LA Rams Might Give Baker Mayfield a Shot on ‘Thursday Night Football’

Posted on: December 8, 2022, 02:54h. 

Last updated on: December 8, 2022, 02:46h.

Erik Gibbs Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Gaming Business, Global Gaming.

It’s been a tumultuous year for the LA Rams, who haven’t played anywhere near the level that won them the NFL’s Super Bowl LVI last year. As they prepare to face the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday Night Football, it’s time they start developing a new strategy for next year.

Baker Mayfield
NFL QB Baker Mayfield when he was with the Carolina Panthers. Mayfield is now with the LA Rams and might play in the team’s Thursday Night Football game against the Las Vegas Raiders. (Image: USA Today)

That strategy might involve QB Baker Mayfield, who headed to the Carolina Panthers before the start of the current season. Things didn’t work out for Mayfield there, and a day after he walked away from the team, the Rams picked him up.

That only happened this week, and Mayfield still needs time to adjust to his new team. However, with any hope of making the playoffs gone, Thursday’s contest against the Raiders could be a great way for him to get a crash course in the Rams’ offense.

Rams Need Help

Mayfield is among those replacing Matthew Stafford, who led the Rams to a Super Bowl win against the Cincinnati Bengals last year. The Rams’ chance to defend the title fell apart after Stafford went down for the rest of the year with a spinal cord injury.

  Raiders Rams
Moneyline -285 +228
Spread -6.5 (-115) +6.5 (-105)
Over/under O43.5 (-110) U43.5 (-110)
  Courtesy of Caesars  

As a result, the Raiders will look for victory and a spot in the playoffs. They will take advantage of tonight’s game, and a physically and morally depleted Rams sideline, which has suffered six straight losses.

Las Vegas (5-7) has a chance of making the playoffs in the AFC. This comes off a recent winning streak that reached three games, culminating in last week’s 27-20 win against the LA Chargers.

Since a dismal outing in Week 8 at New Orleans in which he had just 101 passing yards, Raiders QB Derek Carr has improved his game significantly. The 31-year-old quarterback has thrown for at least 248 yards and two touchdowns in five straight games, racking up 11 touchdown passes, with just three interceptions.

Carr knows who he can count on to put up the points. Wide receiver Davante Adams has had four 100-yard performances this season, putting him in fourth place in the league with 1,176 receiving yards. The 29-year-old caught a pair of TD passes from Carr last Sunday to tie the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce for first in the league with 12.

Raiders Own the Series

The Raiders need a win on Thursday to stay in contention for a wild-card spot in the playoffs. They’ve shown they know how to defeat the Rams, and only need one more good game under the team’s first-year head coach, Josh McDaniels.

In the series matchup between these two, the Raiders have won eight of the 14 meetings. More recently, the Rams have won four of the last five matchups. The changes going on in the Rams locker room will play a big role in today’s outcome.

The Rams aren’t showing the same energy they had last year, and the loss of their star QB is going to hurt them once again. Mayfield is capable, but not on one day’s notice. The Raiders should control the Week 14 opener tonight, while LA’s lack of power should help the score hit the under.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed the Raiders at 7-5 instead of their correct 5-7 record.