The Daily Sweat: Raiders try to keep their late-season revival going vs. Rams

One overtime win, especially against the 2022 Denver Broncos, doesn't mean much. A second overtime win in a row starts to move the needle. A three-game winning streak is worth notice.

The Las Vegas Raiders had a terrible start to the season. Everything was bad. Josh McDaniels looked overmatched as a head coach, again. The Raiders were sinking fast.

The biggest lesson from betting the NFL is to not get too attached to any team, whether it's betting on or against them. Look at how the Raiders' season has turned without any warning over the past three games.

The 5-7 Raiders have a good chance to keep their winning streak going and perhaps dream about a miracle run to a playoff spot. They face the Los Angeles Rams and are 6.5-point favorites at BetMGM. We all know about the Rams' problems by now.

Everything has flipped for the Raiders. After the running game struggled for a few weeks, Josh Jacobs has gone nuclear the past three games. Davante Adams has at least 126 yards in four of Las Vegas' last five games. The defense still isn't great but it has been better during the winning streak. Maybe it did just take some time for McDaniels' schemes to stick.

Given the Raiders' recent surge, it's no surprise they're 6.5-point favorites over a reeling Rams team. Maybe the line should be even higher. The Rams did cover the spread last week and almost beat the Seattle Seahawks, but we'll see if they can put another performance like that together for a second straight week. If there's an argument to be made for the Rams, it's that most teams generally get up for primetime games.

It's hard to take a 5-7 team as a significant road favorite in a prime-time game. But it seems like a case of one team seeing its season heading in a positive direction, and their opponent's season going the other way.

Here's the first look at the sports betting schedule for Thursday:

Light night in the NBA

It's a quiet night across all sports. There's no World Cup, college bowl games are a little more than a week away, and the sports that are playing don't have busy schedules.

The NBA has just three games on Thursday night: Los Angeles Clippers at Miami Heat (-5.5), Houston Rockets (-1.5) at San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets (-1.5) at Portland Trail Blazers. Rockets-Spurs isn't great, but the other two games could be good. And the Rockets might be the best team to bet against a Spurs team that has lost 11 in a row.

NHL, college hoops round out schedule

There are two top-25 games in college basketball, and both should be pretty good. No. 25 Ohio State (-6.5) hosts Rutgers and No. 20 Iowa State plays at Iowa (-3.5).

In the NHL, there are five games. The top game is the Los Angeles Kings at Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are a heavy -175 favorite, and the Kings might be worth a shot as a +145 underdog.

What's the best bet?

I don't mind taking the Raiders as a favorite. The Rams are depleted. It's technically a road game for the Raiders, but there will be more Raiders fans than Rams fans at SoFi Stadium. And if Baker Mayfield plays two days after he was claimed off waivers by the Rams, I like the Raiders even more.