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Playoffs Edition: 10 Things I think I think about our beloved Rams.
- By OnceARam
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 5 Replies
Rules of this post and thread that I am adhering to, but do not expect others to adhere to:
(1) No captain obvious comments.
(2) No a**hole comments.
My intension of this post is to stimulate a "keys of the game" type discussion. This post does pay homage to the fine work of past RamsOnDemand posters. I do not mean to degrade the great work that they have done in any way. Nor am I taking ownership of this format in any way. I only hope to build upon the shoulders of the giant that came before me because I appreciated their work and sincerely miss it. With all of that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the read and feel inspired to add to it or argue against it:
One.
Tyler Higbee is the heart and soul of this team. I did not realize it before the Cards game, and in retrospect it was obvious. When he was chopped down in the heat of the game against Detroit, it was devastating. It was devastating on a physical basis for Tyler, but also on an emotional basis for the team as a whole. I don`t pretend to know what it is about him in terms of personality, character traits or work ethic, but he is the clear alpha. (“Alpha” meaning; he who is most willing to sacrifice himself for the betterment of the group.)
Two.
Our chances of beating Philly or SEA on the road without Dotson are in question as McVay would have to scheme around his absence, limiting the playbook. We should be fine without him against the Panthers, SF, GB or Chicago. Not sure about potential AFC opponents, but I would imagine he will be back by then if not before.
Three.
Alaric Jackson is the unsung hero of the team. Second is McCollough, who has played beyond what we could have expected from him. I hope our QB puts those guys on his Xmas list for the rest of his days, because they have earned it.
Four.
Poona Ford is our best signing of the offseason (although there were excellent ones, like the extensions of KW and Alaric, and the additions of Adams and Landman). Poona is critical to our run defense. The difference is night and day. And the success our run defense experiences going forward is based on his availability. The Panthers will be an indication of his availability and impact going forward. Remember the reason the Panthers were able to gash us in the regular season was because he was limited with a calf injury. I will go even further by saying that an 80% healthy Poona is enough to make us competitive, which is rare-rare.
Five.
Shula is not a magician. What I mean by that is that he cannot make plays for our players. But what he can do is put players in position to succeed. I would argue that he has exceled at that with one glaring exception. Going forward the DL rotation will have to be 100% on point. The exception has been Fiske for much of the season. That said, the rumor is that he has been playing hurt. I think if that is true, Fiske should not be on the field if he isn`t able to generate that low end, first-gear explosion that we witnessed glimpses of in his rookie season. That said, he had a sack against the Cards and looks healthier… maybe healthy?
Six.
Shula needs to figure out who can play in the secondary and how to mitigate situations where teams have exposed their limitations. Thank goodness our singular big bodied CB, Witherspoon got some quality reps against the Cards. Someone on the board said his footspeed looked slow. That may be true and given that you can`t replicate game speed in shorts, it is understandable. However, if you look at the big body receivers that we will be facing in the playoffs, they are not speed guys. They are more like basketball power forwards – and that is where we need him.
Seven.
We need Lake healthy and productive. I am a big fan of McCollough in situational situations, especially when those situations don`t require read-and-react capabilities. McCollough is an elite blitzer and has many other above average NFL traits. But Lake enables Shula to run his FULL defense, which is why we extended him (along with his leadership traits). What I mean by that is that Lake, because of his elite tackling and read-and-react capabilities, allows Shula to play cat and mouse in terms of what secondary players are occupying which zone windows. This also makes our pass rush better because it makes opposing QBs second guess what they are seeing. (Also, what happened to the promise of McCreary???)
Eight.
The expectation for the Rams is to beat Carolina regardless of health issues. The expectations after Carolina will be dependent on availability and match-up. (This includes the availability of Adams and Ferguson, which I haven`t addressed elsewhere.)
Nine.
There is something rotten in Denmark… The NFL might be fixed (over 51% chance imo). I believe in the integrity of the game, and I believe many of you do to. But from what I have witnessed this season, the games looked guided by the refs toward a predetermined outcome. Perhaps it is just incompetence, but I will be watching the playoffs with this lens to decide on whether I will continue to watch the professional game.
Ten.
