Houston Texans vs Los Angeles Rams Point Spread Picks

Houston's primary focus in the offseason was rebuilding and solidifying the offensive line, and the Texans have done that with no one happier about it than C.J. Stroud, who took 52 sacks last season. The Texans beat the Chargers in the playoffs before losing 23-14 to the Chiefs, who took advantage of some favorable calls by the referees. Stroud has a strong wide receiver corps led by Nico Collins, who had 68 catches for 1,006 yards and seven TDs. Matthew Stafford will start for Los Angeles even though he clearly is not 100 percent after dealing with a back injury all of training camp. The Rams lost two of their final three games in 2024 and averaged only 19.7 points in their final six games, with four of those games going UNDER. The Texans have gone UNDER in eight of 12 Sunday games. The Rams were 0-3 ATS as home favorites last season. Take the Texans and the UNDER.

Los Angeles has won both preseason games. While the starters won't play, they have a lot of roster competition and Week 3 is critical for several reserves. QB Stetson Bennett is fighting for a job and has thrown for over 200 yards in each preseason tilt. The Rams need a backup quarterback behind Jimmy Garoppolo and Bennett still hasn't locked up the spot. Ditto for WRs Tyler Johnson and Xavier Smith. RB Zach Evans and Boston Scott are battling to be the fourth running back on the depth chart. The defense has been impressive allowing 12 and 9 points in wins over the Cowboys and Chargers. This is the fourth preseason game for Houston. They've won two in a row and have no reason to risk injuries to any starters. Play Los Angeles on the moneyline.

Houston's offense was last in the NFL in 2021 in total yards and doesn't look much better with second-year QB David Mills and backup Jeff Driskel. And their new coach, Lovie Smith, has a defensive background. It was an ugly opener but Smith was happy in a 17-13 win over New Orleans. Mills threw for just 14 yards in two drives as the offense failed to get a first down. Los Angeles comes off a 29-22 win over the Chargers, although they really didn't show much on offense with 232 total yards. Young QB Bryce Perkins played the whole game and the team ran for just 3.1 yards per carry. Coach Sean McVay has never shown anything offensively in the preseason with the Rams averaging 12 points in their last nine preseason tilts. So before last week's game, the Rams averaged just 9.8 points in their previous eight August contests. Play this one to stay UNDER the total.

The Los Angeles defense has played great this preseason, but you won't see the starters in this one. Last season in Week 4, the Rams gave up 28 points and 192 yards rushing in a loss on the road. Now they head to Houston, a group that hasn't been playing any defense this August, allowing 28.3 points per game. The Texans have allowed 249 and 298 yards passing the last two weeks and in three preseason games the run 'D' has surrendered 90, 95 and 113 yards. On offense, Houston QB Joe Webb III has been among the preseason's top passers with 534 passing yards to rank second. He's also added 12 carries for 84 yards on the ground. All of which means look for a game with little defense. Play this one to finish OVER.