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znModeratorWyatt Miller@wymill07
With the Seahawks’ win over the 49ers, the Rams can clinch the No. 5 seed in the NFC with a win over Arizona tomorrow.If that happens, they would play either the Panthers or Bucs in the Wild Card round. If Atlanta beats New Orleans, it’s the Panthers. If not, it’s the Bucs
znModerator8:50 pm
Tampa wins.
Albert Breer@AlbertBreer
Panthers and Buccaneers finish the regular season at 8-9. That means …• If the Falcons beat the Saints, the Panthers win the South.
• If the Saints beat the Falcons, the Bucs win the South.
Show. Your. Work.@ChadMPKirvan
As a Saints fan, I have to ask: is there any way we can make nobody win the division?znModeratorModerately insane chain of events.
Bryce Young throws obvious backward pass to Dowdle, who picks it up with room to run but it’s whistled dead immediately by an official who ruled it a forward pass. Referee Brad Allen then announces it’s a backward pass “that went out of bounds”… pic.twitter.com/csa1XQkUKP
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) January 3, 2026
znModerator8:50 pm
Tampa wins.
Seattle scores first.
znModeratorThe Cardinals’ rebuild is in an impossible position https://t.co/X36NtF2y65
— TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) January 3, 2026
znModeratorLos Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
Alaric Jackson and Warren McClendon Jr. are both T-6th in Run Blocking Grade (81.5) among all offensive tackles in the NFL (min 50% snaps played), according to @PFF.znModeratorSarah Barshop@sarahbarshop
The Rams are adding TE Terrance Ferguson to the injury report with a hamstring injury. He will be listed as doubtful to play against the Cardinals.znModeratorNate Atkins@NateAtkins_
Rams star receiver Davante Adams is running routes in practice.First action he’s seen since hurting his hamstring three weeks ago.
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The good news for the Rams after two losses? Their stars are close to full health https://t.co/h9eiO7PQUg
— Gary Klein (@LATimesklein) January 3, 2026
znModeratorThe playmaking instincts of Trinidad Chambliss are ridiculous.
This 3-play sequence sums it up. pic.twitter.com/scveD6uOFc
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) January 2, 2026
znModeratorKurt Warner@kurt13warner
I’ve stated a lot of my thoughts on NFL MVP this week & no award is a perfect process, BUT those that are claiming that IF a QB who has 42 TD passes, led team to 11/12 wins in toughest division in football (even though they didn’t win it), has a QB Rating of 108 & passes for 2nd most yrds in NFL wins MVP it’s simply a lifetime achievement award should not speak on football anymore!!Matthew Stafford = Deserving
Drake Maye = Deserving
CMC = Deserving
Myles Garrett = Deserving
JSN = Deserving of recognition for season
Bijan = Deserving of recognition for season… and I’ve probably missed someone else!
znModeratorStu Jackson@StuJRams
Sean McVay said CB Josh Wallace and OL Kevin Dotson will be out for Sunday’s game vs. Cardinals.McVay said he feels good about Kyren Williams being able to play Sunday.
McVay also said if today goes well, he expects TE Tyler Higbee to play Sunday.
Today’s practice will provide more clarity on whether Blake Corum will be able to play
Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
The Rams have activated TE Tyler Higbee from injured reserve. He’s set to make his return tomorrow against the Cardinals.znModeratorLos Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
Jared Verse became the 4th-fastest player to reach 150 career pressures (33 games). He’s also registered 2 or more hurries in 11 consecutive games, tied for the longest streak in the NFL this season (Danielle Hunter, HOU).znModeratorNFL Researcher@NFL_Researcher
The Rams starting OL pressure rate allowed (position rank), per @NextGenStats:LT Alaric Jackson – 6.9% (5th)
LG Steve Avila – 5.7% (7th)
C Coleman Shelton – 4.0% (8th)
RG Kevin Dotson – 4.1% (1st)
RT Warren McClendon Jr. – 2.4% (1st)This unit has allowed a 22.5% pressure rate this season, the lowest among any OL combo (minimum 200 snaps together).
znModeratorGregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue and Patrick Claybon to preview all of the Week 18 action from around the NFL.
