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ZooeyModeratorIf Morris gets hired away from the Rams, how about Staley returning as HC? I think it’s unlikely he will get hired as a HC anywhere else for next year, and returning to the Rams as DC means he doesn’t have to move his family, and he knows McVay, and it’s a good gig.
ZooeyModeratorOne major Rams’ advantage this Sunday, the Rams’ coaching staff, specifically play calling in crucial moments. I’ve watched almost every Lions game since “The Trade” ….Dan Campbell takes foolish risks that cost the Lions a lot of games in the Goff era the past 3 seasons.
Holy shit! Tell us more about the Lions. Does Goff still make inexplicable throws to nobody from time-to-time? What do you think of the Lions’ D-line? Somebody was saying that their secondary is pretty bad except for one guy (Branch?), and that Sutton is particularly terrible. Does Sutton play a lot? How big of a blow is it to them if LaPorta can’t play? Is there anybody to keep a particular eye on?
ZooeyModeratorAnybody remember their pre-season prediction for this season ? I cant remember what i predicted. Pretty sure i didnt predict 10 wins, though. w v
ZooeyModeratorThis 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.
ZooeyModeratorZooeyModeratorNoteboom will be an interesting decision. How much is he really worth to the Rams? w v
His 2024 cap hit is 20 M. He ain’t worth 20 M.
He has been a valuable 6th guy. A very valuable 6th guy.
But they are paying him starter money, and so cap variables are going to decide his fate.
ZooeyModeratorWe were more pessimistic than i remembered. So many things emerged or came-together. The Oline, mainly, i guess. Always seems to start there. w v
I remember thinking they were an 8-9 or 9-8 team, and I recall zn thinking the same thing. I remember exchanges where we agreed they were not going to be in the “Caleb Williams Sweepstakes.” With Stafford, Kupp, and better luck on the injury front in the OL, I thought they would be middle of the pack.
On offense, they exceeded my expectations in that Williams is far superior to Akers, and Nacua…nobody saw Nacua coming.
On defense, they exceeded my expectations, too. I expected problems up front with the loss of Robinson, S J-D, and Gaines. I did not expect anything from Young or Turner. Oh, and, Jones HAS arrived. I expected more from Durant.
Special teams is worse than I could have imagined. I’ve never seen such terrible place-kicking in my life. I’ve always taken a PK for granted. Heck, the year they picked Sloman up from Hooters went better than this. It’s hard to believe there are not 32 people who can hit 75% of FGs, or whatever.
ZooeyModeratorAnybody remember their pre-season prediction for this season ? I cant remember what i predicted. Pretty sure i didnt predict 10 wins, though. w v
ZooeyModeratorDraft Utopia@DraftUtopiaRams have arguably healthiest depth chart in nfcFor teams playing this weekend, maybe.
The SF flagship station this morning said everyone on the 9ers is expected to be good to go except maybe Clelin Ferrell (DE), a guy the 9ers will be just fine without.
ZooeyModeratorUpdate: On the way home this evening, the SF flagship station agreed that the one thing you don’t want to face in the playoffs is a wizard QB, and the wizard QB in the NFC is Matthew Stafford.
The other thing they talked about was the accusation that Purdy is a “game manager” which is supposed to be a slight, but that’s literally the qb’s job, and all 9er fans have been watching him every week for over a year and a half, and…whatever…he does everything he’s supposed to do {sound familiar?}. They think he gets called that because he was the last guy picked in the draft, and they believe in him. These are sports nuts who have watched every game, and whose job is literally to talk about the 9ers, warriors, and SF giants.
ZooeyModeratorYou know as much about it as I do. I think it was Eisen that alleged that. I have not heard the talkers locally say so, and I didn’t watch much more of the 9ers than year than I did any other team (not named “Rams”), so it was new to me. It seems borne out statistically, but whether that’s a “thing” or not, I couldn’t say. I think it’s fair to say that Purdy has not established himself with the cool kids like Burrow, Stafford, Rodgers, Mahomes, as a guy who can bring the team back.
Since Sunday, the only chatter I have heard has been about basketball and the college thing during my 15-minute commute. The 9ers have not been “above-the-fold” news the past couple of days.
