In-depth NFL betting preview for Rams at Packers

Los Angeles Rams (11-6) @ Green Bay Packers (13-3)

The NFC top seeded Green Bay Packers will host the #6 seed Los Angles Rams on Saturday at 4:35 PM ET. The current (1/12) NFL betting odds at Bookmaker has Green Bay as a 6.5-point favorite and with a posted total of 45.5.

Recent Series History

These teams last met on 10/28/2018, and the Rams came away with a 29-27 win but failed to cover as a 7.5-point home favorite. Prior to that contest and dating back to 2007, Green Bay had gone a perfect 5-0 SU&ATS versus the Rams while winning by a decisive average victory margin of 16.6 points per game.

Inconsistent Rams

Despite their stellar 11-6 record headed into this NFC Divisional Round matchup, the Rams have failed to win 3 games in a row this season. Heading into Saturday's game at Green Bay, the Rams are on a modest two game winning streak. Los Angeles is a dismal 0-4 SU&ATS this season following two straight wins. However, three of those four losses came by exactly 3 points. The other defeat in that situation came at Miami in a game they had a total yards advantage of 471-145, yet still managed to somehow lose by 11.

Dominating Rams Defense

If the Rams are going to pull off an upset, or even cover as an underdog, it's imperative that their defense continues playing at a high level. How high a level have they been playing at? Well, how about allowing opponents 292 yards or less in each of their previous six games, and giving up a mere 16.8 points per contest.

Profitable Dogs

Since the 2016-2017 season began, the Rams have gone a money-making 6-1-1 ATS as a road underdog of 3.0 to 7.0-points. Additionally, they won 5 of those 8 contests straight up. Better yet, if they were coming off a win this Rams betting trend improves to a perfect 5-0 SU&ATS.

Packers Strong Home Field Advantage

Going to play at Lambeau Field in January is an unenviable task for Packers opponents for reason too many to name. Nonetheless, the top concern is the tundra like winter conditions that Green Bay is prone to at this time of year. For that matter, any trip to Green Bay doesn’t prompt thoughts of overconfidence for visitors.

Since the start of last season, Green Bay has gone a successful 15-2 straight up and 11-6 ATS at Lambeau. It shouldn’t come as a surprise when I tell you that they were a favorite in all 17 of those home contests. When tightening the point-spread parameters it produces even more dominating results. During that precise time span, Green Bay has gone 10-2 ATS as a home favorite of 3.5 to 9.5-points. Additionally, if they were facing an opponent coming off a win, the Packers improved to 5-0 SU&ATS with an average victory margin of 13.0 points per game.

Team Totals Trends

Since the start of last season, Los Angeles has gone 6-1 to the over as a road underdog. If they were a road dog with a total of 47.0 or less during that time frame, those Rams games played 4-0 to the over. Moreover, those 4 contests averaged a mammoth 74.3 combined points scored per game.

The Packers scored 35 and 40 points in their final 2 regular season games. It was the 6^th time this season that Green Bay had topped the 30-point barrier in consecutive games. The last 5 times that Green Bay was in that exact situation this season, they went 5-0 to the under. Those 5 occurrences went below the number by an average of 6.5 points per game.


NFL Betting Angle

Green Bay is coming off a lopsided 35-16 division win at Chicago in their last time out. That made their final regular season record 13-3 (.813). That result falls into a strong NFL betting angle siding with the underdog which is displayed below.

Any NFL underdog of 5.0 to 10.0-points (Rams) that is playing after Game 10 of their season, versus an opponent (Packers) coming off a division win by 7 points or more, and they (Packers) possess a current win percentage of .750 or better, resulted in those underdogs going 14-0 ATS since 2011. There was an average point-spread in those 14 contests of 7.9 and the underdog won straight up 5 times.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, this NFL betting preview will help you in deciding on which way to go. Next up will be the Saturday night AFC Divisional Round game between the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills.

Ross Benjamin is a top sports analyst and one of the sports industry's most respected handicappers. Follow him on Twitter: @RossBenjamin1 or visit his website at RBWins.com