00:00 START
02:00 Seahawks at 49ers
09:45 Lions at Bears
15:30 Commanders at Eagles
19:45 Panthers at Buccaneers
28:02 Cardinals at Rams
33:40 Packers at Vikings
38:25 Cowboys at Giants
42:15 Saints at Falcons
48:20 Chargers at Broncos
53:15 Dolphins at Patriots
58:30 Titans at Jaguars
01:04:39 Ravens at Steelers
01:13:07 Colts at Texans
01:24:30 Jets at Bills
01:28:45 Browns at Bengals
01:33:40 Chiefs at RaidersznModeratorA huge part for Saturday night with @Seahawks and @49ers pic.twitter.com/xvgE2utBQ9
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 2, 2026
znModeratorThanks JM.
znModeratorfrom Nate Atkins: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6935178/2026/01/02/rams-quentin-lake-late-season-form/?source=emp_shared_article
Quentin Lake
The biggest jolt the Rams could get after that Falcons loss arrived this week: Not only is safety Quentin Lake back to practice after a six-week absence, but the Rams believe so much in what he’s coming back as that they were ready to lock it in for the long term.
In the span of one hour Thursday, Los Angeles opened the practice window for Lake and announced a three-year contract extension that will pay him $42 million with $25.7 million in guarantees, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. Conversations about the deal had been in the works since this spring, but the timing of it feels like a statement about what this defense needs now.
“He does so many things and wears so many hats for this defense, and there are no excuses,” defensive coordinator Chris Shula said of Lake. “Anytime you lose a great player like that, you definitely feel the absence when you don’t have them. You feel it when you’re game planning, and then you feel it on the practice field all the time.”
On a defense that is the lowest-paid in the NFL, Lake, a 2022 sixth-round pick, has become the engine to the creative elements Shula wants to deploy in a group built around the pass rush to run heavy dime packages and disguised zone looks to make quarterbacks hold the ball and play in the face of Jared Verse, Byron Young and others.
Verse and Young will be Pro Bowl starters. In the 10 games Lake started, Young and Verse combined for 13 sacks. In the six games without him, they’ve combined for just 4.5.
But perhaps the most noticeable difference has been in the run defense. Through the first 10 games, the Rams allowed 100.7 rushing yards per game. In the six games without Lake, that has grown to 133 yards per game. The explosive plays have skyrocketed. A unit that rarely allowed a run of 15 yards or more has been gashed in two straight weeks by Kenneth Walker III and Bijan Robinson as the Seattle Seahawks and the Falcons combined for 6.7 yards per carry.
One illustrative play came when Verse had a chance to stop Robinson in the backfield Monday night, and Verse grabbed Robinson by the collar and said he was expecting backup to arrive. It never came, and Robinson shook Verse off and ran for 31 yards. The backup Verse expected would come from Lake, or would often be coordinated by him. He is known for moving his alignment just before the snap to disrupt blocking schemes and free up the second level to make tackles, allowing Nate Landman to enjoy a breakout season to earn an extension of his own, only to see his tackle rate plummet during Lake’s absence.
Lake won’t play Sunday as he’s gaining game speed in a precautionary way ahead of the playoffs. But his return will bring some run defense, a back-end force in coverage and the coordination a younger secondary could use right now.
znModeratorNate Atkins@NateAtkins_
A defensive coach who faced the Rams this season called Kevin Dotson “the engine of their run game.”He’s one of four players the Rams must get healthy enough to make the run they want to make
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from Atkins: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6935178/2026/01/02/rams-quentin-lake-late-season-form/?source=emp_shared_article
Alaric Jackson and Kevin Dotson
The biggest key to the Rams’ midseason offensive explosion wasn’t the use of 13-personnel or Stafford or Nacua or Adams; after all, McVay has long created strong passing games through the wide receivers.
