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ZooeyModeratorDefense is just not very good anymore. Chris Shula must have been doing it with smoke and mirrors for a while. 31 against Carolina, 38 against Seattle, 27 against Atlanta, 34 against Detroit, 31 AGAIN against Carolina.
Ah well.
If the DLine is as good at pass-rushing as we think they are — then the secondary must be equally as BAD.
w
vLooking at that list of FAs, I was gonna say maybe Durant was worth keeping, but after the past couple of weeks, I don’t think that anymore.
ZooeyModeratorto try and look at more positives. hopefully adams and lake were knocking some rust off. hopefully dotson is available next week. nacua could have played better but still had 125 total yards and two tds. hopefully ingle isn’t playing next week.
i don’t know. that’s all i got.
And hopefully Stafford’s index finger is okay because that bent back pretty far.
ZooeyModeratorThat will not make my Top 10 list of favorite Rams games. Not even Top 10 favorite playoff games.
I was yelling at McVay to take the FG to make it 20-7. Get the points. Wear them down. He was trying to go for the Kill before halftime, and there is just no need at that point. He ran it less than I would have liked as well, although he finally ran it near the end on the next-to-last drive (I think it was).
Lots of uncharacteristic penalties. Lots of uncharacteristic drops.
Not a good game, but a win is a win, as they say, and it’s better than a loss. A loss today would have gutted me. I couldn’t tolerate being the best team most of the season only to lose to the worst team in the playoffs as 10.5 point favorites, and they came pretty darned close to doing that.
Let’s go GB, I guess.
January 10, 2026 at 4:48 pm in reply to: Setting up Carolina game…Sat. 1/10 at 4:25 et 1:25 pt #160990ZooeyModeratorFormer Rams on the Panthers:
A’Shawn Robinson
Christian Rozeboom
Nick Scott
Robert Rochell
Bobby Brown III
Austen CorbettJanuary 10, 2026 at 4:33 pm in reply to: Setting up Carolina game…Sat. 1/10 at 4:25 et 1:25 pt #160989ZooeyModeratorI don’t see any rain, or hear any thunder.
So… we’re starting off dry, anyhow.
January 10, 2026 at 12:04 am in reply to: Setting up Carolina game…Sat. 1/10 at 4:25 et 1:25 pt #160969ZooeyModeratorJoe Person@josephperson
David Tepper fired 6 executives ahead of Panthers’ 1st playoff berth in his ownership tenure, per sources.
In addition to chief venues officer Caroline Wright & gen counsel Tanya Taylor (1st reported by @fitsnews), VP of tech Rob Bence & VP of ticket sales Mike Brown were let go.Two lower-level officials also part of the housecleaning. Via a team spokesperson, the org. confirmed Wright & Taylor (both hired in ’23) have left and thanked them for their contributions.
Tough timing after the holidays and before the Panthers’ 1st home playoff game in 10 yrs.
…
Elvis
This is why Tepper is such a genius, always thinking two steps ahead. In his mind the Panthers have already lost and it’s the offseason…
Those people have nothing to do with football, though.
“Venue officer,” tech, and ticket sales. No idea why these moves happened, but they don’t affect the team on the field.
ZooeyModeratorI am hoping that Lake is the important missing puzzle piece he seems to be.
Stafford has to play well all 4 games. As we know, he can kind of only half show up sometimes.
Me too. But I can’t help but think that Lake’s injury does not alone account for the decline of the defense. The Rams’ defense dropped from top tier to middle-of-the-pack. One player’s absence can’t account for that big of a drop. If it does, then Quentin Lake is in the MVP conversation.
I’m afraid that Lake’s injury corresponded with something else, an identification of a weakness in the Rams’ approach that multiple teams took advantage of. I don’t know what else to suggest.
If Lake is that important…then…yay. Because they just signed him for 1/4 of his value, and the future is bright.
ZooeyModeratorI guess I’m pulling for all the lower seeds in the NFC this weekend: GB, LA, and SF.
I’d like GB to go to Seattle first, rather than the Rams. I don’t want to face Seattle after a bye, although history says the bye isn’t necessarily a great advantage. Nevertheless.
This would give the Rams a game at home against SF. I’m not sure that’s more desirable than facing Philly on the road, but I think it is. I’d be happy to go to Philly and exact some revenge in front of their shitty fans, but on the whole, I think SF at home would be better.
In the AFC… I don’t care. I think the Texans are the team I’d least like to see in the Super Bowl. There is something about top notch defenses that take the fun out of it. 1999 was a dream season, of course, but Tampa and Tennessee did not make it easy. I’d like to see the Rams just cruise for once in my life. I dunno. The hard-fought battles do make victory sweeter in the long run, but there is something to be said for not accelerating the gray hairs and receding hairlines.
