InvaderRam wrote:

like i’ve said before don’t really care who the rams play.

don’t care if the eagles win and, assuming the rams win their game, the home field advantage goes back to the rams.

although. yes. as petty as it may be. i don’t want the chargers to have any success. is that wrong?

Of course it’s not Wrong.

The scriptures says nothing about being petty. There are a lot of rules about all kinds of human behavior, but nowhere can you find a single text that cautions against rooting against a football team for some nebulous motivations involving bizarre geographical loyalties. So it’s not wrong. At least, not in a Classical sense.

The Path of Redemption would have been Chicago, New Orleans, Boston.

We are not on that path at the moment, but could still get 2/3 of it.

Rooting?

Nah. Don’t care.

They have to beat everybody in their path.

I do agree with Nittany, though, in that I don’t want the Chargers to have any success in Los Angeles. I want them out of town.

Rams 7-1 at home.
Dallas 3-5 away.

That’s encouraging.

It’s a good slate of games. There isn’t a thing that would surprise me this weekend.

Agree, yeah. I think the Rams would have handled the Bears. I am less certain about Dallas.

Dallas has a formidable OL, Prescott is good enough, and Cooper and Elliot give them the weapons.

Their run defense is very good, so Gurley isn’t going to carry them very far.

Looks like a tougher matchup to me.

zn wrote:

Those look like some good games.

Good playoff year looks like.

I don’t remember a year when there was less difference between the #1 and #6 seeds than this year.

There is not one team playing this weekend that I’d be amazed if they went to the Super Bowl. Maybe the Cowboys or Colts, but I haven’t actually seen them play this year, so I don’t know. But would anybody really drop dead with shock if the Chargers (#5) ended up against the Eagles (#6)?

Really…I don’t see any “Gimme” games in the entire bracket. I don’t remember a season like this before.

So Kupp had 3 of those, and he played half the season.

So…yeah.

wv wrote:

Beating the Bears would go a long way with me. Even if they lost
the next week.
Coz da Bears just humiliated them in Chicago. Bullied them.

It would be huge to turn that around.

w
v

Yeah, me too. That’s why I want the Bears. That is the Bar for me. The season started for me with expectations that the Rams would be in the hunt, in the Top Four teams with realistic Super Bowl contention. If they lose to the Bears twice, then the Rams do not belong there. They are a pretender, not a contender. And I want contention. That is my Bar. It will feel like a lost season to me if the Rams’ only improvement was to earn a bye in the playoffs. That isn’t enough. They have to win a playoff game this year, and it should be against the Bears. They already beat Seattle twice, and Dallas – although they are better than average – are not a contender. Dallas is probably not going to beat Seattle, and if they do, that’s the end for them no matter what, I think.

The Bears are real, and they handled the Rams, and for the sake of self-respect, the Rams need to handle them back.

zn wrote:

NFL Update@MySportsUpdate
None of the 6 highest paid QBs in the league made the playoffs in 2018. They combined for 31 wins.

Aaron Rodgers: $33.5M
Matt Ryan: $30M
Kirk Cousins: $28M
Jimmy Garoppolo: $27.5M
Matthew Stafford: $27M
Derek Carr: $25M

Meanwhile…the 2 highest paid defensive players ARE in the playoffs.

The post title could have been “Rams play in the late slot.” woulda been the same thing.

And I already saw “Bird Box.” Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are poised for breakout careers, imo.

I don’t have much knowldege of the 49ers this year. After Garoppolo went down, the season was over, and I have not heard anything about them since. They had already lost McKinnon, I think. So that’s that. Whatever they had to offer, it was gone. Just imagine the Rams without Goff and Gurley.

Season Over.

Usually I unavoidably hear about the 9ers (and Raiders) because that’s what people talk about up and down the radio dial. But 9er talk just stopped, basically. All the fans and the radio hosts just turned the page.

Matt Breida and Dante Pettis are also out, so the 49ers will not score. I’m sure the Rams will make RB Jeff Wilson look like a legitimate NFL RB since the Rams are good at that kind of thing, but it won’t be enough.

This has all the makings of one of those games that will resemble an NFL game in a semi-satisfying way for about the first 28 minutes, and then just turn into a time-killing slopfest with the Rams just playing not to lose, and the 49ers mentally cleaning out their lockers by halftime. I think it’s going to be difficult to sit through.

Billy_T wrote:

I’m fine with the league protecting the health of its players. In fact, I think it’s necessary and just.

But the calls that get me are the ones where the D barely taps the QB, and it’s a flag. Or when they’re basically already airborne and end up against the QB’s legs. I wouldn’t call that. I think you need to be intentionally trying to hurt the QB — or any player, for that matter. Flag that. Repeat offense, throw the guy out.

Helmet to Helmet stuff is really where they should focus, IMO. “Spearing” should get the two strikes and your out rule, and, again, I wouldn’t limit that to particular players, or just parts of the field. In my view, it should be universally applied. I cringe whenever I see it. Scares me to death for the players.

Full agreement.

Billy_T wrote:

nittany ram wrote:

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.

I think you’re exactly right. I’ve been pushing for mixing things up, too, but I’d like to see more than just two tight end sets. They should bring in extra linemen at times. Noteboom, or Allen, or both of them. Go jumbo. Maybe even Suh in the backfield, either as blocker or runner.

Speaking of Suh, I think he had his best game of the season, and looked almost like his old self. Seemed to be having some fun out there too. He’s been a big disappointment, but if he can play like that in the playoffs, take some pressure off of Donald, the Rams D is gonna be a ton better. Johnson, who should have been an All-Pro (Woods was robbed as well), is coming on and really making the secondary viable.

A fun game to watch, and obviously, Anderson was a great pickup. I honestly thought that before Sunday. Was happy they brought him in, though had no idea he’d be that good.

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 . . .

Yep, yep, and yep.

Also, the Rams ran a bunch of jet sweeps again for the first time in forever.

Anderson was unbelievable…although he blew his blocking assignment a couple of times, notably the sack/fumble on the opening possession.

It’s too bad the 9ers couldn’t finish the Bears.

And I saw the last drive. Their QB just threw the game away (literally) on 4th down on their last possession. He could have tucked and run easily for a 1st down, and he threw the ball out of bounds. Like…what?