Rams head coach Sean McVay reacts against the New Orleans Saints in the first half at SoFi Stadium. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google Crikey! Football is back, and it’s 7,900 miles away.
The NFL will play its farthest international game to date Thursday in Melbourne, Australia, where the Rams and 49ers will both set out with big expectations.
Los Angeles returns mostly the same roster that took it to an NFC Championship plus two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and a freshly unretired Aaron Donald, who won the award three times.
They’re the juggernaut of the NFL, opening the season with 5/1 odds to win the Super Bowl.
San Francisco, priced at 17/1, remains among the NFC’s elite following their fifth 10-win season since 2019. The 49ers certainly don’t lack the star power between Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Nick Bosa, but they are starting to knock on Father Time’s door.
The Rams, who will take to Melbourne Cricket Ground as 3.5-point favorites, elected to arrive 28 hours before kickoff while the 49ers have been settling into the 17-hour time zone difference for a week.
The hot topic is whether Sean McVay’s decision to minimize disruption to the Rams’ normal routine will ultimately prove pernicious to his players. He’s the franchise’s all-time winningest head coach and the only coach to have gone 3-0 both SU and ATS in international games, having covered the spread by an average of 19 points per game.
While this looks like an advantage for San Francisco, scientific researchers say it takes 17 days for your circadian rhythm to adjust. So let’s set aside conjectures about the physical readiness of NFL athletes and focus on the teams.
The other public concern is that Donald will not be playing while he continues working up to game speed. Did we forget that — aside from acquiring Garrett, who just set the single-season sack record at 23 — the Rams upgraded their defense by signing Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson?
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan watches from the sideline during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. AP Photo/Kelley L. Cox The pair of star cornerbacks can only improve a secondary that gave Sam Darnold 355 yards in its last appearance.
A grizzled Mike Evans joins San Francisco’s fold after a pair of injuries caused him to miss half the season and post his first season under 1,000 yards.
Kittle enters his 10th season after enduring his own health struggles last year, while McCaffrey can only regress after an NFL-high 413 touches in his age-30 campaign.
Los Angeles’ No. 1 scoring offense last year was thanks to an MVP year from Matthew Stafford and the receiving tandem of Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, who led the league in receptions and receiving touchdowns, respectively. The Rams led in passing with a 252-yard average while the 49ers allowed the eighth-most yards and did virtually nothing to upgrade their secondary.
The 49ers get edge rusher Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner back after early-season injuries sidelined them. The absences of the veteran All-Pros still weren’t enough to justify the team’s lowest sack total since 2016 and three fewer than Garrett’s total of 23.
They also haven’t been comfortable as underdogs, going 3-9 ATS in the last three seasons — the NFL’s worst mark in that span.
Laying the points may feel risky against a formidable rival on neutral grounds, but don’t be a contrarian: stick with the more complete team Down Under.
THE PLAY: Rams -3.5 (-110, BetMGM)
Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.
