There are no gimmes for the Rams but Jax and Seattle should be wins. Minny's a toss up. We likely lose to AZ and Balt. We absolutely for sure lose to SF. So that Minny game is the one that will determine if we win 10 games and get in the playoffs. But I don't expect to win a game there. We'll go limping into the playoffs if we make it.
Yeah and it feels like this team is just not good enough to overcome what they've been dealt. It sounds like excuses but they really did take a huge hit with Akers. Woody was also just an enormous hit at the worst time when this offense had just run into physical defenses that beat them up. I mean right out the gate the guy who was expected to ground things and help us navigate our way through the tough defenses on the sched was lost and the impact of it was magnified by the fact we don't have anyone left in the backfield to keep the balance. At least nobody McVay trusts to give carries to which makes it effectively the same.
Look at the pieces of this offense individually... The WR group is ONE deep. Just remove Kupp. Now maybe OBJ helps us, I really hope he does. This OL is not great at pass pro, after a solid start as they hit the better fronts we saw the cracks return. QB might be a guy who can get it done for us but he's pressing and making mistakes and probably still trying to master McVay's offense. RB we have a guy who left the biggest game we lost right in the middle of it (big surprise) due to being dinged up vs Arizona.
Using hindsight everyone wishes we had drafted a Center which is fair. But maybe a RB would have been great too. Either way our top pick looks like an undersized guy who McVay mentioned has to be more serious about the game or whatever which is like the kiss of death. Man I hoped he would show us something but gotta say it looks like a miss.
There's definitely no shame in losing to Green Bay but unfortunately it was a huge game we needed. Now we're definitely in that wildcard group which tbh is not the worst thing in the world. I'm just upset because I had what were apparently unrealistic expectations and really wanted that win.
Re: the sched what matters is that McVay slows his roll first off. Going for it on 4th down on your side of the field early in a big away game vs a playoff opponent I mean c'mon man. That is hubris. You punt the fucking ball and let your defense do their job. I know he doesn't trust the defense and I don't either but you gotta go with that call there. And the same shit we've been talking about has to happen. If you want to settle down your QB fix your balance. This is 101 here. Stafford has the stuff he wants at the position, but he has to adjust the offense to what he is comfortable with and what he can do. If he sees 9 out there making stupid risk throws he has to throttle that shit down. Play within the scheme and let the defense do their thing and we'll see where the team ends up. But the pressing we're seeing, this insistence on deep shots, starts at the top and Stafford doesn't need a coach backing him up on that because he's got bad habits from Detroit already.
One game at a time. Fix the basics. String some wins together. And build on that, I think that's what needs to happen here. We're a wildcard team now and that's if we fix this shit.