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Looking at NFC wild-card games from a Rams perspective
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...t-nfc-wild-card-games-from-a-rams-perspective
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The NFC wild-card playoffs are set for Sunday afternoon with the Seattle Seahawks visiting the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers traveling to play the Washington Redskins.
If there's any team in the league familiar with that foursome, it's the St. Louis Rams. The Rams played a whopping five games against those four teams this season, meeting the Vikings, Packers and Redskins once and the Seahawks twice.
Here's how the Rams fared, with some notes on those five contests:
-- The Rams went 2-3 in those games with both victories coming against Seattle. Perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise as the Rams went 4-2 against NFC West opponents this year and 3-7 against teams outside of the division. That's been a common issue in the four years under Jeff Fisher. The Rams play close to .500 ball (11-12-1) against division teams and well under it against the league's seven other divisions (16-24).
--What's interesting about that is I asked one Rams player on Sunday morning to rank the four NFC wild-card teams. His answer: 1. Seahawks 2. Vikings 3. Packers 4. Redskins. The funny thing about that ranking? The Rams beat Seattle and had Minnesota on the ropes but lost by two touchdowns to the "worst" of the four teams on the list. That points to another trend for the Rams under Fisher: a knack for playing up or down to the opponent. Victories over the past four years against the likes of Seattle (multiple times), Arizona (2015), Denver (2014), Indianapolis (2013) and New Orleans (2013) have consistently given Rams fans hope, only to be nullified by losses to the likes of San Francisco (2015), Tennessee (2013), the New York Giants (2014) and Chicago (2015).
-- In those five games, the Rams were outscored 117-95, had a plus-two turnover margin and a minus-4:23 time of possession margin.
-- Of all the losses the Rams suffered this season, perhaps none will sting more than the 19-16 defeat at the hands of the Vikings. That was a game the Rams had many opportunities to put away and couldn't get it done. At the time, the Rams were 4-3 and riding a two-game winning streak. A win would've given them three in a row and who knows where the season would have gone? Instead, the Rams lost by a field goal in overtime and went on a five-game losing spiral that effectively, if not mathematically, eliminated them from the postseason.
-- For Sunday's action, Minnesota hosts Seattle at 1:05 p.m. ET and Green Bay visits Washington at 4:40 p.m. ET. Enjoy the games.
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...t-nfc-wild-card-games-from-a-rams-perspective
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The NFC wild-card playoffs are set for Sunday afternoon with the Seattle Seahawks visiting the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers traveling to play the Washington Redskins.
If there's any team in the league familiar with that foursome, it's the St. Louis Rams. The Rams played a whopping five games against those four teams this season, meeting the Vikings, Packers and Redskins once and the Seahawks twice.
Here's how the Rams fared, with some notes on those five contests:
-- The Rams went 2-3 in those games with both victories coming against Seattle. Perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise as the Rams went 4-2 against NFC West opponents this year and 3-7 against teams outside of the division. That's been a common issue in the four years under Jeff Fisher. The Rams play close to .500 ball (11-12-1) against division teams and well under it against the league's seven other divisions (16-24).
--What's interesting about that is I asked one Rams player on Sunday morning to rank the four NFC wild-card teams. His answer: 1. Seahawks 2. Vikings 3. Packers 4. Redskins. The funny thing about that ranking? The Rams beat Seattle and had Minnesota on the ropes but lost by two touchdowns to the "worst" of the four teams on the list. That points to another trend for the Rams under Fisher: a knack for playing up or down to the opponent. Victories over the past four years against the likes of Seattle (multiple times), Arizona (2015), Denver (2014), Indianapolis (2013) and New Orleans (2013) have consistently given Rams fans hope, only to be nullified by losses to the likes of San Francisco (2015), Tennessee (2013), the New York Giants (2014) and Chicago (2015).
-- In those five games, the Rams were outscored 117-95, had a plus-two turnover margin and a minus-4:23 time of possession margin.
-- Of all the losses the Rams suffered this season, perhaps none will sting more than the 19-16 defeat at the hands of the Vikings. That was a game the Rams had many opportunities to put away and couldn't get it done. At the time, the Rams were 4-3 and riding a two-game winning streak. A win would've given them three in a row and who knows where the season would have gone? Instead, the Rams lost by a field goal in overtime and went on a five-game losing spiral that effectively, if not mathematically, eliminated them from the postseason.
-- For Sunday's action, Minnesota hosts Seattle at 1:05 p.m. ET and Green Bay visits Washington at 4:40 p.m. ET. Enjoy the games.
