Wanted to address the video circulating from Sunday: I’ve known @NdamukongSuh since his college days and he’s a close friend of mine. Quality as a person matches his quality as a player.

That video is just a friend clowning with another friend. No negative intent! It's all love

— Larry Fitzgerald (@LarryFitzgerald) December 26, 2018

🎶 There’s no place like #RamsHouse for the Holidays…🎶

The perfect last-minute stocking stuffer is here! pic.twitter.com/VznboepTt8

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 24, 2018

Billy_T wrote:

They can safely rest Gurley until the playoffs, and they should. Keep him working out on the sidelines, etc. But don’t play him. Goff shouldn’t play more than the first half next week . . .

I think the Rams need to do what it takes to win next week so they get the first round bye. I don’t want to see Goff come out until/unless the game is well in hand.

Unfortunately, the Bears/Vikings game is also a late game, so the Rams won’t know where they stand regarding the bye prior to their game.

One thing I noticed and I think the commentator pointed it out as well…the Rams didn’t stay in 11 personnel almost exclusively like they did prior to this game. They mixed in a lot of other personnel packages.

For example, they seemed to use 2 TEs a lot, which probably helped the running game.

Yeah, I know, since Kupp’s been gone Everette and Higbee have been on the field together a lot, but not as TEs.

Usually when Everette was in the game with Higbee he was the slot receiver (Kupp’s role).

In this game they were both on the field together as TEs. I bet the Cards didn’t expect to see that.

Heading into the playoffs I think McVay will have to continue to mix things up like that to keep defenses honest.

Brockers has been a huge disappointment too.

One thing McVay has failed to maintain was the dominant d-line the Rams had under Fisher. That’s mostly due to going from a 4 man front to Phillips’ hybrid 3-4 and getting rid of solid d-linemen that weren’t thought to be a good fit like Sims and Hayes. Quinn started playing really well as an OLB around the middle of last season. They miss him too.

So what was once the best d-line in the NFL is now just an average unit.

And the dramatic personnel moves the Rams made last offseason to improve the defense have pretty much blown up in their faces. I don’t fault them for that though. I like the aggressiveness they showed in trying to improve the team. In any other universe the moves they made would have propelled them to a Super Bowl.

Of course, they still could end up in the the Super Bowl. It just doesn’t feel as likely right now.

InvaderRam wrote:

nittany ram wrote:

I wonder if that’s because the Rams are so “play action pass” dependent.

goff’s gotta be weaned off the play action at some point.

and now would be a good time to do it with the cardinals coming up.

Yeah. Given the issues with the o-line, and with defenses taking away the deep throws off of play action, it would be nice if they developed a quick passing game like teams often use against them to mitigate Donald.

Cooper really hasn’t been producing as a returner and can’t get on the field as a WR, so this isn’t that surprising…

Could be sending a message to the team as well.

A few weeks ago I would have felt better about this game. Rams at home, facing a depleted team with a back-up QB that has only played well once (Super Bowl) in his last dozen or so starts…

But this is now.

I don’t like how easily the Rams pass offense has been shut down the last two weeks.

I don’t like how the Rams o-line morphs into human turnstiles when pass blocking.

I don’t like how McVay doesn’t seem to be able to adjust to what defenses are doing.

I don’t like how McVay seems to have lost his feel for situational football.

I don’t like how Goff looks rattled.

Despite all that, the Rams will probably win. They are undefeated at home. They still can be Super Bowl contenders, despite the weaknesses displayed over the last couple weeks. They’ve won 5 of 7 games against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

But to get back to being elite, they have to figure out how to counter what defenses are doing against their passing game.

And I think they will.

Cowboys v Colts.
Pats v Steelers.

PSA:

The US taxpayer pays about $30/year for NASA.

You pay about $130/year for Netflix.

You're welcome 😘

— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) December 11, 2018

InvaderRam wrote:

goff looked bad. but lots of good qbs have had days like this.

just can’t figure out why mcvay chose to run the ball more unless he really did want to get goff reps in cold weather.

defense played about as well as they could given what they are. hopefully, they don’t have to play another cold weather game again this year or in the playoffs.

I haven’t watched the game yet. I couldn’t watch it last night so I recorded it. Not sure if I’m going to bother to watch it now.

Barring an epic disaster, the Rams won’t have to play in a cold weather city in the playoffs. Most likely they’ll be home for the divisional game, and then travel tonNew Orleans for the conference championship.

NPR did an hour long segment on this today while I was at work. I really wanted to listen to it but I had a meeting I couldn’t miss.

Spielmann mentioned that Patricia gave the league the blueprint for defending against the Rams offense. It will be interesting to see how Goff and the offense responds against the Bears next week.

snowman wrote:

The Vikings beat the Packers Sunday night, so they move to 6-4-1 and the Pack pretty much slips out of playoff contention. Two very tough road games back to back (Patriots and Seahawks) next then two very winnable games before finishing the season at home against the Bears. I think they win nine games and make the playoffs as a wild card team.

Yeah, plus the Bears may not have anything to play for in that game. Playoff seedings will likely already be set. They may rest their starters which would hand the game to the Vikings.

I see the Vikings losing the next two games, winning the following two, and heading into the Bears game at 7-6-1.

So, it could all come down to that Bears game for the Vikings.

wv wrote:

So the 49ers are still in it.

What scenario would have to unfold for them to make it?

w
v

1. They must win the rest of their games.

2. Every other NFC team is pulled into a wormhole and transported across the galaxy with no way of getting back prior to the start of the playoffs.