Thursday Night Football Week 14 winners picks: Raiders vs. Rams

The NFL kicks off Week 14 with a meeting of two teams who, at one time, left Los Angeles. In 1995, the then Los Angeles Raiders returned to their original hometown, Oakland, to pick up where they left off when they moved south to LA in 1982. That same year, the Los Angeles Rams packed up and moved to St. Louis, where they played for 20 years. In 2016, the Rams returned to Los Angeles while in 2020, Oakland was once again jilted as the team moved to become the Las Vegas Raiders.

Now in 2022, the two one-time (and again for the Rams) Los Angeles teams face off in LA, with the 5-7 Raiders visiting the 3-9 Rams. A game that seemed like a marquee matchup in the offseason, this game seems to have some of its luster as the season has unfolded. The Raiders are trying to reassert themselves in the AFC playoff picture, though, as they have won their last three games and are two games behind the final playoff spot.

More was expected from the Rams this year as they looked to defend their Super Bowl championship. Instead of dominating through the NFC, they have the second-worst record in the conference and are struggling through an injury-plagued season. They could find themselves playing Baker Mayfield at quarterback tonight, just two days after claiming him off waivers from the Carolina Panthers.

Will the Raiders continue their winning streak? Can the Rams start playing spoiler?

Each week, our contributors here on The Phinsider make straight-up winner picks for each game on the NFL schedule. We run this pool from Week 1 through the Super Bowl, looking to see which of our writers can best predict results throughout the season.

In Week 13, Marek Brave and James McKinney both finished 12-2-1. CT Smith came in a game back at 11-3-1, while Josh Houtz, Kevin Nogle, and Jake Mendel were all 10-4-1 for the week.

Our updated overall standings for the season are:

Marek Brave: 119-74-2
James McKinney: 118-75-2
CT Smith: 112-81-2
Josh Houtz: 112-81-2
Kevin Nogle: 109-84-2
Jake Mendel: 105-88-2

Here are our Thursday picks for this week. The widget is brought to us by Tallysight. Odds for the game are brought to us by DraftKings Sportsbook.