Buffalo Bills at St. Louis Rams – Week 4 Odds

BetUS NFL Betting Odds: BUFFALO -8, Total 42.5

NOTABLE STAT: St. Louis has gained 20.9 yards per point scored

KEY NFL BETTING TREND: Bills are 11-5 ATS in last 16 games

Two teams that have gone in different directions thus far will do battle indoors on Sunday, when the Buffalo Bills (3-0 SU, 2-1 ATS) visit the St. Louis Rams (0-3 SU & ATS) in NFL action that is slated for a 4:05 PM ET kickoff at the Edwards Jones Dome (artificial turf) in St. Louis.

In the BetUS NFL football betting odds, the Bills are listed as an eight-point favorite, with a posted total of 42.5 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* BUFF has covered 11 of its last 16 games

* BUFF has covered five of its last seven road games

* BUFF has lost 17 of its last 25 road games SU

* BUFF has played six of its last seven road games UNDER the total

* STL has lost its last seven games SU

* STL has lost its last six games ATS

* STL has played four of its last five games OVER the total

* STL has covered one of its last six home games

* STL has lost eight of its last nine home games SU

* STL has played five of its last seven home games OVER the total

Also...

* BUFF has won and covered four of the last five meetings

* The last five meetings have gone OVER the total

If you tried, you probably couldn't have cooked up a worse scenario for the first three games of the season than that of the St. Louis Rams, who have gained 3.1 per rush and given up 5.1; yielded seven TD passes and intercepted none, converted 22% of third downs while allowing opponents to convert 51.4% of theirs, and been outscored by a 116-29 margin. The feeling here is that with another embarrassing performance, Scott Linehan will be out of a job, and with the pressure on, he's making a change at quarterback, bringing in Trent Green and benching Marc Bulger.

Bulger is the Rams' best hope at making something out of this season, but inasmuch as he has not been overly productive (58%, 2 TD's, 2 INT's) perhaps a change is in order. But that won't do anything to solve the offensive line problems, which have allowed Bulger to get sacked 11 times, while opening precious few holes for the running game, which was behind the eight-ball to begin with when Steven Jackson showed up frightfully late for training camp.

Interestingly, though, when teams see that their coach is on the chopping block, they find something in themselves that brings forth some inspiration, Not necessarily because they like the coach so much, but because they see themselves expendable as well. Buffalo comes into the Edwards Jones Dome with a lot of momentum, and Trent Edwards is hitting his targets (67%, only one INT). The defense is playing well enough; after all, when you are surrendering just EIGHTEEN percent on third down, you are most certainly stopping people. But I just wonder whether Buffalo's offense is really dynamic enough to carry these kinds of numbers on the road.