I think, generally speaking, that ALL teams are better out in front. Like…I hope the Rams get out in front of the Lions by double digits early because we know Goff isn’t as good when he is pressed.
ZooeyModeratorWe’re Here For It | Rams 2023 Playoff Trailer
The Los Angeles Rams are racing into the playoffs with their first stop set in The Motor City. Get ready for a Wild Card clash against the Detroit Lions on January 14th at 5 p.m. PT because it’s game time … and we’re here for it!
https://www.therams.com/video/rams-2023-playoff-trailer-were-here-for-it-wild-card-lions
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This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by
Zooey.
ZooeyModeratorWorst team in the playoffs with this @Eagles
Yep. The 9ers are hoping the Lions beat the Rams, and the Eagles beat TB. Getting the Eagles at home would be a feast for the 9ers.
ZooeyModeratorThe special teams tanked just fine. At times, so did the secondary.
Last night, when insomnia nudged me awake for an hour at 3am (PST), and forced me think about the Rams, I wondered if Matt Gay and Jalen Ramsey would have made this team a Super Bowl champion.
ZooeyModeratorHere, at Le Huddle, there was a general consensus that (1) McV was the problem with Goff & Goff just had a confidence issue because of it, (2) yet there’s nothing wrong with the trade because if your qb and HC are not a good match one has to go and if the result is getting Stafford that’s good for the Rams and good for McV, and (3) it would be no surprise if Goff did well with the Lions, and (4) it would be no surprise when Stafford did well with the Rams.
I’m in accord with the accord on the board. The trade was a win-win in the end, and I wish Goff well.
Except for this coming Sunday.
Goff does not play for the Rams now, and I hope Matthew Stafford tears the Lions fans’ hearts right out of their chests as they gape in shock and horror as Stafford finally wins a playoff game in the city of Detroit.
Goff then has my permission to go ahead and win an MVP sometime down the road.
ZooeyModeratorOf course, that leaves out that Goff has played more games, and Stafford can make every throw Goff can make, but Goff cannot make throws Stafford makes, and that Stafford has a Lombardi.
ZooeyModeratorThis is crazy https://t.co/AYPcoDN6me
— JAKE ELLENBOGEN (@JKBOGEN) January 9, 2024
ZooeyModeratorI’m gonna guess that has more to do with how many points the Rams scored compared to their opponents rather than who the head referee was.
Well bad calls can limit your scoring relative to the other team and/or give the other team points relative to you. I don’t know if that ref is bad for the Rams but the basic premise that a bad ref can change your fortunes ain’t completely illogical. I’m not advocating that in this case per se, I have no opinion, just posting things that are out there.
I know how the dots are connected, and it isn’t without “logic.” It’s just without evidence.
And the fact is that the Head Referee isn’t the only guy out there with a yellow handkerchief in his pocket, anyway, so the logical insinuation is a bit rickety to begin with.
To suggest there is a possibly an anti-Rams bias at work here based on the Rams’ record implies that he single-handedly tilted multiple games against the Rams for some inexplicable reason.
I think the presence of “Logic” is stronger in the “That’s crap” camp than in the “anti-Rams bias” camp.
I don’t know how anybody finds out who refereed what games, but I’m gonna guess there are a few refs out there with something similar to a 6-3, or even 7-2 record in favor of the Rams, and I doubt anybody is going to suggest that is pro-Rams bias.
And I know that you know that, and I know that you know that I know that you know that, and so there’s no problem. You posted an interesting tidbit and I threw out something to counterbalance it.
I’m going to go to a staff meeting now because they are always more interesting than reading the Rams board leading up to an unexpected playoff game.
ZooeyModeratorJAKE ELLENBOGEN@JKBOGENThe Sean McVay #Rams are 3-6 when Craig Wrolstad officiates the game. They’ve lost their last 3 games with him as the head referee. He’s the official for the Rams and Lions game this Sunday.I’m gonna guess that has more to do with how many points the Rams scored compared to their opponents rather than who the head referee was.
ZooeyModeratorRams open as 3.5-point underdogs vs. Lions in wild-card round https://t.co/Qz3fNrB60f pic.twitter.com/J6jirPg1ht
— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) January 8, 2024
ZooeyModeratorbut they haven’t beat a team over .500 since that win over Kansas City…”
That’s interesting.
