The St. Louis Rams will have to do without starting quarterback Marc Bulger as they host the Atlanta Falcons in preseason action on Friday. Bulger fractured the pinkie finger of his throwing hand and will not play this week and probably won’t play against Cincinnati next week. The NFL football betting line on this game has moved a lot based on Bulger’s injury and Atlanta is now a three point online NFL betting favorite in this game with a total of 37. The loss of Bulger definitely doesn’t help the chances of St. Louis but the NFL football betting movement may be an overreaction. Bulger probably wouldn’t have played more than a quarter anyway. Kyle Boller will get the start on Friday for the Rams and he is an experienced NFL quarterback. “It’ll be an opportunity for me to get out there with the ones,” Boller said. “That’s what they brought me in here for, in case something like this happens.” Look for the Rams to run the ball a lot on Friday and they should have some success against an Atlanta defense that can struggle at times stopping the run, particularly the backups. St. Louis has Steven Jackson, Antonio Pittman and Samkon Gado. With Bulger out, look for the Rams to really focus on running the ball this week.
The St. Louis defense played pretty well against the Jets last week and they could hold their own against the Falcons this week. Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and the Falcons offense probably won’t go more than a quarter.
After Matt Ryan, NFL football betting tells us that the Falcons will have Chris Redman, D.J. Shockley and rookie John Parker-Wilson. Atlanta head coach Mike Smith has said that all four quarterbacks will play this week. “…we’re going to rotate all four quarterbacks for about the same amount of plays, but probably in a different order.” Smith said.
The Rams will have Boller for perhaps a half followed by rookie Keith Null and Jeff Otis. Brock Berlin was injured last week and may not play on Friday as NFL football betting information indicates. The Falcons are definitely getting a lot of action from bettors in this game but it is preseason and the Rams won’t just roll over at home and give Atlanta an easy victory, especially since they want to establish a winning attitude with their new head coach.