zn wrote:

You guys don’t know the first thing about tanking. If you want to tank, you play the starters so they all get injured. That way you end up with higher draft picks in 2024. Which would then give them a chance to build a team capable of going to the playoffs.

LOL

I tell y’all what.

I’m fine with the Rams losing their first game in the playoffs. I will allow myself about 60 seconds to have a good cry about it, then I’m going to celebrate one of the most interesting and hopeful seasons I’ve experienced as a Rams fan.

Seriously, there was a LOT of talk – an Expectation, really – that the Rams were headed for Caleb Williams.

Now I never believed that. I said from the beginning I thought they were ~.500 team, but they are better than that when they have KW and MS healthy. And the defense, though weak in the secondary, is much, much better than I expected. ST is worse, but there ya go.

wv wrote:

Enh. I’ve seen all this too many times now. Somebody doing really well on a line with Aaron Donald. I dunno how good Turner really is. He’s certainly played well, and he’s ‘solid’ and he was a great draft pick. But more than that, I dunno. w v

Yeah, that’s my question, too.

However, it is clear to me that he should win DROY because.

wv wrote:

And what a weird F’ing situation in the last week of the regular season.  49ers dont need it.  Rams dont need it.    What will they do?

That’s actually a good point/question.

The Rams might find more value in resting some guys before the playoff game than in going all out for the 6 seed. Maybe get Nacua the rookie records, and then put in the JV team.

So… the Rams have locked up the 6th seed? Is that so?

joemad wrote:

Zooey wrote:

I can’t believe that with 8 billion people on this planet, there aren’t 32 of them who can kick a damn ball through the uprights. That is all.

indeed. a planet that’s filled with soccer players at every corner of the world. There’s got to be someone much more capable than freaking Haver-sick

Well, it’s interesting, isn’t it?

Kickers matter.

And there are, like, 2,000 college football teams, all with a placekicker. Plus all the soccer players who can kick the hell out of a ball, but can’t play soccer for whatever reason.

What the hell?

Gotta be a bartender somewhere who can kick the bloody ball. Right?

wv wrote:

The marriage of McVay and Stafford is so effective. I dont think it can ever by over-stated just how great it must be for McVay to have a veteran with as much mental-power and experience as Matthew Stafford. Now that Brady has retired, who is the top QB-brain active on the grid-iron? If it aint Stafford, I dunno who it would be. w v

I am stunned by how good Matthew Stafford is. More so this season than the SB season. He was good that year, but good lord almighty.

That “No Look” throw in the Super Bowl was Something Else. It was not just a “cool throw.” There is a good chance that that pass would not have been completed, if it weren’t for the fact that it was a No Look pass. That LB was right there. He was smack in the sweet spot of that passing lane. And Stafford’s “misdirection gaze” made that dude lean slightly to his left, and by the time he saw where the ball was going, he just couldn’t quite reverse his momentum enough to get his fingertips on that pass, and that was a HUGE play.

But now it seems like I see that freakshit from Stafford every single fucking game. The stakes aren’t as high, so maybe if we are judging passes like a Diving judge, and taking context into account, the Super Bowl pass was the highwater mark. But this year, it’s like he is making those throws without anybody paying much attention to it. He is doing it all the time. Roll to the left, throw cross-body to the right, splitting the legs of a LB, and darting the ball between 2 guys in the secondary who stretch out within 6 inches of the ball, right into the hands of some goddamn receiver nobody heard of before this year. With broken bones and probably a collapsed lung. It’s ridiculous. I am beginning to realize that I am deeply in love with Matthew Stafford.

I’m going to say it right now: I think he’s better than Pat Haden was.

zn wrote:

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR According to @PFF, the Rams have four receivers in the top 25 (for receivers with at least 20% of snaps played) in run blocking grades. -Nacua is t-5th (72.4) – Kupp is 12th (67.3) – Robinson is 18th (65.1) – Atwell is 25th (62.7)

That is astonishing.

4 of the top 25.

The other 31 teams split the remaining 21 guys, and that means at least ten teams have nobody in the top 25.

That’s coaching. That’s culture. That’s winning football.