The offensive line’s dominance in creating the most balanced offense in the league made the difference.
It was harder to see coming than those other forces, because the Rams do not boast a Pro Bowler in that group. They have a couple of players who had legitimate cases this season, excelling in different phases while being strong enough in the other. And then they had to play without Jackson and Dotson against the Falcons, and a ferocious front swallowed the line up too often.
Jackson is arguably the Rams’ best pass protector, a rock-solid piece on Stafford’s blind side who is key to protecting that degenerative back issue and making his quarterback feel confident to work progressions at a time when Stafford is also trying to avoid hits to extend his career. Jackson suffered a knee injury out of the Seattle loss that ultimately sidelined him last week, and since Warren McClendon Jr. was already filling in for Rob Havenstein at right tackle, it meant going to a 32-year-old fourth tackle in DJ Humphries.
The Rams felt the sting. Humphries was flagged on two explosive Nacua plays and was also beaten on a 4th-and-1 run play to Kyren Williams that the Falcons thwarted in the red zone.
Jackson has returned to practice, and the Rams expect him to play Sunday against the Cardinals. What could also help the situation for the playoffs is if Havenstein returns from injured reserve to allow McClendon to fill in at left tackle if he’s ever needed, though Havenstein’s status is not yet clear.
Dotson has a murkier outlook. He suffered an injury against Seattle that earned Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall a one-game suspension for stepping on his ankle. After the game, Dotson was in a walking boot, and though the boot has come off, Dotson has only walked gingerly on the sidelines at practice and does not appear particularly close to a return.
The ankle wasn’t broken, though, and so the Rams have hope that he could return if they can launch a run in the postseason. That will require steady enough play from Justin Dedich as a fill-in, and he’s had moments good and bad in five starts. But returning to Dotson at some point, even if he’s not 100 percent, could help get the two-headed backfield of Williams and Blake Corum back to the No. 1 rushing tandem in the NFL as they were entering the Seahawks game.
“He is the real deal,” said an opposing defensive coach who faced the Rams this season. “I see him just knock people off the ball. He is physical and the engine of their run game.”
znModerator0:50 Week 18 Preview
3:20 Panthers @ Buccaneers Preview
26:00 Seahawks @ 49ers Preview
48:40 Ravens @ Steelers Preview
1:06:38 New Year’s Resolutions For The Raiders
1:09:00 New Year’s Resolutions For The Giants
1:12:20 New Year’s Resolutions For The Jets
1:13:50 New Year’s Resolutions For The Titans
1:16:05 New Year’s Resolutions For The Cardinals
1:20:00 New Year’s Resolutions For The Browns
1:22:35 New Year’s Resolutions For The Commanders
1:24:55 Week 18 ImplicationsznModeratorBrock Vierra@BrockVierra
Per Sean McVay. Regardless of what happens on Saturday, the Rams starters will play on SundayWyatt Miller@wymill07
McVay said he expects Tyler Higbee to be able to play on Sunday provided things go well in practice again today.Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
The Rams are ruling OG Kevin Dotson and CB Josh Wallace out for Sunday against the Cardinals.OT Alaric Jackson, RB Blake Corum, WR Davante Adams, LB Omar Speights and RB Kyren Williams will all be questionable.
znModeratori don’t know what his aspirations are. if he wants to eventually be an offensive coordinator or more. i do know that he’s from this area. so i imagine he’s motivated to stay here if he only wants to be an oline coach. if i’m the rams i’m doing everything i can to keep him here.
Just as a general rule, OL coaches stay as OL coaches. They tend to become head coaches at a far lesser rate than OCs and DCs, and very rarely become OCs themselves.
