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Rams will try to extend their 3-game winning streak vs. Jets and keep their lead atop the NFC West

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Rams will try to extend their 3-game winning streak vs. Jets and keep their lead atop the NFC West
Sport

Sport

Rams will try to extend their 3-game winning streak vs. Jets and keep their lead atop the NFC West

2024-12-21 06:39 Last Updated At:06:51

Los Angeles Rams (8-6) at New York Jets (4-10)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS.

BetMGM NFL odds: Rams by 3 1/2.

Against the spread: Rams 7-7; Jets 5-9.

Series record: Rams lead 10-5.

Last meeting: Jets beat Rams 23-20 on Dec. 20, 2020, in Inglewood, California.

Last week: Rams beat 49ers 12-6; Jets beat Jaguars 32-25.

Rams offense: overall (13), rush (22t), pass (9), scoring (17t).

Rams defense: overall (25), rush (28), pass (19t), scoring (23t).

Jets offense: overall (24), rush (31), pass (18), scoring (22).

Jets defense: overall (7), rush (16), pass (5), scoring (18).

Turnover differential: Rams plus-4; Jets minus-1.

TE Tyler Higbee. He's set to make his season debut after injuring a knee in the NFC wild-card loss at Detroit. Higbee, 31, has been a reliable part of the Rams’ offense by creating movement in the run game and averaging 59 catches, 586 yards and four touchdowns over the past five seasons. The presence of Higbee occupying defenders between the numbers can only make the WR tandem of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua that much more dangerous.

QB Aaron Rodgers. The 41-year-old quarterback has played well the past two weeks, a late-season resurgence that has some believing Rodgers still has plenty left. He's 43 of 69 for 628 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in his past two games. Rodgers also reestablished his connection with buddy Davante Adams, who had nine catches for 198 yards and two TDs last week.

Rams WRs Kupp and Nacua vs. Jets CBs Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed. Matthew Stafford's favorite targets are having solid seasons again as perhaps the best wide receiver duo in the league. But Kupp is coming off a game in which he was held to no catches on three targets in the Rams' win over the 49ers. New York's secondary should get a boost with Reed on track to return from a groin injury and join Gardner, who had his first interception in two years last week after missing a game with a tweaked hamstring.

The Rams will have their top cornerback available this week with CB Cobie Durant fully practicing Thursday and Friday after a chest injury kept him out against the 49ers. ... Jets DT Quinnen Williams will be a game-time decision after dealing with a hamstring injury that sidelined him at practice all week. ... CB Michael Carter II was ruled out with a back injury. ... S Jalen Mills was placed on IR after breaking his collarbone on an interception last Sunday.

The Jets have won three of the past four meetings. ... New York got its first win of the 2020 season after starting 0-13 the previous time the teams met, when the Jets won 23-20. Sam Darnold had a touchdown pass and Frank Gore ran for a score and Sam Ficken kicked three field goals. The Jets finished 2-14 that season and Adam Gase was fired as coach. ... The Rams won seven in a row against the Jets before New York ended the skid with a 47-3 victory in 2008 behind three TD runs by Thomas Jones and Brett Favre at quarterback. ... The Jets won the first meeting between the teams 31-20 in 1970.