ZooeyModeratorZooeyModerator8 out of 9 Experts at CBS pick the Rams to go to the Super Bowl. Only Pete Prisco picks another team, and he has the Eagles.
The AFC picks are all over the place.
January 9, 2026 at 12:50 pm in reply to: Setting up Carolina game…Sat. 1/10 at 4:25 et 1:25 pt #160955ZooeyModeratorThese guys play with injuries all the time, so he’s not well enough to get enough push off that ankle right now.
It’s my impression that ankles take longer than hamstrings. Higbee was out for 7 weeks, they even put him on IR. They didn’t IR Dotson, so I assume it’s less severe than Higbee’s was. Either that or I don’t understand how IR works at the end of the season.
I don’t know how IR works at the end of the season, either, but they certainly want Dotson back ASAP, so I can see why they wouldn’t IR him at all.
I’m guessing it’s a high ankle sprain. Those can take up to 6 weeks, I think. It’s been 3 weeks. But assuming the Rams advance, his absence won’t seriously concern me until the Rams run into Seattle or Philadelphia.
ZooeyModeratorThe Experts at CBS give it to Maye by a 6-5 vote.
January 8, 2026 at 9:12 pm in reply to: Setting up Carolina game…Sat. 1/10 at 4:25 et 1:25 pt #160933ZooeyModeratorJanuary 8, 2026 at 4:43 pm in reply to: Just a thread for different kindsa interesting things #160929ZooeyModeratorWhat stage of capitalism is it when people can place legal bets on which country the US is going to bomb next?
January 8, 2026 at 3:42 pm in reply to: Setting up Carolina game…Sat. 1/10 at 4:25 et 1:25 pt #160928ZooeyModeratorThe Rams are ruling OG Kevin Dotson OUT for Saturday’s wildcard game against the Panthers.
That’s bad. That means it’s a significant injury. They weren’t just giving a veteran athlete a little extra time to get right which seems to be what they did with Adams. These guys play with injuries all the time, so he’s not well enough to get enough push off that ankle right now.
January 8, 2026 at 12:37 pm in reply to: Setting up Carolina game…Sat. 1/10 at 4:25 et 1:25 pt #160920ZooeyModeratorBut the Rams have major issues at closing games. They’re the only team this season that can say it had a lead in the fourth quarter/overtime of all 17 games.
Can a thing be “kind of” incredible? That’s kind of incredible.
ZooeyModeratorLos Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
Kevin Dotson finished the 2025 season ranked third in Offensive Grade (86.4) and Run Blocking Grade (89.3) among all NFL guards (min 50% snaps played), according to
@PFF
.Among all NFL offensive linemen, Dotson’s Run Blocking Grade ranked 8th while his Offensive Grade ranked 10th.
That’s great. But is he going to play? Still listed as Questionable, last I saw, and I haven’t seen any details on the injury. High ankle sprain? Bone bruise? Fracture?
ZooeyModerator
ZooeyModeratorDenver orange v. Rams blue is a nice contrast. Never underestimate the importance of uniform colors in deciding these things.
My next door neighbor is a friend of mine. We take care of each other’s dogs as necessary, etc. Look after things while the other is away. Great guy. Much more social than I am. Has a lot more fun than I do. Entertains a lot. Set up his house for entertaining.
He hosts a Super Bowl bash every year that about 40 people attend. The food and decorations are themed, and he runs all kinds of dollar bets that he has to track and pay out the pots. It’s fun.
He’s a Broncos fan. He has a billiard table with a custom Broncos log in the center felt. He’s from Denver originally. Family is still there. I’d rather not crush his heart, but… if the Rams and Broncos meet each other, we will probably drive down to the Bay Area together. He said the “Super Bowl Experience” is a lot of fun. All the parties and events and whatnot. Could be a real gas.
If it’s the Rams and anybody else, he probably won’t initiate the trip, so I will miss out because loud, crowded, over-priced events aren’t my thing. But he would make it fun, and I’d just follow around in his wake. So I guess I’d be okay with the Broncos. I just would have to watch the game in my house because I couldn’t watch the Rams in the Super Bowl with all the noise and distractions all around. To say nothing of the fact that most people there are 49ers fans.
ZooeyModeratorRevenge against the Pats has appeal, I guess. Steelers, too, for that matter, but the Pats need that worse. Plus embarrassing Drake Maye on Stafford’s behalf would add spice.
