post-draft power rankings, projected wins, how Rams look in the division, etc.

Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › post-draft power rankings, projected wins, how Rams look in the division, etc.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • May 9, 2019 at 12:00 am #101158
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    from 2019 NFL Power Rankings: Projected wins and playoff chances from 1-32

    http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/26686576/2019-nfl-power-rankings-projected-wins-playoff-chances-1-32

    3. Los Angeles Rams
    Projected wins: 10.1
    Chance to make playoffs: 76.4 percent

    Where the team improved this offseason: Pass rush. The Rams re-signed outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. after he proved himself as a playmaker in only half a season under Wade Phillips. Fowler’s production took a significant step forward in the playoffs, and that trend is likely to continue after his first training camp with the team. The Rams also added veteran pass-rusher Clay Matthews. Despite a drop in production last season, it’s likely that Matthews’ savvy will help a young group that also includes third-year pro Samson Ebukam. — Lindsey Thiry

    May 13, 2019 at 12:12 pm #101301
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    from https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/05/13/nfl-power-rankings-fmia-peter-king/?cid=fmiatw

    Peter King, The 2019 NFL Power Rankings, Taking Stock of Offseason Movement

    …

    4. *LOS ANGELES RAMS (15-4)

    The Rams will be good; we know that. But good enough to stave off the Niners and Seahawks in the West? Good enough to play deep into January? You might wonder about Todd Gurley’s future, because of the weird usage pattern in 2018 (first 12 games: 19.4 carries per game; last five games: 10.6 carries) that hinted at a bum knee. I’m not that concerned about Gurley, or the running game, because Sean McVay will figure it out. I’m more concerned with what the heck happened to Marcus Peters last year, and whether in a pass-happy NFC West the Peters-Aqib Talib combo platter can be the top cornerback group in the division like the Rams planned. Peters, per Pro Football Focus, was the league’s 11th-rated corner in 2016 and 18th-rated corner in 2017 … and in 2018, his first year in L.A., he plummeted to 91st, allowing a garish 118.9 rating in balls that targeted him. Peters did play better after recovering from an early-season calf injury, so there’s hope that, if healthy, he can get back to 2017 form. He’ll need to for the Rams to be as good as fourth in the league.

    May 21, 2019 at 4:12 pm #101544
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    from Los Angeles Chargers, Rams head NFL’s most complete teams

    Adam Schein

    http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001031117/article/los-angeles-chargers-rams-head-nfls-most-complete-teams

    …

    2) Los Angeles Rams
    Todd Gurley’s status is obviously a huge factor here, but I’m no doctor. I don’t know any more about his true status than you. So, for the purposes of this exercise, I’m going to assume he’ll return to stardom in a few months’ time. That takes significant heat off Jared Goff, allowing the quarterback to play like he did over the first three months of last season. Another thing that’ll help mitigate Goff’s late-season swoon: the return of Cooper Kupp, whose torn ACL halfway through last season put a major crimp in Sean McVay’s signature 11 personnel package (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR). When Kupp’s on the field with Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, defenses are put in a serious bind. McVay’s genius maximizes this talent.

    On the other side of the ball, the Rams just happen to boast the single best defensive player — bar none — in the NFL today. Aaron Donald, who just won his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award, raises the bar and makes everyone on the Rams’ D better. Thus, while L.A. only ranked 19th in total defense last season, the unit has a knack for being clutch.

    GM Les Snead not only has great hair, but he has great flair for putting a team together.

    May 21, 2019 at 4:13 pm #101545
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    May 21, 2019 at 4:13 pm #101546
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    PFF LARams@PFF_Rams
    With most of the 2018 offense intact, along with a few additions for depth, the #Rams will look to top the NFC West for the 3rd year in a row, despite some drastic improvements to their rivals during the offseason

    June 26, 2019 at 5:02 pm #102413
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    NFL Media’s Gil Brandt: Arguably no team has better long-term personnel vision than Los Angeles Rams
    LA earns high praise from Brandt on his list of the top 10 most talented teams heading into 2019

    https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/6/21/18700945/los-angeles-rams-2019-nfl-season-preview-gil-brandt-most-talented-power-rankings

    Since 2014 — and arguably two seasons before that — the Los Angeles Rams have been known for one thing if nothing else: a talented roster.

    But for years, they couldn’t finish with a winning record. They couldn’t really beat anyone outside the division. But damn it if they didn’t have a roster littered with offensive and defensive talent. Now, the Los Angeles Rams have had the best of both worlds for the last two seasons and it’s likely they will have both for a third season and beyond.