I do not look forward to Sean McVay’s inevitable move to the showbiz side of the game.

wv wrote:

Ram fans know all about Ernest

And we understand the Importance of being that.

zn wrote:

The Seahawks could finish 10-7 while the Packers and Rams finish 9-8. If that scenario were to happen, the Rams would miss the playoffs.

That would mean the Rams would have to lose another game this season, and I don’t see how that can happen.

zn wrote:

Here’s what they were good at in 2023 and it’s not hard to assume they can keep being good at it.

Yeah, I dunno. 2023 is going to grow into a legend on this board, I think. This is easily the greatest off-season this century, and arguably since some of those drafts in the early 70s. The only year that could give it a fight would be ’99, when they got Trent Green, Torry Holt, and Marshall Faulk. I think they got Dre’ Bly that year, too.

As you acknowledge, their 2nd-round pick history is checkered, at best, and they have no history of 1st-round picks. They have also have some moves that they’ve botched, Allen Robinson being the most recent example. I’m not sure they “figured it out,” so much as just had a hot streak.

There is plenty of evidence, however, that they are better than most teams at evaluating talent, and getting the “right” type of players, both for their schematic needs, and for the culture. (They also get rid of guys who don’t fit).

I just happen to think that they did so damn well this year that even if this coming off-season is just average for them, they are on pace to be one of the top 3 or 4 favorites going into next season. They are going to get a lot of primetime games on their schedule next year.

Anyway, 11 draft picks is a lot. Not only could they acquire more, as you point out, they might also do the unprecedented, and package some of those picks to move up. I mean, if they could snag both an OT and and Edge that they really, really like in the early part of the draft, they might do that. Or a CB. Or they might package those picks in a trade for some stud on the last year of his contract (Brian Burns?).

I tell you what, though. We have ourselves a damn good storyline going on right in front of us. This has been a famously fun season, and the future looks pretty goddam good.

They had better beat the Giants. That’s all I can say. I’m emotionally invested in this team right now, and I am looking for a payday.

Random Thoughts:

Looks like the Rams are trending towards a first round matchup with the Lions. That will be a memorable matchup no matter what happens in the game, and I would expect a barn burner.

The Rams have flawed special teams, pass rush, and secondary, and they won’t survive a 4-game playoff gauntlet, but they will go toe-to-toe with anyone they face.

I heard somebody on the radio this morning say that the one team the 49ers do not want to see in the playoffs is the Rams, and I got to thinking about that, and I think he’s right. The 49ers have beaten Jacksonville, as well as Dallas and Philadelphia, and in my view they are clearly the team to beat in the NFL. Without looking, I know they are the SB favorites in the betting circles right now. That is an excellent football team.

And they really haven’t got much to fear from Philly or Dallas, imo, especially with home field advantage. Those are good football teams, and they won’t go down without a fight, but the 9ers are favorites there.

The Rams familiarity with them, though, combined with an offense that is rolling right now – that’s the team that would have the best chance of upsetting them.

I don’t think the Rams will get that far, but if they do… Jiminy Cricket.

I think that threat alone will make Shanahan take Week 18 seriously. I expect the 9ers to come out and play that game. They are not going to fold. I don’t think so. I think Shanahan is coaching to win it all this year, and he won’t take his foot off the gas. The 9ers get a first round bye, so they will have all the extra rest as well as home field for their game against whatever sad football team wins the South anyway. And you have to put your rival away. You have to do that. Even if the game means nothing in the standings.

can someone help me get my helmet on straight so I can continue to rip this NFL apart.

LOL.

I’m used to great analysis from Baldy. That’s the first time I recall a comic internal monologue.

canadaram wrote:

BTW zn, I think that I take your game day work on this board for granted. I really like scrolling though everything you post here before and after games. It’s nice to have everything in one place. Thank you.

Ditto.

zn makes this board what it is.

Thanks.

InvaderRam wrote:

Kyren Williams has been the most successful running back in Matthew Stafford’s career

This reads like a Mea Culpa for Stafford.

The guy played with Barry Sanders, Alex Karras, and Night Train Lane, so I really think it’s the uniform that has helped Stafford more than anything else.