THE VIKINGS (and Rams ) have been POINTING to this game all offseason. It's the biggest THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL game in awhile. It will have big impacts on the NFC playoff picture. This could also explain a little bit about the Vikings abysmal performance last week vs the visiting Bills. The Hedgie thinks there are 2 reasons for this :
1) The classic LOOK AHEAD game to Thursday night with powerhouse Rams. It's not easy to get up for a game where you are 17 point favorites and everyone telling you how you will demolish the Bills
2) EVERSON GRIFFEN - the Vikes teammate has been ordered to have a mental health assessment. He was basically holed up in a Minneapolis Hotel and acting crazy. He also apparently tried to break into a teammate's house on a separate incident. This HAD to have an impact on his teammates and clearly caused some distractions.
THAT WAS LAST WEEK. NOW THE VIKINGS ARE BACK TO FOOTBALL AND WILL BE FOCUSED. THIS IS THE REASON THE VIKINGS SIGNED KIRK COUSINS. THEY NEED A QB THAT CAN BE A LEADER AND PLAY STEADY ON THE ROAD. THE VIKINGS GET STARTING CENTER , PAT ELFLEIN, BACK AND DALVIN COOK APPEARS READY TO RETURN AS WELL.
On the Other side of the ball the Rams are the betting public's darling. They bet em heavy and vegas as a result has to keep an inflated line. The public however, are NOT paying much attention to the recent injuries. BOTH STARTING DBS ARE BANGED UP . Aqib Talib will have ankle surgery and is OUT and Peters has a strained calf. He says he might play but Hedgie thinks not . If Peters does play then he becomes a target .
Vegas opened this line at Rams -7 . The wise guys have been grabbing the +7 but there are still some 7s out there as of tonight. Run to the windows to grab 7 if you can. If not don't fret ; the betting public will pile on and bet the Rams so you'll be able to get 6.5 6 at the worst case.
Getting great value here with a very good Vikings team
VIKINGS +7 5 STARS