    No surprise then that NFL.com’s Gil Brandt placed the Rams at No. 4 on his top 10 most talented teams heading into 2019 joining the likes of the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots:

    Arguably no team in the NFL has better long-term personnel vision than the Rams. As an example: Seeing that the 2019 draft and free-agent classes would be light in receiver and cornerback prospects, they moved aggressively on the trade market in 2018, acquiring receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters. Using trades rather than free agency to address these needs also allowed L.A. to collect extra compensatory picks this year.

    The Rams are wicket SMAHT. And more importantly, they’re proactive thinkers instead of reactive thinkers. They’re not playing the hand they have now, they’re preparing to play the hand they might run into down the road.

    Of course, the Rams have done well in the draft (the collection of homegrown talent includes Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Cooper Kupp, Rob Havenstein, Joseph Noteboom, Brian Allen and Michael Brockers) and in free agency (the signings of left tackle Andrew Whitworth and receiver Robert Woods couldn’t have gone much better than they did).

    The days of drafting a big name in the first round and then filling the rest of the draft list with random names is over (see: Billy Devaney, Tye Hill, Joe Klopfenstein). Every round is utilized even more so now than with Fisher. I always felt like the Fisher drafts put too much value in future draft picks, stockpiling them as currency for the inevitable apocalyptic event instead of using those picks in the present to better the team in the future.

    The ability of GM Les Snead to work in lockstep with the coaching staff on roster building has helped the team balance salary-cap concerns in such a way that the Rams were able to extend the contracts of stars like Donald and Gurley without hindering their ability to procure talent where needed.

    And they’ve added (signing pass rusher Clay Matthews and safety Eric Weddle and retaining defensive end Dante Fowler) and subtracted (clearing cap space by moving on from linebacker Alec Ogletree last year and linebacker Mark Barron this year) smartly; consider that linebackers are not as critical to defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’ scheme as pass rushers and press corners.

    Since 2017, Snead and Head Coach Sean McVay have proven to be a formidable team. While Snead and Fisher worked well together, too, I felt their relationship was not as good as McVay’s and Snead’s is now. Fisher and Snead seemed to be working for the same goal on two sides of the room, each handling one aspect of the objective. McVay and Snead are in one room taking on each (personnel) problem together.

    After reading Brandt’s take on how well McVay and Snead are driving the bus, I hope this somewhat eases the “sky is falling” outlook some may have concerning the potential extension for QB Jared Goff. But if it doesn’t, I hope it further sends you into madness and causes you to spew the absolute garbage takes on Twitter. It’s just baseball on TV right now, so I am completely bored.

    June 26, 2019 at 5:02 pm #102414
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    —

    Pro Football Focus ranks Los Angeles Rams’ roster second-best in entire NFL
    It has taken years, but the Rams are now beneficiaries of one of the best rosters in the NFL.

    https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/6/26/18759956/los-angeles-rams-roster-depth-chart-2019-preview-pro-football-focus-espn

    Every year at ESPN, Pro Football Focus ranks every NFL roster broken down by their individual ratings for each player. And every year since they started, it has been a painful process for Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams fans.

    Here’s how things looked the last five years:

    2014: 31st
    2015: 22nd
    2016: 29th
    2017: 31st
    2018: 9th

    These are more retrospective than prospective as they’re grades from the previous season and not projected grades for the season ahead. That can lead to some weird imbalances in the roster overall like say TE Gerald Everett. PFF graded him very low after his rookie season at 46.3; after last year, they’ve got him at a 82.5. Or take former Rams S Lamarcus Joyner. His successful 2017 season had him graded out at 90.3 heading into 2018 as one of the Rams’ highest-graded players.

    There’s also the nature of roster projection. Last year, PFF had former Rams RG Jamon Brown and ILB Ramik Wilson as starters instead of RG Austin Blythe or ILB Cory Littleton (spoiler: this year, they have rookie OL Bobby Evans starting at left guard over OL Joseph Noteboom).

    All that being said, here’s how they see things this year (subscription required) by ranking the Rams to have the second-best roster in the NFL after just the New England Patriots:

    2. Los Angeles Rams

    Biggest strength: Aaron Donald finished each of the past four seasons as the league’s highest-graded interior defender. And last year was Donald’s best season yet, as he earned a monstrous overall grade of 95.0 and recorded a mind-boggling 113 total pressures to lead interior defensive linemen by a handsome margin in both categories. He is a one-man wrecking crew, which will continue in 2019.

    Biggest weakness: It’s tough to find a weakness on the Rams’ loaded defense, but collective run defense is probably it. Sure, they have Donald, but it wouldn’t hurt to get better against the run at other positions. Consider that the Patriots gained 154 rushing yards in the Super Bowl, and forced seven missed tackles. Aside from Donald, only one other Rams front-seven member earned a run-defense grade above 80.0 last season. That was Ndamukong Suh, who has left town.

