St. Louis Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals Betting Odds, Analysis, NFL Pick

The Arizona Cardinals own a three-game winning streak in the series with the division rival St. Louis Rams and have covered the spread in the last four meetings. The Cardinals hope to extend at least that first streak when they host the Rams on Sunday afternoon in suburban Phoenix.

Point spread: The Cardinals opened as six-point favorites; the total was 42.5 early in the week, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark (line updates and matchup report).

NFL pick, via Odds Shark computer: 30.2-16.8 Cardinals

Why the Rams can cover the spread

The Rams are coming off a tough home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week 12-6, falling as 1.5-point home favorites. The St. Louis defense did its job, holding the high-powered Steelers to 259 yards of total offense, just 62 rushing yards and one touchdown, knocking quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out of the game along the way. But the Rams offense came up with just two field goals, as the running game struggled, and a pair of red-zone penalties on a fourth-quarter drive hurt.

The Rams opened this season with that thrilling 34-31 overtime victory over the defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks but then suffered a letdown and lost at Washington 24-10.

St. Louis seems to be a team that plays to the level of its competition; it beat the Seahawks, played poorly against the Redskins and then played Pittsburgh to a statistical tie. If the Rams can give a performance similar to that of Week 1 this Sunday, they'll have a chance.

Why the Cardinals can cover the spread

Arizona is 3-0 both straight up and against the spread after smashing the San Francisco 49ers last week 47-7, easily covering as a seven-point home favorite. The Cardinals started fast, returning two Colin Kaepernick interceptions for touchdowns in the first quarter, and then piled on from there. On the day, Arizona outgained the 49ers by a lopsided 446-156 margin, held the ball for almost 37 minutes and won the turnover battle 4-1.

Along the way, the Cardinals got 110 yards rushing and two scores from new running threat Chris Johnson, while wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald caught nine balls for 134 yards and two more scores.

Arizona is now 19-6 SU and 19-5-1 ATS in games Carson Palmer has started at quarterback. The only things the Cardinals lacked last year, when they went 11-5 both SU and ATS, were a healthy Palmer and a running game. At the moment, it looks like they've got both.

Smart pick

When a good team hosts an inferior opponent, the home team often faces an inflated point spread. But for this game, for whatever reason, that doesn't appear to be the case. St. Louis can play some defense, but Arizona has the whole package. Can you handicap for defensive touchdowns? The smart choice here is the Cardinals.

Betting trends

• The Cardinals are 4-0 ATS in their last four games against the Rams.
• The Rams are 1-5 SU and ATS in their last six games.
• The Cardinals are 4-0 SU and ATS in their last four games as favorites in October.

All point spread and lines data courtesy of Odds Shark, all quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line-movement updates and get the free odds tracker app.