nittany ram wrote:

wv wrote:

Ah well. SF pulls it out. They dont look unbeatable anymore though, do they. w v

Which only makes the Rams’ loss to the Lions more frustrating. The NFC is ripe for the taking.

Yeah, the Rams should be in Tampa today, and then preparing to host the Packers in the title game. The blabbers would have liked to talk about the 6 seed hosting the 7 for the NFC championship.

Okay, I just watched that video on Normal Voices, and you know how youtube always prompts you to watch more videos after the one you are watching is over? Mine is usually populated with NFL videos and stuff about Fallacy and Socrates and so on.

Today…it’s all about stripper stories, and “how to” hire escorts and not get scammed by prostitutes and stuff. All sex industry videos.

I don’t use youtube much in the classroom, but I do occasionally. It’s embarrassing enough that NFL videos show up, but I can’t show a video and have this crap come on the screen.

Weird that youtube not only knows where I’ve been, but makes assumptions about why I was there. Also interesting it didn’t make a correlation between my obvious interest in football and the fact that Las Vegas is a gambling city. It just changed the subject to naughty sex stuff.

zn wrote:

If you read nothing else on this page, be sure and read the big article I just posted (1/15 6 PM et) in this thread: tweets & reporters & the big articles

Sorry. I was in Las Vegas. Just got back. Did anything important happen while I was gone?

canadaram wrote:

Moving forward I am excited to see upgrades in the secondary. It would also be nice to see Hoecht and Jonah Williams replaced. Another threat at wide receiver might be needed if Kupp has some sort of long term injury. Fun season.

I can’t help but wonder how that game would have gone if the Rams had Ramsey.

Hoecht improved in pass rush over the year, and hustled after plays, but seemed a liability in coverage. That’s all “live” opinion, as in, I haven’t watched any film on him. Just fast and furious live action where I’m watching the whole thing, not focused on any particular player.

The Lions “out-physicaled” the Rams. The

through tackles throughout the entire first half, busted up Stafford, Nacua, Williams, and Higbee. Just beat them up.

The Rams won the 2nd half, but fell short.

Zero turnovers.

Bummer. That was a winnable game, but that’s the end of it.

Puka Nacua.  Good lord. I’d like to think, “Just wait until next year,” but I don’t see how he can improve on his game. Like… how?

Hopefully Kupp comes back full strength.

nittany ram wrote:

Only to find out he’s a degenerate gambler.

Okay, degenerate maybe.

But not a gambler.

Kyren Williams is going to score a TD today.

And just to make you guys super jealous…here’s the view outside my hotel window.

Well, since I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday morning, I am going to have to put some money where my mouth is. My wife is encouraging me to. She grew up in a family that would take a run up to Reno once or twice a year to play in some damn tournament, or other, and she has fond memories of taking buckets of her grandma’s nickles and dimes up to the cashier. I hate giving money away for nothing, so my usual approach is to take twenty bucks, and see if I can get 20 minutes or so out of it, and then walk away.

But McVay’s first year… I KNEW the Rams were better than anybody thought. So I bet something on them and won, and my wife thinks I can just – you know – do that any time I feel like it.

So the odds on Kyren Williams scoring a TD this game is, like, +140. And since the Lions don’t have a great defense, and the Rams offense is rolling, and Williams is the straw, I think that’s the money-maker for me.

And I’m also going to take the 3 points, and probably give the money right back, but…maybe not. Maybe the Rams’ll win, and I will be rolling in dough by winning both bets.

Turnovers. I think that’s going to be more important than Maher. If the Rams are + in turnovers, they win. It’s not their forte this year, unfortunately. But Goff can do it. I know he can. He can throw nutty INTs, and he can drop the ball. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Who is this drunk guy?

zn wrote:

It’s not that the Rams don’t use play-action concepts anymore; there just has been a deemphasis on using them.

One of the knocks on Stafford when the Rams acquired him was that he didn’t like play action.

Maybe he knows what he is doing.

zn wrote:

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue Rams RB Kyren Williams had a good comment on position coach Ron Gould in his first year in the role in the NFL: “He cares a lot about his players … He gives as much to all of us as he does individually to us. He allows me to slow myself down and understand the game that is actually in front of me. … When he got here, he sat me down and (taught) me the game of football. His motto is, ‘understanding leads to control.’ If you understand what you’re doing, you can control the situation depending on you.”

This ties in with the description of McVay’s revamping of the coaching staff. He deliberately hired guys with a positive attitude and an ability to teach. Looks like some of the staff weren’t helping with the culture. Maybe he got rid of some dicks.

Looks like everyone is having fun now.

I wonder what the odds in Vegas are that this will be a forgettable game.

Seasons and games come and go, and some of them leave an indelible, Instant Recall impression, and the others mush together like a couple of donuts left on a summertime dashboard.

I think I will have instant recall of this season and of this playoff game 10 years from now.

And how did Alliser Thorne’s coaching career end?

wv wrote:

“… How can you surround yourself with people that’ll tell you, ‘Hey, you’re messed up here, man.’ That’s a big thing, too. In a lot of instances, I still want to be coached. I still need to be coached. And so (I) want to always be open-minded, continuously learning. …”

You dont hear that a lot.

No, you don’t. And I think that’s kind of strange. That is the way I ran my theatre. I did it that way because it seemed practical. Like… when you see leaders or bosses who don’t acknowledge their mistakes and weaknesses, but try to hold their team accountable for mistakes and weaknesses… the only people they are fooling are themselves. The fact that you swagger around being the boss doesn’t conceal your errors from your team. May as well own up to it, and create a climate where people can own up to their own mistakes, and grow from it. That’s the difference between a leader and a boss. And it just seems so obvious to me that I don’t know why people let their egos make the wrong leadership decision in this regard. It’s self-defeating, ultimately.

Viva Leadership. Down with Bosses!

Zooey wrote:

This is another reason why I think it’s important for the Rams to get up on the Lions early. They need to score first, and score second, and fill that stadium with horror from the seats right down into Goff’s head. The Rams winning this game would be a NIGHTMARE for Detroit.

Bad post.

The reason I’m referring to is perhaps clear only if you watch the video. The reason is that the stadium is going to Kingdome/Superdome level of loud.

Detroit is absolutely starving to death to see the Lions win a playoff game, and they are believers in this team. If the Lions get out on top early, the Rams will have to go silent count the rest of the game. They haven’t had to do that all year.

I think it’s very important that the Rams shut that crowd up early, and make them sit there in fear, rather than get excited.

zn wrote:

If I recall there was an earlier thread that was more optimistic. Then we found out Kupp wouldn’t be playing for a while. Since we didn’t know about Nacua and Wms yet, at that point (very early) losing Kupp took some air out of people’s optimism.

Kupp was flying around the country, getting more medical opinions right before the season started. That’s weird. Guys don’t do that for conventional injuries.

And, frankly, Kupp hasn’t been the same this year. I wonder if he has some kind of problem that they aren’t disclosing.