And, technically, since KC was Week One, they weren’t over .500, either.
They are now, but then, Detroit also beat TB, GB, and NO, all of whom ended up 9-8.
Those, by record, are the 4 best victories the Lions had all year.
ZooeyModeratorRams kept battling… and won at Levi…. It’s been five years… As noted, big plays by Yeast… Wentz literally “carried” the Rams with his legs.. with some very nice passes thrown in. RAMS WIN … BANG BANG!
It’s not really Levi.
It’s SoFi North.
ZooeyModeratorYes, Yeast broke up both of those passes. Guarantee the guy will get a game ball in the locker room. Great plays.
I feel good about it. Yes, it was the 2s, but as the 9ers just carved them up in the first half, my hatred for the 9ers flared up. I’m sick of losing to the 9ers. Sick of it. I don’t care how meaningless of a game it is, I’m sick of it.
And the game isn’t meaningless because Detroit is going to be an easier pathway to meeting SF again in 2 weeks than Dallas would be. And Detroit lost their stud TE and St. Brown has rib issues, and one other WR got knocked out.
Wentz threw some terrible passes, and I don’t know if it’s because he hasn’t played, or if that’s just a Wentz thing, but he also nailed some throws.
And Puca Nacua needs to win ROY. I don’t care about Stroud’s good year, and the fact that he’s a QB. Nacua just had the greatest season ever by a rookie at his position, and broke a 63-year old record, and that deserves the ROY or nothing does. C’mon.
ZooeyModeratorSame.
Unless I hate one of the teams.
It’s the story. Humans like stories. And we’re drawn to sports because of the stories. And, unlike carefully-crafted fiction, they’re alive. The outcome is unknown. And there are stories within stories. You have game stories, and season stories. You got the good guys and the bad guys. People get immersed in their stories. You get Trekkies and all that, and your Mad Max Raider fans.
Redemption stories seem to be the most popular stories in our culture, so we root for the underdog. “Stock boy becomes Super Bowl MVP” stories are too schlocky for film, but they work in sports.
ZooeyModeratorIan Rapoport@RapSheet With the #Texans making the playoffs, they join the #Browns, #Lions, and #Rams as teams that qualified for the playoffs after failing to make it the year before. It’s the 34th consecutive season with at least four teams making this turnaround. Good news for those teams watching this year
So that’s 4/14, or a little fewer than 1/3 of the teams new to this year’s playoffs.
In MLB {just for comparison}, 12 teams make the playoffs. In 2023, half of them (6/12) were new to the playoffs.
In the NBA, 20 teams make the playoffs. In 2023, there were 2 teams that were new to the playoffs over 2022. 2/20
In the NHL, 5/16 were new.
So baseball has the greatest diversity of teams by far, and the NBA by far the least.
ZooeyModeratorSome potentially great and certainly interesting games today. Not sure I care about any of them though.
Yeah, that’s funny. I don’t have any feelings about the Colts or Texans, but I found myself pulling for the Colts to win that for the same reason. They were behind and driving in the last minute.
There is a lot on the line today. For OTHER teams. I guess the one that most directly affects the Rams is the Packers/Bears which is on CBS in my area, so I can flip to it during commercials. The best of the games that matter is definitely Bills/Dolphins, and I might tune into some of that, but like you, I don’t care about any of them. They’re just part of the Story.
Subplots, really.
ZooeyModeratorBeat the Lions or Cowboys, beat the 49ers, beat whomever, and beat whomever.
That’s it.
At this point, that’s what I’m hoping for.
ZooeyModeratorWatched the last couple of minutes of Colts and Texans. Colts driving to take the lead after Texans missed an extra point. Under 2 minutes, Colts have 4th and 1 and the RB gets the pass and…drops it. On 4th and 1. Playoffs at stake. I have no preference for the Colts or Texans, but damm. Hard to watch a play like that.
I saw that play. Couldn’t believe it.
It was not a good pass, but it was good enough.
I watched 80% of the game from about 3:00 left in the 3rd. CJ Stroud did nothing to hurt the team, that’s for sure. And Texas just looked better. So it goes.
ZooeyModeratorSeems like he’s still getting high ratings from PFF, in spite of getting double-teamed and held all the time.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by
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