Weekend of bad beats, Rams vs 49ers betting preview
Frank Schwab recaps the weekend that was before getting you set for Monday Night Football where the Rams will take on the 49ers in an NFC West clash. Frank picks the spread, game total as well as as couple of player props.
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Video Transcript
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FRANK SCHWAB: Welcome to "Yahoo Sportsbook Daily." It is Monday, November 14, 2021. And I'm your betting guide Frank Schwab. We're going to go over "Monday Night Football" in a second. But right now, we got to cleanse ourselves of the bad beats from the weekend, and there were a few really awful ones.
It started on Friday. Let's go back a little bit to the college game. Wyoming, they're trailing late in the game against Boise State, no chance of covering. There was less than 20 seconds to go. They're backed up deep in their territory when the Cowboys hit a short pass. The receiver cuts upfield. The safety, I don't know what he's doing. He bites so hard coming up to try to make the play. So the receiver just scoots around the corner back and hits the open field. And if you had Boise minus 14, you're just feeling sick at that moment the receiver's going to the house. Wyoming gets the cover there, terrible way to start your weekend.
But you wanted to get that back on Saturday, right? So you listen to our good friend Pamela Maldonado of "Yahoo Sportsbook." You're on South Alabama plus 22, maybe plus 22 and 1/2 even. And they did basically everything you can do to not cover this spread. They were down 7 and had five red zone trips. There were three turnovers on downs, one missed field goal, and then a 100-yard pick 6 to lose by 24.
If you had South Alabama following Pam's lead-- she's been hot all season. I was on it, I'll tell you that-- and you lost that one by 24, not covering the 22, 22 and 1/2, you felt absolutely, positively sick. That is just a terrible way to lose a bet we all should have won.
Another bet that really, really was not good-- if you had Arizona State minus 5 and 1/2, you felt great. They got a pick 6 in the final minute, 32 seconds to go to go up 11. You're feeling good. They're going to cover 5 and 1/2. But then Washington somehow, in the final half minute of the game, comes all the way downfield. They score a short touchdown with three seconds left. They end up covering the 5 and 1/2. If you had Arizona State, you went from feeling euphoric over the pick 6 to feeling dejected. You had that bad beat, and now your weekend's just coming to a crashing halt.
But you're going to come back. You're going to have the Dallas, Atlanta over 55. These two teams like to score. You know Dallas is going to bounce back, right? No big deal. Atlanta can score, too. Matt Ryan's been hot. So you got over 55 in the first half. It is just majestic. It's 36 to 3 at the half. You're not even thinking about this game anymore. You're watching one of the other six NFL games going on.
And then nobody scored. Nobody scored in the second half. It was unbelievable the way this game went in the second half. So you had 7 points in the third quarter. You still had hope. There's 46 points. Maybe there's going to be some garbage time touchdowns-- and then a scoreless fourth quarter. You went from 39 points in the first half to 7 in the second half, and somehow under 55 hits. Just unbelievable, that never happens.
On Twitter, @CalsportLV's Ralph Michaels, he put out an unbelievable stat. Since 1989, 27 teams have scored 36 or more points in the first half, and all 27 went over the total, but not Dallas today. It's unbelievable that bad beat you had.
I'm going to be complaining a little bit here. I had the Tennessee Titans minus 2 and 1/2. I felt good about that. When they're up two scores late, you feel you're going to get that one. The New Orleans Saints come down and score. And then all of a sudden, you have to switch your allegiances. I'm rooting for the Saints to get that 2-point conversion. They get a penalty and get backed up a little bit. Trevor Siemian comes on-- Taysom Hill's going to be on for the 2-point conversion. I felt good about them scoring there, maybe taking that thing to overtime. You push back. Trevor Siemian comes on at quarterback. He throws incomplete.
