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The Cincinnati Bengals travel to London to face the Los Angeles Rams in Week 8, and it brings us the first matchup of Sean McVay with his former assistant Zac Taylor. It’s been a rough start for Taylor, with the Bengals off to an 0-7 start with no signs that it will change soon.
The Rams are having their own issues, but are coming off a much-needed thumping of the Atlanta Falcons. The Rams 4-3, sitting in third in the NFC West, but they have some winnable games over the next month that could get them back in the thick of things.
LA is a 12.5-point favorite over Cincinnati at DraftKings Sportsbook. This marks the sixth time the Rams have been a double digit favorite since Sean McVay took over in 2017. In those games the Rams are 5-1 straight up and against the spread. Their only loss was a 30-23 loss to Philadelphia in 2018 when LA was a 13.5 point favorite.
The public money is heavily backing the Rams. Entering the game, the Rams are 5-2 against the spread and coming off a strong bounceback effort against the Falcons. That being said, even through the Bengals are winless, they are 3-4 against the spread. They’re developing into kings of the backdoor cover.
There is one question I have when it comes to this game is the McVay-Taylor relationship. I have nothing to back this up other than gut and my man Nick Kostos’ suggestion, but would McVay take the foot off the gas against his former pupil? Maybe not, but that’s sticking in the back of my head.
I’m inclined to take the points with the Bengals. They’re a bad team that has managed to hang with some decent teams. They covered at Seattle, at Buffalo, and at Baltimore. They’ve failed to cover at Pittsburgh and at home against Jacksonville, Arizona, and San Francisco. Who knows what a neutral field might mean, but I don’t think they get entirely blown out in this one.