, and it comes at a good time for us to have a couple days of rest and then get ready to go attack our 10th win against the Jets, who I know have played really good football in terms of competing and being in games. I know that we won’t take them lightly, that’s for dang sure,” McVay said.

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Rams-Jets not part of Saturday doubleheader in Week 15

Rams-Jets not part of Saturday doubleheader in Week 15

When the Rams’ regular-season schedule was released this spring, there was no date or time given for Week 15 against the Jets. That’s because the NFL uses flexible scheduling for that week, with two games being played on Saturday.

The league announced Tuesday that Rams-Jets will not be one of the games held on Saturday, Dec. 19, meaning it will be played on Sunday instead. Bills-Broncos will be played at 4:30 p.m. ET on that Saturday, followed by Panthers-Packers in the prime-time slot at 8:15 p.m. ET.

This is hardly surprising considering how poorly the Jets have played all year. They’re still winless and not exactly a team fans want to watch on TV. The Saturday slots are reserved for more intriguing matchups, which Rams-Jets isn’t.

Texans-Colts and Lions-Titans were also eligible to be played on Saturday, but they’ll take place on Sunday, too.

An official time has not yet been announced for Rams-Jets.

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