I’ll take that option, please.
January 5, 2026 at 11:08 pm in reply to: The Stafford thread…update 12/31: huge S.I. article #160864ZooeyModeratorOne of the unsolvable problems is — its a stupid award. It just is. Its nebulous. WTF does ‘most valuable’ mean? And how can you compare offensive players and defensive players and different systems, and different schedules, etc etc.
Yeah.
It’s the same with all the stale arguments about “greatest ever” in one sport or another. You can’t tell objectively. Across the years, the games’ rules literally change. To say nothing of variables like modern conditioning and medical care, facilities, surrounding talent, coaching advantages, level of competition, intangible influences on teammates and games, and so on. These arguments can be interesting, and even illuminating, but they aren’t definitive.
So give it to Stafford. He’s fucking earned the Honor.
ZooeyModeratorJosh@JoshiosTweets
The Rams will end the season with a 12-5 record and the highest point differential in the Sean McVay era.8 wins by 14+ points is the most in McVay era and in the NFL this season.
And that’s against the toughest schedule any team has played.
You’re just a Rams sniffer.
Sniff this, Bucko. {hilariously pulls own finger}
Ya know, it’s ok to have an unexpressed thought from time to time.
ZooeyModeratorThe Rams have better helmets.
it may just come down to that this thing is so close.
If it is “that close,” then sentiment will win out. And it probably should. If you can’t really distinguish between the two players this season, then you let the body of work over a career decide. I dunno, but I think Stafford will probably get it. Seems to me he is the Default. What argument would you use for Maye that would beat all Stafford arguments? They both had amazing years, and one has an advantage here, the other there. So if you really can’t make up your mind…what decides it for you?
Stafford by a nose, I think.
But I care a lot less about that than I do about winning next week.
ZooeyModeratorI guess I will be rooting for the Rams, Packers, and 49ers this week, and I don’t care about the AFC at all.
{BTW, on SF radio this afternoon, they were basically eulogizing the 9ers’ season – this after riding a huge high before the Seattle game – and arguing about whether making it this far or not is a “success.” They don’t think the 9ers are likely to go far, now that they have even MORE injuries on defense}.
ZooeyModeratorJosh@JoshiosTweets
The Rams will end the season with a 12-5 record and the highest point differential in the Sean McVay era.8 wins by 14+ points is the most in McVay era and in the NFL this season.
And that’s against the toughest schedule any team has played.
You’re just a Rams sniffer.
Sniff this, Bucko. {hilariously pulls own finger}
ZooeyModeratorbill barnwell at espn makes a good case for maye.
basically he says that while the rams had a more difficult schedule, that doesn’t hold true when you focus on just the pass defenses they faced. stafford faced slightly better pass defenses but the difference wasn’t as big as overall team strength.
he also says when comparing performances against common opponents, maye performed better than stafford in completion percentage, ypa, epa/dropback, and total qbr. didn’t post numbers for passer rating so i don’t know about that.
stafford also enjoyed a much better supporting cast. better receivers and a dominant running game. in fact the running game is one of the most dominant in the past 18 years by his estimation (51.6% success rate on designed runs).
lastly maye was more effective running the ball producing 38 first downs and 4 rushing tds to stafford’s zero and zero.
it’ll be close.
The Rams have better helmets.
ZooeyModeratorJ.B. Long@JB_Long
State of the Rams tight end room:*All-time statistical leader back in the mix, Tyler Higbee.
*Single-season TD leader enjoying a career year, Colby Parkinson.
*Top pick in 2025 fully integrated, Terrance Ferguson.
*Third-year pro Davis Allen tying it together.Well…
All-time statistical leader means he’s played a long time. But he is past his prime, and he has been hurt a lot.
Go Colby.
I don’t think Ferguson is “fully integrated.” He’s good; I’m glad they have him. He’s not “ripe.” Yet.
Davis Allen is okay. But he’s a JAG. A useful JAG. But… a JAG.All that “peeing on the parade” aside, I think the TEs overall are a formidable weapon that I am excited about.
ZooeyModeratorThe question is, Lion body, Ram head. Or Ram body, Lion head.
There ya go.
Demoff should get somebody to design a Ram/Lion helmet for him.
w
vWhat’s going on with that horn on the right side of his head, though? It’s almost like ChatGPT wants everybody to know when it is at work.
ZooeyModeratorSo far, those fired:
Morris, Atlanta
Stefanski, ClevelandJust occurred to me.
The 9ers are going to hire Morris for their DC after Salah leaves to take one of the HC openings.
Take comfort in the fact that the majority of my predictions about the world are wrong.
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