St. Louis Rams Week 13 Predictions Roundup: Oakland Raiders

Nov 20, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders raiderette cheerleaders perform in the rain against the Kansas City Chiefs at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

So, last week did not go so well for the St. Louis Rams, despite being only feet away from taking their first back-to-back win of the season. Sadly, a poor play call and an even poorer throw ended the game in favor of the San Diego Chargers. However, this week, the Rams have a chance to get their revenge against another AFC West opponent, taking on the lowly Oakland Raiders. Even with a handful of nice pieces, the Raiders are undoubtedly the worst team in the NFL this season. Their one win came on the heals of a “trap game” versus the Kansas City Chiefs last week, and was nearly lost on an idiotic over-celebration by the Oakland defenders. Considering that, will the St. Louis Rams finally be heavily favored by the nation media?

CBS Sports: 17-14, Rams

"The Raiders showed life in beating Kansas City last week, while the Rams are coming off a tough loss to the Chargers. The St. Louis defense is starting to look like the one we expected to see. They get after Derek Carr in a close one."

Pro Football Talk: 28-14, Rams; 27-14, Rams

"MDS’s take: I’m impressed with the way the Rams are playing, even though they have no chance of getting to the playoffs in the tough NFC West. Put the Rams in the NFC South, and they’re in the playoffs. Those are the breaks. At least they’ll whip the Raiders in the battle of former Los Angeles teams.Florio’s take:  The Raiders have their one win for the season.  The Rams have fewer than they should.  To make this one more interesting, the winner should get dibs on L.A."

NFL.com: 21-14, Rams

"This is the We-both-played-in-LA-20-years-ago-and-left-for-money-and-we-might-come-back-and-try-to-make-more Bowl. Coming off the big win last Thursday night, the Raiders are looking to take back-to-back games for the first time since October of 2012. More hyphenation: The oft-pesky Rams have 21 sacks in their last six games, after recording only one in their first five. (In case you’re wondering, the origin of the hyphen is thought to date back to 1455 Germany.) This game might come down to how effectively the Raiders protect Derek Carr, who is getting sacked only once per game. #OAKvsSTL"

Some sites prefer to merely throw out their picks, instead of outlining boldly predicted scores. In a unanimous vote, all seven experts in USA Today went with the Rams to pull out the victory on Sunday; the first time that has happened this season. In the Week 13 “expert picks” for ESPN, a surprising large 12-of-14 pundits picked the St. Louis Rams to win. In CBS Sports’ “Against the Spread” predictions, five of eight went with the “favorited” Rams, despite being a 7.5 point front runner. As you would expect, with their “Straight Up” picks, the votes all went in favor of the Rams, with eight of eight experts picking Jeff Fisher and Co. to win.