We have an ELITE coaching staff, front office and owner. And I for one am thanking my lucky stars when I look out on the landscape of the league. The difference between earned wealth/position and inherited wealth/position could not be more apparent. Yes, I realize that you cannot separate earned from inherited in many cases due to the nature of the how much of an advantage guys like McVay, Shula and Dimitroff have had growing up, in the families that they grew up in. For those of you, like me, that have not grown up in privileged positions, Godspeed and good luck to you. Don`t ask for life to be easier, turn hardship into the strength of character that will propel you forward.
Romans 5:3-5 NIV. Not only so, but we also glory (give glory to God) in our sufferings (and in our victories), because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame (there is no shame in loving God), because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (the quiet voice of our conscience), who has been given to us (when we exercise our free will to surrender our false sense of control to Christ Jesus, who is our lord and savior offering us unearned forgiveness and unmitigated favor).
Go at it boys.
(1) No captain obvious comments.
(2) No a**hole comments.
My intension of this post is to stimulate a "keys of the game" type discussion. This post does pay homage to the fine work of past RamsOnDemand posters. I do not mean to degrade the great work that they have done in any way. Nor am I taking ownership of this format in any way. I only hope to build upon the shoulders of the giant that came before me because I appreciated their work and sincerely miss it. With all of that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the read and feel inspired to add to it or argue against it:
One.
Tyler Higbee is the heart and soul of this team. I did not realize it before the Cards game, and in retrospect it was obvious. When he was chopped down in the heat of the game against Detroit, it was devastating. It was devastating on a physical basis for Tyler, but also on an emotional basis for the team as a whole. I don`t pretend to know what it is about him in terms of personality, character traits or work ethic, but he is the clear alpha. (“Alpha” meaning; he who is most willing to sacrifice himself for the betterment of the group.)
Two.
Our chances of beating Philly or SEA on the road without Dotson are in question as McVay would have to scheme around his absence, limiting the playbook. We should be fine without him against the Panthers, SF, GB or Chicago. Not sure about potential AFC opponents, but I would imagine he will be back by then if not before.
Three.
Alaric Jackson is the unsung hero of the team. Second is McCollough, who has played beyond what we could have expected from him. I hope our QB puts those guys on his Xmas list for the rest of his days, because they have earned it.
Four.
Poona Ford is our best signing of the offseason (although there were excellent ones, like the extensions of KW and Alaric, and the additions of Adams and Landman). Poona is critical to our run defense. The difference is night and day. And the success our run defense experiences going forward is based on his availability. The Panthers will be an indication of his availability and impact going forward. Remember the reason the Panthers were able to gash us in the regular season was because he was limited with a calf injury. I will go even further by saying that an 80% healthy Poona is enough to make us competitive, which is rare-rare.
Five.
Shula is not a magician. What I mean by that is that he cannot make plays for our players. But what he can do is put players in position to succeed. I would argue that he has exceled at that with one glaring exception. Going forward the DL rotation will have to be 100% on point. The exception has been Fiske for much of the season. That said, the rumor is that he has been playing hurt. I think if that is true, Fiske should not be on the field if he isn`t able to generate that low end, first-gear explosion that we witnessed glimpses of in his rookie season. That said, he had a sack against the Cards and looks healthier… maybe healthy?
Six.
Shula needs to figure out who can play in the secondary and how to mitigate situations where teams have exposed their limitations. Thank goodness our singular big bodied CB, Witherspoon got some quality reps against the Cards. Someone on the board said his footspeed looked slow. That may be true and given that you can`t replicate game speed in shorts, it is understandable. However, if you look at the big body receivers that we will be facing in the playoffs, they are not speed guys. They are more like basketball power forwards – and that is where we need him.
Seven.
We need Lake healthy and productive. I am a big fan of McCollough in situational situations, especially when those situations don`t require read-and-react capabilities. McCollough is an elite blitzer and has many other above average NFL traits. But Lake enables Shula to run his FULL defense, which is why we extended him (along with his leadership traits). What I mean by that is that Lake, because of his elite tackling and read-and-react capabilities, allows Shula to play cat and mouse in terms of what secondary players are occupying which zone windows. This also makes our pass rush better because it makes opposing QBs second guess what they are seeing. (Also, what happened to the promise of McCreary???)
Eight.
The expectation for the Rams is to beat Carolina regardless of health issues. The expectations after Carolina will be dependent on availability and match-up. (This includes the availability of Adams and Ferguson, which I haven`t addressed elsewhere.)
Nine.
