The Rams and 49ers are in the future at the moment, with both teams having made it to Australia for the second leg of our Week 1 kickoff that's now become common: the Super Bowl champion hosts the first game of the year and then two teams play an international game. Get a $25 bonus after $25 in trades by claiming the latest Kalshi promo code CBSSPORTS here:
Because Australia is a whopping 17 hours ahead -- the game will be played on Friday for them, but we'll be watching it on Thursday -- the NFL moved up the Patriots-Seahawks game to Wednesday. If any of your friends ask you why, just tell them it involves a combination of time travel and money.
After seeing the Faux MVP throw three picks in the fourth quarter to start the season, the Real MVP Matthew Stafford gets to square off against a dangerous division rival. There should be more fireworks in this game, although it's very possible we end up a little disappointed due to various things like international travel and cricket-style field conditions.
That's not necessarily to temper anyone on this, so much as it is to say there are a lot of unknowns with this Aussie game. We also might have two pretty decent defenses, with Myles Garrett making his Rams debut and a Raheem Morris-led 49ers squad on the other side.
Having said that, I still trust these offenses and the coaches calling the plays, so I think we'll see more scoring. Let's get to some picks.
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Side and Total
Rams -3.5
We pushed on the Seahawks on Wednesday, but we're going back to the favorite in this one. I think Sean McVay knows what he's doing when it comes to traveling internationally. He's been very good about timing things out with London/Europe games, planning a stopover on the East Coast before popping in and out of the international space. It's worked well, as he's 3-0 SU and 3-0 ATS in international games.
The 49ers have been there all week and now will be playing a football game at 10 a.m. their time, which is just not something football players are accustomed to doing.
Additionally, the Rams are out to prove they are the best team in football and put the pedal to the floor offensively. Puka Nacua is good to go for this game, dodging any NFL discipline, and Davante Adams has been by all accounts "uncoverable" in training camp, finally getting a full offseason with Matthew Stafford to develop their rapport.
Garrett is going to come out gangbusters, in my opinion, very eager to finally play for a good football team.
The 49ers are an excellent squad, as well, but they're a little thinner on offense, even with George Kittle miraculously avoiding the injury report for Week 1 after a postseason Achilles' tear last year.
The hook on the number gives me -- and should give anyone -- a little pause, especially in a division matchup. But the Rams are just the better team and will show it here. There is also a decent chance this number creeps out to -4 by kickoff, as we saw Circa release a Rams -4 for their Millions contest and there's been a decent run of Rams money coming in throughout the week everywhere. Sign up to wager on 49ers-Rams on Thursday using the BetMGM bonus code CBSSPORTS to get up to $1,500 in bonus bets:
Player Props
Christian McCaffrey 10+ 1st Quarter receiving yards (+128, DraftKings) -- If we expect Myles Garrett to get pressure on Brock Purdy early in this game, we should also expect Kyle Shanahan to build in multiple quick-hitter looks for his quarterbacks as a counter. And nothing alleviates pressure like a dump-off to the best receiving back in football. We've seen CMC rack up first-quarter receptions against the Rams before, and with the way Kyle scripts out his early drives, I'd expect CMC to see several targets if the Rams pass rush is able to get home.
Brock Purdy over 33.5 pass attempts (-120, DraftKings): -- Even with no Aaron Donald, I think the 49ers will find it hard to run against the Rams defense. Last year when these two teams met, albeit with Mac Jones at QB, the 49ers ran for 74 yards on 33 carries and 74 yards on 21 carries, respectively. Jones totaled 88 pass attempts in those games. Unless San Francisco just dominates early, there's a good chance the 49ers are going to be passing a lot on Thursday night.
Puka Nacua 3+ rush yards (-104, DraftKings) -- It's Week 1 and there's nothing Sean McVay loves more early in the season than getting Puka involved in the run game, whether it's on a jet sweep or some kind of screen that technically counts as a run. Nakua has seven total carries in Weeks 1 and 2 over the last three years (didn't get one in Week 1 as a rookie) and has cleared this number in four of six of those games. He'll get the carry he needs to turn it into just 3+ yards for us.
Anytime Touchdowns
Davante Adams (+110, DraftKings) -- I'm always a fan of Adams to score a touchdown at plus money, and if last year tells us anything, we might not be seeing that for very long. Adams was Stafford's go-to in the red zone last year, with Adams leading the league in receiving touchdowns. The Rams had the short-yardage stuff perfected and should only be better this year thanks to increased reps in the offseason. I'm not buying the stat-padding narrative around these two, as most of the touchdowns came before the actual MVP race was in consideration.
Jake Tonges (+700, DraftKings) -- Tonges has gotten a lot of praise in training camp, and Kyle Shanahan promised additional two-tight-end sets featuring Tonges and Kittle. There's also a decent chance Kittle isn't getting a full game's worth of snaps and could be subbed out in red-zone packages for Tonges. But because Kittle is off the injury report and playing, we still get a good number on Jake, who should definitely be in first TD scorer consideration as well at 45-1 on DK.
