Do the LA Rams play better as an underdog at home?

Do the LA Rams play better as an underdog at home?

The betting odds on WynnBET have the Buccaneers currently as the road favorite (-1.0) on Sunday at 1:25 pm PT with the Over/Under is 55.5.  Curiously, the odds opened with the LA Rams as the home favorites (-1.0) and the Over/Under set at 54.5. Now the question is, do the LA Rams play better as a home underdog?

Well, it’s not often that the Rams enter a football game as an underdog at home. In fact, this is the third time since 2020 that has happened. The results of the previous two contests? The LA Rams won the games outright. Here’s how it went down in the 2020 NFL season:

Week 1    – +2.5 hosting Dallas Cowboys –       Win 20-17
Week 17 – +1.0 hosting Arizona Cardinals –     Win 18-  9

Now we have the 2021 NFL season:

Week 3    – +1.0 hosting Tampa Bay Buccaneers –  ???  ??-??

In 2020, the LA Rams were 5-3 against the spread at home. But they lost against the spread when playing at home whenever the spread was overly inflated:

Week 4   – -9.0 hosting New York Giants –         Win 17-  9
Week 12 – -7.0 hosting  San Francisco 49ers – Lost 23-20
Week 15 – -16.5 hosting New York Jets –           Lost 23-20

On all three occasions, the LA Rams faced an underestimated foe, and the point spread was overly exaggerated. That is NOT what the LA Rams face in Week 3 when hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Let’s face it. Professional football players compete for a living, and in doing so, have a healthy dose of self-pride. Whether stated or not, playing on the home field turf as an underdog is a particularly effective motivator. In a 17-game football, maintaining a high intensity is incredibly challenging. But for those special games against formidable foes, on the home turf, when the consensus is that the home team cannot win? Yeah, that gets a team’s attention in a big way.