There is something rotten in Denmark… The NFL might be fixed (over 51% chance imo). I believe in the integrity of the game, and I believe many of you do to. But from what I have witnessed this season, the games looked guided by the refs toward a predetermined outcome. Perhaps it is just incompetence, but I will be watching the playoffs with this lens to decide on whether I will continue to watch the professional game.
Ten.
We have an ELITE coaching staff, front office and owner. And I for one am thanking my lucky stars when I look out on the landscape of the league. The difference between earned wealth/position and inherited wealth/position could not be more apparent. Yes, I realize that you cannot separate earned from inherited in many cases due to the nature of the how much of an advantage guys like McVay, Shula and Dimitroff have had growing up, in the families that they grew up in. For those of you, like me, that have not grown up in privileged positions, Godspeed and good luck to you. Don`t ask for life to be easier, turn hardship into the strength of character that will propel you forward.
Romans 5:3-5 NIV. Not only so, but we also glory (give glory to God) in our sufferings (and in our victories), because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame (there is no shame in loving God), because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (the quiet voice of our conscience), who has been given to us (when we exercise our free will to surrender our false sense of control to Christ Jesus, who is our lord and savior offering us unearned forgiveness and unmitigated favor).
Go at it boys.
CELEBRATE !! Rams Punch in the Fifth Seed by Plucking Cardinal Feathers. (Victory Thread)
- By Memento
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 140 Replies
RAMS WIN, RAMS WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MATTHEW STAFFORD WITH FOUR TOUCHDOWNS, PUKA WITH TEN CATCHES AND A BADASS TOUCHDOWN, HIGBEAST WITH ALMOST A HUNDRED AND A TOUCHDOWN, AND EVEN PARKINSON GOT TWO TOUCHDOWNS!
NOW LET'S KICK ASS IN THE PLAYOFFS! DOESN'T MATTER WHO WE PLAY; IF WE PLAY OUR GAME, WE WIN. PERIOD.
GAME DAY The Early Games - Week 18
- By CGI_Ram
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 69 Replies
January 4, 2026 (Week 18)
Early Games
Indianapolis Colts (8-8) at Houston Texans (11-5)
Dallas Cowboys (7-8-1) at New York Giants (3-13)
Cleveland Browns (4-12) at Cincinnati Bengals (6-10)
New Orleans Saints (6-10) at Atlanta Falcons (7-9)
Green Bay Packers (9-6-1) at Minnesota Vikings (8-8)
Tennessee Titans (3-13) at Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4)
Late Games
Arizona Cardinals (3-13) at Los Angeles Rams (11-5)
Los Angeles Chargers (11-5) at Denver Broncos (13-3)
Kansas City Chiefs (6-10) at Las Vegas Raiders (2-14)
Miami Dolphins (7-9) at New England Patriots (13-3)
Washington Commodes (4-12) at Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)
Detroit Lions (8-8) at Chicago Bears (11-5)
New York Jets (3-13) at Buffalo Bills (11-5)
SNF
Baltimore Ravens (8-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
RamsOnDemand Sportsbook
Early Games
Indianapolis Colts (8-8) at Houston Texans (11-5)
Dallas Cowboys (7-8-1) at New York Giants (3-13)
Cleveland Browns (4-12) at Cincinnati Bengals (6-10)
New Orleans Saints (6-10) at Atlanta Falcons (7-9)
Green Bay Packers (9-6-1) at Minnesota Vikings (8-8)
Tennessee Titans (3-13) at Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4)
Late Games
Arizona Cardinals (3-13) at Los Angeles Rams (11-5)
Los Angeles Chargers (11-5) at Denver Broncos (13-3)
Kansas City Chiefs (6-10) at Las Vegas Raiders (2-14)
Miami Dolphins (7-9) at New England Patriots (13-3)
Washington Commodes (4-12) at Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)
Detroit Lions (8-8) at Chicago Bears (11-5)
New York Jets (3-13) at Buffalo Bills (11-5)
SNF
Baltimore Ravens (8-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
RamsOnDemand Sportsbook
GAME DAY The Late Games - Week 18
- By CGI_Ram
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 2 Replies
January 4, 2026 (Week 18)
Late Games
Arizona Cardinals (3-13) at Los Angeles Rams (11-5)
Los Angeles Chargers (11-5) at Denver Broncos (13-3)
Kansas City Chiefs (6-10) at Las Vegas Raiders (2-14)
Miami Dolphins (7-9) at New England Patriots (13-3)
Washington Commodes (4-12) at Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)
Detroit Lions (8-8) at Chicago Bears (11-5)
New York Jets (3-13) at Buffalo Bills (11-5)