An OL coach is a kind of unique position. They’re responsible for a lot, and that includes not just coaching individuals of course but coordinating an entire unit so they are all physically choreographed in precise ways. Plus they invariably have a say in acquiring new players (no GM in their right mind drafts an OL player the OL coach doesn’t want…that’s true of all position but it is even more true of OL). In a lot of ways, a team needs continuity on the OL–you can switch up coordinators fairly often but with the OL coach you want the same things year in and year out. So it’s not just that they tend not to move, the other side of the same coin is that if they have a guy they like teams tend to keep them. For example, the great Dante Scarnecchia, who coach the Patz OL for years. (Wendell btw was coached under Scarnecchia for 5 years as a Patz O-lineman).
znModeratorI’ve said this before but IMO it bears repeating.
This regime, with Wendell as the OL coach, has an advantage we have not seen for decades.
The Rams have a long list of good OL coaches, and a great one (Houck in the 80s). They’ve had Kromer, Boudreau, Hanifan. But unlike Wendell, those guys could not draft OL well.
2023 gave the Rams both Avila and McClendon. The last time the Rams found two good OL starters in the same draft was 99 (Pace and Tucker) and that took trading up for the 1st pick. Before that, it was France and Harrah in 75. So that’s 50 years. (Btw I don’t count Barron as good enough to be on this list, so I don’t count Barron and Ignito from 2005.)
The point? With Wendell, they can both draft and develop OL. That most likely means there will be more. 1 or 2 may even be on the roster already.
znModeratorJared Verse hit a top speed of 20.21 MPH on this 76-yard FG block return TD 💨
That's the fastest speed by a defender as a ball carrier weighing 260+ lbs in the @NextGenStats era (since 2016)
LARvsATL on ESPN/ABC
Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN Apppic.twitter.com/nS2IZCzRCl— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) December 30, 2025
znModeratorNFL Researcher@NFL_Researcher
Highest percentage of routes resulting in 1st downs this season, per @NextGenStats:1. Puka Nacua – 17.6%
2. Jaxon Smith-Njigba – 16.5%
3. George Kittle – 13.9%
4. Davante Adams – 12.5%
5. Stefon Diggs – 12.5%
6. George Pickens – 12.3%znModeratorAll three are impressive numbers, but…
Total drives against playoff teams:
Rams – 87 (8th)
Patriots – 40 (32nd)
Bears – 52 (31st) https://t.co/V945Wu346l— Josh (@JoshiosTweets) January 2, 2026
znModeratori’m happy that they finally re-signed a safety. i’d still like for them to draft another db in the first round this upcoming draft. i feel like that side of the team has been needing more attention.
Odds are very great (IMO) that they will draft another safety, because they can’t afford both Lake and Curl on big contracts at the same time. Curl is a FA after this year. My bet is they let him walk. They can then draft secondary (safety and CB) and build around Lake.
znModeratorznModeratorQuentin is so versatile. Below are two tackles this year from Lake vs the screen. He attacks and makes big plays, Chubba TD doesn't happen with Lake, for example. This is the best Guy on our defense after Verse and Turner pic.twitter.com/zl7GA1YNmY
— Ramsoholic (@ShayTweetedThat) January 1, 2026
znModeratorroberto clemente@rclemente2121
headed into week 17
passer rating on deep passes (15+ yards in the air)blue text = qbs for current playoff teams
tough year for mahomesznModeratorCourse those stats on the Rams defense are for the whole year. But the last month or so, the stats are a lot worse.
w
vI will do all Rams stats again, this time for the last 3 games only.
Offense
yds 2nd
points 3rd
yds per pass attempt 3rd
yds per rush attempt 15th
qb sacked percentage 5th
RZ efficiency (TD only) 20th
turnovers 22ndDefense
yds 27th
points 30th
yds per pass attempt 21st
yds per rush attempt 30th
RZ efficiency (TD only) 20th
pressure percentage 21st
turnovers 12th -
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