    X factor for 2019: Jared Goff is coming off a great season in which he earned an overall grade of 84.3, ranking eighth among quarterbacks, but struggled mightily in the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. The Rams have an excellent coaching staff, a loaded roster and Super Bowl experience, but they will get only as far as Goff allows them to. The NFL is a quarterback-driven league, and if Goff can continue to improve, the Rams might get back to the big game. Goff’s clean-pocket passing ability ranked third in overall grade in 2018 and is an extremely strong and stable metric for looking at year-to-year production.


    It’s just a damn fine roster overall and one with very few gaps. Yes, two new starters on the line will be a focal point. And the linebacking corps will be one for Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips to have to make the most out of, though that was the case last year and we did just fine sooooooo yeah.

    The bottom line is this is just a different era of Rams football. In years past, especially prior to 2014, it was quite easy to claim the roster was holding the team back from success in the win column. That’s just not the case anymore.The Rams have the talent to win. Last year, they nearly won the whole thing.If anything, the roster won’t be something to hold them back in 2019.

    June 26, 2019 at 10:57 pm #102421
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    July 1, 2019 at 2:50 pm #102525
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    from: https://theathletic.com/1053100/2019/07/01/nfl-mailbag-is-a-letdown-season-in-store-for-the-rams/

    I still think the Rams will be very good, but I do think it is reasonable to expect some regression for a few reasons. The questions you mention about Todd Gurley’s health and production is a big one; for as creative Sean McVay’s passing offense is, Gurley is the engine, and if he can’t be a 25+ touch tailback per game, that’s a big problem. They made due in the playoffs as long as they could, but surviving three games with C.J. Anderson is different than retooling the running game for 16 weeks.

    I also have questions about the offensive line, with new starters at center and both guard spots. I also want to see what new things McVay has in store for the offense. Vic Fangio and Bill Belichick crafted masterpiece defensive game plans against the Rams, and while that isn’t necessarily easily replicated, McVay must evolve as well. And finally, the rest of the NFC West should be better, which will make it more difficult to pull away from the division early like the Rams did last season.

    July 11, 2019 at 8:24 am #102835
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    from The NFL’s best and worst offensive arsenals: Barnwell’s 32-1 ranking

    https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27154042/the-nfl-best-worst-offensive-arsenals-barnwell-32-1-ranking#lar

    1. Los Angeles Rams
    2018 rank: No. 6 | 2017: No. 29

    Indignant Chiefs fans are likely yelling about Todd Gurley and Cooper Kupp right about now, and indeed, there are reasons to be worried about two of the Rams’ stars. Kupp is returning from a torn ACL and should be active for Week 1, but it’s impossible to say whether he will be the same guy who was on pace for 1,132 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns before blowing out his knee.

    Gurley is a scarier proposition. The reports suggesting he is suffering from arthritis in his knee seem to be accurate, and everything the Rams have done and said suggests that the days of Gurley taking 90-plus percent of the offensive snaps are over. Los Angeles is enthused about third-round pick Darrell Henderson, and ESPN college football guru Bill Connelly raved about Henderson’s explosiveness before the draft, but Gurley was the best running back in football when healthy over the past two years. It’s tough to imagine the Rams will get that sort of volume and efficiency from a combination of Henderson and an arthritic Gurley in 2019.

    With that being said, this isn’t a binary problem. Gurley probably isn’t going to average nearly 23 touches per game or average five touchdowns per month like he did from 2017-2018, but he could still be a very useful running back in the range of 15-18 touches per week. That’s less exciting for fantasy football, but it’s probably better for the Rams, especially if Henderson delivers on the preseason hype. There’s not much at tight end here, but when you think about just how deep the Rams are at wide receiver with Kupp, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, even 85% of the old Gurley is enough to propel the Rams to the top of the weaponry charts.

    July 11, 2019 at 10:36 am #102837
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Well, who knows about the Future, but my gut tells me, the Rams have been awfully lucky as far as injuries go, during the McVay years. And the 49ers have been awfully unlucky. Stuff like that has a way of evening out. Ya know.

    I just cant fathom a Ram team having three years in a row of damn good health. (granted Gurley was not healthy, but still, all in all, they have been remarkably healthy for two years, and the other teams in the West have been a shambles)

    Kupp was they one key injury in the last two years, I’d say. Put Kupp in that Super Bowl, and…well…Goff would probly still get clobbered. Lets hope McVay learned somethin.

    w
    v

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

Comments are closed.