So Tennessee Titans, they're thrilled, right? They won a big game against the Saints, but they win by 2. I don't cash my minus 2 and 1/2 ticket. Plenty of you out there didn't cash your minus 2 and 1/2 ticket on the Titans. Titans, great winning streak and all that. But they didn't cover for us, so it is just another bad beat.
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But now all that's gone, and we're going to make some money on "Monday Night Football." It's a pretty good matchup-- Los Angeles Rams minus 3 and 1/2 at the San Francisco 49ers. And I like the Rams in this one. The Robert Woods injury made me hesitate a little bit. I liked them a lot more before that. But here's the profile of the Rams. They beat up bad teams. They're not so great against good teams. They're pretty much 1 and 2 against the good teams they've played. We saw them struggle against the Titans last week.
But this team does well when they outclass their competition. And let's face it, the 49ers are a bad team. We just have to be honest about them right now. San Francisco is not the team we thought they were going to be. Kyle Shanahan, I have a lot more questions about him than I did at the beginning of this season. There's no excuses left for Kyle. He's just not doing a very good job with that team.
Rams are going to be upset. They're coming off that Sunday night loss to the Titans. You know they're going to want to make that up. They're going to want to look a lot better on primetime than they did last week. And I think this is a get-right spot for them. I think they're going to rally around the Woods injury a little bit. I think Van Jefferson's going to have a huge day. We'll talk about him in a second.
And I think this Rams offense is going to be just fine for one game without Robert Woods. I think everybody's going to step up and play better. You're going to see different guys contribute. And then Odell Beckham, maybe he plays, maybe he doesn't. Maybe he makes a big play or two. I'm not depending on him too much. But I think the sum of the parts with the Los Angeles Rams will be just fine.
And I also like the under 50 here. I think San Francisco is going to try to run the ball. That's what they do best, kind of keep that offense off the-- keep that Rams offense off the field. And I think the Rams are going to be a little less explosive without Robert Woods, so I like the under 50 on this as well.
Let's get to a few props. And I'm just over, over, over, right? It's just a donkey play. I'm just going to be the guy trying to hit all the overs. But three of them really stuck out to me, and the number one is Van Jefferson, 47 and 1/2. I think he basically steps into the number two role alongside Cooper Kupp. There's been a lot of defensive attention on Cooper Kupp. It doesn't matter. Cooper Kupp's going to get his hundred yards or whatever.
But I think it a great spot for Van Jefferson to have a huge game. I think he blows by 47 and 1/2, and he's going to get his full complement of snaps. He's been pretty much a full-time player for them in their three-receiver sets, which they run all the time. And I think they're going to want to feed Van Jefferson a little bit, get him some confidence. They just brought in Odell Beckham. Ton of questions about Van Jefferson's playing time. I think they're going to want to get him targets, want to get him a big game. He's got the talent. I think he breezes by 47 and 1/2.
And in keeping with that theme, on Tyler Higbee, over 40 and 1/2 is a pretty good play, too. Again, no Robert Woods. That's a lot of targets to spread around. Higbee is a good player. He plays a ton. He runs a lot of routes for Matthew Stafford. And he's only going to have to get maybe four or five catches to get over that 40 and 1/2. And I think he can do so. Over 40 and 1/2 works for me.
And on the other side, Brandon Aiyuk, 50 and 1/2. He's a guy I've been following lately. Look, I drafted him in a few fantasy teams, and he was a bust early on. Shanahan didn't want to use him. But slowly, he's gotten out of the doghouse. He's getting confidence. Jimmy Garoppolo and Kyle Shanahan are getting confidence back in him. So 50 and 1/2 is Brandon Aiyuk's total. I think he goes over that. A lot of overs in this game. It should be a fun one. I'm really enjoying this matchup.
Let's recap what we got. We got Rams minus 3 and 1/2. We got the under 50. And I got three overs for receivers for you-- Van Jefferson over 47 and 1/2-- I love that one-- Tyler Higbee over 40 and 1/2, and Brandon Aiyuk, of the 49ers, over 50 and 1/2.
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