SNF
Baltimore Ravens (8-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
Early Games
Indianapolis Colts (8-8) at Houston Texans (11-5)
Dallas Cowboys (7-8-1) at New York Giants (3-13)
Cleveland Browns (4-12) at Cincinnati Bengals (6-10)
New Orleans Saints (6-10) at Atlanta Falcons (7-9)
Green Bay Packers (9-6-1) at Minnesota Vikings (8-8)
Tennessee Titans (3-13) at Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4)
RamsOnDemand Sportsbook
Late Games
Arizona Cardinals (3-13) at Los Angeles Rams (11-5)
Los Angeles Chargers (11-5) at Denver Broncos (13-3)
Kansas City Chiefs (6-10) at Las Vegas Raiders (2-14)
Miami Dolphins (7-9) at New England Patriots (13-3)
Washington Commodes (4-12) at Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)
Detroit Lions (8-8) at Chicago Bears (11-5)
New York Jets (3-13) at Buffalo Bills (11-5)
SNF
Baltimore Ravens (8-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
Early Games
Indianapolis Colts (8-8) at Houston Texans (11-5)
Dallas Cowboys (7-8-1) at New York Giants (3-13)
Cleveland Browns (4-12) at Cincinnati Bengals (6-10)
New Orleans Saints (6-10) at Atlanta Falcons (7-9)
Green Bay Packers (9-6-1) at Minnesota Vikings (8-8)
Tennessee Titans (3-13) at Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4)
RamsOnDemand Sportsbook
Puka Has To Have His Sights Set/Could Have had A Triple Crown
- By Ground Chuck
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 17 Replies
After Jackson Smith-Njigba’s performance tonight against the San Francisco 49ers, Rams’ receiver Puka Nacua has to be doing the math. Nacua is the definition of Team player, of course and will be working with his teammates to achieve a victory against the Arizona Cardinals, and help secure the #5 seed in the NFC playoffs. A victory tomorrow would bring the Rams to 12-5, tied with the 49ers, but the Rams, of course, would finish ahead in the tie-breaking formula.
But on a personal level, Nacua has had An amazing season. Many pundits and football experts believe Nacua is worthy of Offensive Player of the year. With Just 155 yards Sunday, Puka will surpass Smith-Njigba for the NFL receiving yards title. (Edit: And he will have achieved the feat playing ONE LESS GAME)
The question, with Playoffs looming, is: will Coach Sean McVay allow Nacua to play enough to achieve the goal?
Secondly, a very interesting dynamic is shaping up regarding another NFL Wide Receiving title at stake for the 2025 season: Most receptions. Currently Nacua is tied with Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride with 119 receptions. The only other player close is Cincinnati Bengal receiver Jamar Chase. As Chase and the Bengals will be playing their game against the Browns in the early window, Both McBride and Nacua will know how many catches they will need to surpass Chase. (Assuming he has at least 3 catches Sunday)
They true drama will be, how many catches from drive-to-drive will they need to keep up with each other! Though for the Cardinals at 3-13, McBrides pursuit may be one of the team’s few inspirations in an otherwise lost season. Another underlying goal for the Cardinals may be to play the part of spoiler, affecting the playoff seedings in the NFC.
Lastly, in looking at the third leg to the NFL Receivers Triple Crown this is the most interesting thing that occurred to me: Imagine as we all celebrated mid-season, when our quarterback Matthew Stafford was lighting the World on fire delivering all those red-zone touchdowns to Devonte Adam’s, if he had looked Nacua’s way JUST TWICE.
Adam’s would be sitting idle with a still-respectable 12 touchdowns, Puka Nacua would have 11 touchdowns with one game to go. (And the accompanying 2 catches, and let’s say 20 yards for the sake of arguement.)
Never mind a couple of touchdowns that were called back, such as the one Monday Night against Atlanta, and someone will have to remind me- there was at least another one a few weeks ago.
The Triple Crown chatter going into this final preseason game would be a Huge story line. And might I add one that would ADD to the goal of winning the final game not distract from it. My opinion. And probably add to the case for Matthew Stafford MVP, as well.
Just some rantings from this lunatic. I’d be curious to hear what you all think about the Triple Crown that will never be, in this incredible year from Puka Nacua. I think he could easily win two of the three legs, though.
Heck just win that Lombardi, and all will be good with me.
