In a battle between NFC West foes, the Los Angeles Rams look for revenge as they welcome the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday evening.
The 49ers have dropped two straight while the Rams enter off a bye. LA sits at .500 after a win against Carolina two weeks ago.
Despite being home, the Rams (+1) are slight underdogs to Jimmy Garoppolo and San Francisco. The total sits at 41.5.
Here’s a same-game parlay for this divisional bout, which you can put together at FanDuel.
Christian McCaffrey
ATD +110
In his San Francisco debut, Christian McCaffrey played just 22 snaps. But he was a workhorse in his limited opportunities, racking up 10 touches and 62 total yards.
McCaffrey’s usage should only increase — maybe even a full go — in Week 8 as he gets more comfortable with the 49ers offense. Tack on Deebo Samuels’ injury, and he should be used in the passing game more, too.
Before being traded to San Francisco, McCaffrey played this same exact Rams defense. He finished with 13 carries for 69 yards and added seven receptions for 89 yards. While he likely won’t see seven receptions — it was PJ Walker’s first start of the season — he was extremely efficient.
The Action Network projections have McCaffrey heavily favored to find the end zone here and our Nick Giffen broke down his thoughts on this prop on The Touchdown Show, here.
I expect Kyle Shanahan to lean on McCaffrey here and given his efficiency and health, he should have plenty of opportunities to score. Plus, with Kyle Juszczyk also out, that’s just another player that cannot vulture a touchdown from the superstar.
Tyler Higbee
Over 39.5 Receiving Yards
I’m buying low on Tyler Higbee after a disappointing Week 6 performance where he was held to just one reception for seven yards against the Panthers.
Higbee has gone over this number in four of six games this season and finished with 73 yards on 10 receptions against San Francisco in early October. He is the safety valve for Matt Stafford and is the second-most targeted Ram this season, averaging 8.3 targets per game.
I’m not worried about Van Jefferson’s return from injury. If anything, he’ll steal targets from Allen Robinson and Ben Skowronek. Higbee’s role in the offense won’t waver and his snap count should remain in the low 90 percent.
Cooper Kupp will continue to demand extra attention and that only benefits Higbee. This number is too low for Higbee and he should eclipse the 40-yard mark for the fifth time this year.
Darrell Henderson
25+ Rushing Yards
While I think there’s a chance for Darrel Henderson to eclipse 40 rushing yards on Sunday, I think this is the perfect leg to round out the same-game parlay.
Cam Akers is out, and that leaves Henderson with the starting job. The running back rushed the ball 12 times for 43 yards in his first game without Akers and should see double-digit carries once again.
This is a number that Henderson has eclipsed all but twice — against Dallas he didn’t get a single rush — and he’s hit the 40-yard mark in half of his games. This is a number that our Action Network projections have at 40, so taking his alt line gives us a lot of room to work with.
Henderson averages 3.9 yards per carry and for his career is a half-run higher. San Francisco enters with injuries to both Arik Armstead and Dre Greenlaw in the front seven, which should only boost Henderson’s output. The 49ers as a whole rank 12th in rush defense, per PFF.
While the Rams offensive line has dealt with issues all season long, this is a number I see Henderson eclipsing regardless of the game script. Malcolm Brown will barely factor into the snap count — Henderson outsnapped Brown 46-16 in Week 6 — so there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to his touches being limited.
Henderson probably only needs six to seven rushes to his this number, but I’d expect LA to lean on its run game at times, which should benefit the 25-year-old Memphis product.
