Rams at Cardinals: Preview, prediction, odds and pick

The Rams are atop the NFC West and battling for one of the top spots in the NFC in Week 13, but the Cardinals will look to stop their hopes on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Rams, through 12 weeks of the season, find themselves with an 8-3 record and one game ahead of the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West. Now, they have a chance to further bury another team in their division when they travel to Glendale to play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

The Cardinals enter Sunday’s battle with a 5-6 record, three games behind the Rams for the divisional lead. While it’s not completely out of the questions just yet, the Cardinals’ divisional hopes are likely close to zero at this point in the year, and they’ll be lucky to even be in the hunt for a wildcard spot come the end of December with their current record.

However, while the Rams have a chance to sink the Cardinals, the same could happen on the flip side. The Rams are still in the hunt for a top-two seed in the NFC, but a loss to the Cardinals could prove to be disastrous for a team looking to earn a bye in the first round of the postseason, especially in a loss to a divisional opponent.

Odds: Rams -7, according to Odds Shark

This game should be a fun one, even with Carson Palmer and David Johnson out of action for the Cardinals offense. The game being a road matchup for the Rams makes this even more intriguing, and it’ll be interesting to see if Jared Goff and the high-powered Rams offense can put things away against a stingy Cardinals defense.

Next: NFL uniform power rankings

I still see the Rams going over in a big way in this one, taking an early lead and refusing to take their foot off the pedal as they move to 9-3 on the year.

Prediction: Rams 27, Cardinals 17