Contextualizing the talent on this team

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FrantikRam

FrantikRam

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I've been thinking about this team relative to our Super Bowl team, and I think it is truly insane how good this team is, so I wanted to stack it up player to player:

Stafford - Stafford - Matt, if anything, seems to be getting better

Kyren/Corum - Michel/Henderson/Akers - the Kyren/Corum are tiers above those guys

Puka/Davante - Kupp/Woods - Kupp went off this year, but IMO Puka is better, and Davante better than Woods

Parkinson - Higbee - I'll say a push, but we are using our TEs much better

Alaric - Whitworth - Whitworth was better, but I don't think the gap is huge

Avila - Edwards - Edwards was solid, but I think Avila is better

Shelton - Allen - ironic that both are/were not popular here, but I think Shelton is a smidge better

Dotson - Corbett - not even close, Dotson

McClendon - Havenstein - IMO this is a wash with how well Warren played last year



Kobie - AD - obviously AD

Poona - Gaines - I liked Gaines, but Poona was better

Fiske - A'Shawn - again, I liked A'Shawn, but this is Fiske

Garrett - Von - obviously MG here

Young - Floyd - Young is better

Landman - Jones - Jones was a rookie, I think Landman is better here for how good Jones was at the time

Speights - Howard - Speights is better

McDuffie - Ramsey - I think Ramsey was a smidge better, but he also played pretty poorly in the playoffs overall

Watson - Williams - I was a big fan of Darious, and he played well, but I think Watson is a touch better

Lake - Deayon - our third CB spot was ROUGH that Super Bowl year

Kinchens/Curl - Rapp/Fuller/Weddle - yiiiiiiiiiikes


This is an overly simplistic way to view it, but by my estimation, the 2026 Rams are better at 8/11 key spots on offense, worse at one spot, and a push on two

For defense, better at 10/12 key spots, worse at two - one of those is Ramsey/McDuffie which may be arguable.

And then this teams depth is light years better - backup QB, TEs, DL depth, secondary depth.

And that 2021 team won the Super Bowl....
 
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Merlin said:
:bullseye:

It's crazy how stacked this team is now. To the point where it makes me paranoid. We just need the football Gods to favor us with health.
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Yeah, my paranoia and superstitious side is starting to over take my common sense. So do me a favor and stop bringing up the H word or the I word. Or at least every time you do, please mention that you have knocked on wood.
 
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I don't think Alaric comes close to Whit even when he was at the end. We have to do much more with plays and formation to protect Alaric then we ever had to do with Whit. Even at the end we were having him single block guys in pure pass blocking situations with a line slid to the other side and no blocking help from pass catchers nor backs.

And Hav a couple years ago was much better than McClendon who was protected quite a bit by a tight end aligned at Y and often one on the wing.

This line was very good last year but 13 personnel really helped them in blocking by limiting schemes defenses used, we use much more play action than when Stafford came on which helps the blockers and we've played with way more leads last year than we did in the superbowl year (I'm pretty sure).
 
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Great list.

Wasn't it OBJ instead of Woods who was out with an injury?

And, special teams can be a problem as I am not so sure how much the Rams are improved for this coming year over last years special teams units, and how it compares to the 2021 special teams.
 
"Contextualizing" Thats a big word for this forum.
Love It Wow GIF by Wrexham AFC
 
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Karate61 said:
Great list.

Wasn't it OBJ instead of Woods who was out with an injury?

And, special teams can be a problem as I am not so sure how much the Rams are improved for this coming year over last years special teams units, and how it compares to the 2021 special teams.
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OBJ went down in the Super Bowl, Woods went down right when we signed OBJ, so technically both.

There is a weird special teams similarity too - the Rams didn't keep GZ after 2019. 2020 was a horror show for field goal kicking, but we eventually stumbled onto Gay who kicked well, and we then kept for 2021 where he was good and we won it all.

We stumbled onto Mevis in much the same way.

Brandon Powell was a pretty good punt returner - that year he ran one back for a TD against the Vikings and had a few other nice returns. Powell and Smith are pretty comparable, though obviously Smith's muffs are a stain there
 
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If we don't fix the ST unit this season, it won't matter who we have on the other units. It's easy for another team to score on our D when we muff a punt & give them a very short field.
There's 2 things the Rams just can't seem to address: ST's and the OC position.
I'm hoping that, with a new ST coach, new ST aces (we tend to forget about FA's Stuard and Cardona), and the continued success of OC Shelton, we've taken care of these gaping wounds that somehow have kept us out of the last 2 superbowls, despite an MVP season from 9 & near-OPOY from 12.
 
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The advantage the Seahawks have is their defensive scheme.

If we default back to the predictable rush packages that let’s QBs get comfortable then we can be beat.

Biggest factor is health.
2nd is defensive play calling.

But talent wise this is the best Rams roster I’ve seen in my 46 years of watching Rams football. Offensively the greatest show on Turf has the edge with Faulk and the 4 deep WRs in their prime (Holt, Bruce, Hakim, Proehl). But this defense might be better.

If Donald comes back this will be the most talented Rams Roster ever.
 
On offense this team is superior at RB and TE. Overall, the entire team depth is much better too. I think the Rams have a better and deeper interior OL but I think OT is one area that is weaker now and the depth is much thinner. I like how Jackson has developed but Whit was a better OT and the OT depth proved to be crucial with Noteboom as great insurance. Note: AJ got his baptism as a rookie then too. At RT Havenstein was better at the time than McClendon is now. Hopefully Trost can be the Noteboom of 2021.

The defense is deeper now than it was then. On the D-front I think Robinson is the better comparison to Puna. Puna has been way more consistent and steadier but Robinson was a monster and critical in that playoff run. He was a brick wall in the super bowl.

No one can compare to Donald on the D-line but the D-line now is more talented and deeper as an overall unit. I think the Rams are better at the edge than in 2021. Miller is a HOF caliber player but he was older and is not in the same class as Garrett who is also younger. Garrett replaces what the Rams had in Donald even though they are at different positions. If Donald returns, he would be a superior version of a compliment to Garret as Von Miller was a compliment to Donald in the 2021 season. I'm not sure Donald can be the same guy he was when he walked away in 23.
I think this year's linebacker group along with this year’s secondary is better and deeper especially at safety. Note: I actually like Shula better as a DC than Morris.

The big thing now though is that this team has not actually won a super bowl.
 
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OT depth is a little tight. Gotta agree there. Also I think WR depth leaves no real room for injury to our top two, where if either of them misses significant time the dropoff is a problem. But TE could potentially make up for WR shortfall to some extent.

When McVay gets eliminated from the playoffs it's usually related to some combination of his OL getting blown up or his defense not being good enough. He has yet to benefit from a dominant OL or defense. So what makes this year's roster special is they may end up being dominant at both.

But the great thing here is they don't need to be dominant at both to win it all. An OL that can just not have the typical midseason swoon that fucks up our chances of getting the top seed would be a big difference. Or a defense that doesn't completely disintegrate at times when the rush isn't lined up on critical downs. The fact we made it to the NFCCG last season is crazy, given the weaknesses we had in the secondary. It shows how good the coaching is, and it's a testament to the roster overall. But this season is a whole different level.
 
A great weakness last year that got exploited over and over was middle of the field passes.

Maybe with Lake back healthy and Mcduffie there is a plan there, but if Mcduffie rolls inside who’s covering the outside WR1.

Neither Landman or Speights are good coverage linebackers.
 
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