The Rams have won three in a row and four of five, and look to maintain their place atop the NFC West standings. They're tied with Seattle, which hosts Minnesota on Sunday, but currently hold the tiebreaker after a 26-20 overtime win on Nov. 3. Los Angeles hosts Seattle in the regular-season finale. ... Stafford hasn’t turned the ball over in the past five games, his longest streak in 16 years as an NFL QB. ... The Rams are 4-2 when totaling under 200 net yards passing this season, including both victories over the 49ers. They were 3-13 when failing to gain 200 net yards in the previous three seasons. ... RB Kyren Williams has consecutive games with 29 carries, the two highest tallies of his career. He also has 31 total touches in both games, Williams’ second-heaviest workloads as a professional. He had 27 carries and five receptions against Washington on Dec. 17, 2023. ... DT Kobie Turner had two sacks of San Francisco's Brock Purdy. It was his second two-sack game of the season and fourth of Turner’s bright brief career. ... Los Angeles had 14 first downs against San Francisco, its fewest in a win since notching 13 in a 17-7 triumph over Chicago on Nov. 17, 2019. ... The Jets snapped a four-game skid with their win at Jacksonville. They look to win consecutive games for only the second time this season. ... New York scored a touchdown on its opening drive for the first time this season on Rodgers' touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson. ... Rodgers has passed for 3,225 yards, the 14th time in his career he has reached the 3,000-yard milestone. He joined Tom Brady as the only QBs to do so in their 20th NFL season. ... Rodgers ran for a team-leading 45 yards on six carries last week, his most yards rushing since 2019 and the seventh most of his career. It was also the second-most yards rushing by a player 40 years old or older since the 1970 merger, trailing only Doug Flutie's 53 for the Chargers in 2003. ... Adams had two TD catches last week, giving him 101 for his career. He's the 12th player to reach 100 TD receptions. ... Adams had 135 yards receiving in the final four minutes of regulation, the most by any player in that timeframe in this century, according to ESPN Research. He finished with nine catches for 198 yards. ... Rodgers and Adams have combined for 81 touchdown passes, the fourth most in NFL history. They are one behind Miami's Dan Marino and Mark Clayton for third. ... Wilson has 84 catches for 933 yards this season to join Odell Beckham, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Michael Thomas as the only players with 80-plus catches and 900-plus yards receiving in each of their first three seasons. ... DL Quinnen Williams has 45 pressures as an interior pass rusher this season, second to Denver's Zach Allen (51), according to Next Gen Stats. His 39 career sacks are the most by an interior D-lineman in franchise history. ... S Ashtyn Davis had a 21-yard run on a fake punt last week, his third such conversion of his career.

If you have Kupp and are still alive in the playoffs, you were fortunately able to overcome his shutout last week. He's still a must-start, even though the Rams face a solid Jets secondary. Kupp has great value in the red zone, where he could snag a TD.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

New York Jets wide receiver Davante Adams (17) dives past Jacksonville Jaguars safety Darnell Savage (6) after a catch during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

New York Jets wide receiver Davante Adams (17) dives past Jacksonville Jaguars safety Darnell Savage (6) after a catch during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua reacts following an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. The Rams won 44-42. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua reacts following an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. The Rams won 44-42. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s governor commuted the sentence of a white Kansas City police officer who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man whose death fueled racial justice protests.

Gov. Mike Parson commuted Eric DeValkenaere's sentence to time served on Friday, weeks before he will leave office. The Missouri Department of Corrections confirmed DeValkenaere has been released from prison.

DeValkenaere was serving a six-year prison sentence. He was convicted in 2021 of killing 26-year-old Cameron Lamb as he backed into his garage. Lamb’s name was invoked frequently during racial injustice protests in Kansas City in 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Lamb’s family even met with then-President Donald Trump that year.

At trial, DeValkenaere testified that he fired his weapon on Dec. 3, 2019, after Lamb pointed a gun at another detective, Troy Schwalm, and that he believed his actions saved his partner’s life.

Prosecutors, however, argued that police shouldn’t have been on the property and staged the shooting scene to support their claims that Lamb was armed.

Evidence presented during the trial, which was held without a jury at DeValkenaere’s request, showed that DeValkenaere kicked over a barricade to get into Lamb's backyard.

The trial judge, Dale Youngs, said the officers had no warrant for Lamb’s arrest and had no search warrant or consent to be on the property. He called it a tragic case with troubling facts and said DeValkenaere and the officer with him escalated a situation that had been calmed. He didn’t address allegations that evidence had been planted.

DeValkenaere left the police force after his conviction but remained free on bond until he lost his appeal in October 2023. The Missouri Supreme Court subsequently declined to hear an appeal.

FILE - Former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere listens to witness statements during his sentencing hearing, March 4, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star via AP, File)

FILE - Former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere listens to witness statements during his sentencing hearing, March 4, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star via AP, File)

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