Arizona at St. Louis (12/11/2014)

A renewed pass rush has played a huge rule in St. Louis' defensive revival, as the Rams have recorded 13 sacks over the past two games and 34 over the past eight. Quarterback Shaun Hill's play the past two weeks has been overshadowed by the defense, but the veteran has compiled a 124.8 rating with four TDs and no interceptions in the back-to-back victories. The Rams have found consistency in the running game in the form of Tre Mason, who leads NFC rookies with 628 rushing yards and has two 100-yard games in the past four contests."

St. Louis -2.5 (buying down) Over Arizona!   2 Units!  

GLTA                                   

ST. LOUIS (-4.5) 24 Arizona 14

The Rams are hitting on all cylinders right now having shut out their last two opponents (52-0 at home against the Raiders and 24-0 last week in Washington) driven by a defense that has been among the leagues’ best the past six weeks. As a young defense has learned to play within new coordinator Gregg Williams schemes coupled with a return to health and improved play from key players in the secondary and on the defensive line, the Rams have allowed just 12.5 points per game the last six. I expect that their defense will be fired up to show the nation what they can do in this primetime home Thursday night game against a Cardinals team that will be exposed offensively. This is a big game for the Rams and I suspect they’ll bring their best.

On the other side, the Cardinals are not in a good spot having to travel on a short week after what was a big home win against the Chiefs and facing the Seahawks in a primetime home Sunday night game possibly for the division title next week. They are also banged up along the offensive line and have a quarterback in Drew Stanton that has not played well away from home this season (52.5% completion rate with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions and a 63.5 quarterback rating). With the combination of an excellent Rams defensive line and the noise in a loud Edward Jones Dome, I don’t see much success for the Cardinals offense. Especially considering the fact that the Rams have allowed an average of just 59 rushing yards at 3.5 ypr the past six while the Cardinals are averaging 81 rushing yards at 3.4 ypr on the season. Arizona is going to struggle in the run game and when that happens a Rams pass rush that has been excellent (averaging nearly five sacks per game the past six games) is going to make life difficult for Drew Stanton. Offensively, the Rams have been much better with Shaun Hill at quarterback, especially at home (3 touchdowns and 1 interception and a 96.1 quarterback rating) and their ground attack has really picked it up (averaging 118 yards rushing at 4.5 ypr the past six games). 

I  lean  Rams minus the 5 points & under 40.5.