Rams are no longer overwhelming favorites in NFC West

[Safety Blitz]

While most expect the Rams to easily win the West, a sleeper might wake up and challenge us unexpectedly.

What rival might surprise us?

Jimmy G looks like he'll shine in 2019 and the WILSON/PETE combo is never an easy out.

 

[LA_vision]

The division has gotten tougher, I think it's a far assessment. Division games should be tougher this year to win.

 

[BonifayRam]

alm:

 

[Flint]

It was interesting to hear someone suggest that the Rams could’ve won the SB, listening to talking heads you’d think it was the Seahawks-Broncos.
It’s easy to poke holes in the Rams though, 2 members of one of the best o lines in the league are gone and they made no big moves to replace them. That doesn’t mean they have no plan but I guess people expect splashy moves from this team. You have to be impressed at the way this team has become a destination, as soon as they got released Mathews and Weddle were thinking LA.
The Rams have spent big recently but that’s unsustainable, they’ve done a good job of putting guys in place who are younger and cheaper.

 

[FrantikRam]

It's fair. The Niners and Cardinals seem to have gotten MUCH better.

Seahawks, I'm not sure. Hard for me to say they got better when they lost Clark, Thomas and Baldwin - arguably three of their best five players from last year - and are counting on rookies to pick up the slack (for the most part).

On the flip side, the Rams could be better than last year and have a worse record - winning 13 games in the NFL takes quite a few lucky bounces (or the collective incompetence of the Dolphins, Jets and Bills) - and the Rams got it last year. Something not a lot of people have talked about, but we forced only 14 fumbles last year, but we recovered 12 of them. 12 out of 14.

We tied for forcing the 3rd least amount of fumbles, yet recovered tied for the 4th most. Aside from us, only 9 other teams recovered at least 50% of their forced fumbles, and of that group, they are all between 50-60% - while we're up near 86%. We've also been relatively lucky with injuries, even though both Talib and Kupp were painful.

So we did get some lucky breaks - although on the flip side, we should force more than 14 fumbles next year, so we could end up with the same total recoveries. And I would welcome injuries to role players in loo of stars like Talib and Kupp, so there is another side to it.



On a different note - there's turnover in the NFL every year, we all get that - and the Seahawks have been a trendy pick to win the NFCW over us - but c'mon - pick another division guys. The AFC South, West, and North all have teams with near-elite rosters that didn't win their divisions last year. The Bears are stuck with the Vikings and Packers. The Eagles could easily win the NFC East.

Plenty of other options that make more sense than picking the Seahawks over us.

 

[Malibu]

Dumbest article out there. We are getting Kupp back, Goff has another year under his belt, Henderson adds another Offensive dimension.

Defensive outside of Suh we have gotten better. Adding Rapp, Long, Mathews and Weddle we are better. Both Talib and Peters are solid now in system and we have a ton of second year players who basically had the opportunity to red shirt last year.

We are a 13-3 layup again this year.

The only weakness is uncertainty with our Run D - Gaines, Kiser. Possibly our interior Oline not sure even that's a problem.

We have the best Day player in football, one of the two best HC, best Special Teams coach and players - one of the two best RBs and best wide receiver combo in the league. I would say we are better and ascending.

We are Superbowl be bound again this time we will it and take the mantel from NE. Then finally we will get the respect we deserve.

 

[ramsince62]

I’m expecting a regression this year. But
The only team I’m worried about is Seattle. They can win 11 games at any time. We had a few games that we could have easily lost. Seattle(twice), KC, Minn, GB.

That could have made us 10-6 and second in the division. It’s possible we don’t overcome as many obstacles this year. But I believe in McVay and I think Goff will progress once again to really carry the team and be more consistent throughout the year.

>>I’m expecting a regression this year.<<

Me too, unfortunately it's the nature of the beast....gain a rep and they all come after you

As for Goff, I suppose he'll improve over time......after all, there's still plenty of room in many areas of his game.

Goff remains a tweener, his stats (thanks to outstanding receivers and a running game) sometimes indicate a top 10 QB. However, his stats and performance roll off at playoff time. Unless or until he improves against playoff caliber opponents, I remain skeptical.....he still looks like a dear in the headlights when pressure comes up the middle and I suspect at least for the first half of the season, he'll see plenty more where that came from.

 

[BonifayRam]

I do not see any reason for this 2019 Ram team to not continue to get better. I know on the surface most non Ram fans see the loss of a Suh, Saffold, Sullivan, Joyner, Barron, CJ Anderson & Sam Shields & believe think that this Ram team will be highly affected by this in a negative way.....I see positive opportunities myself.

The biggest offseason hit took place @ LG. Saffold was performing @ a very high level & was not trending downward in his career. However starters Suh, Joyner & Barron were trending downward. Barron was a shell of what once was as was Sullivan. Joyner proved over & over he was not effective in the Wade secondary..he just did not get it. As bad as DB Marcus Peters play was in 2018, DB Joyner's was far worse. LJ who was only 29 yrs old was our weak link in our secondary in 2018. Suh was just riding through town on his reputation on his way elsewhere. Shields was our 5th corner.

Rams have a very young dangerous returning receiver unit that should be far better with Kupp healthy & Everett getting the ball more often. Our 4th wideout Reynolds got valuable reps & proved worthy of starting. The RB's even with the questions on Gurley's knee looks stronger in 2019 than 2018 with a healthy Brown & rookie Henderson & Kelly.

The three biggest questions on this 2019 offense will be @ both OG & center posts. Kromer has a large talented very youthful cadre of starting interior prospects. Five of them drafted by Snead the last two drafts. Two other UDFA's were coached by Kromer in 2018 OTA's, Training Camp & the Preseason. Snead signed four additional rookie interior OL'ers to provide some serious competition. I believe this Ram OL will be much stronger by mid-season & getting better after each game played. My biggest concern is not @ the 3 interior posts but the age of Whitworth @ LT.

The interior LB'ers have one question mark but it's not significant because one of the interior posts will be occupied by safety or Corner on passing downs. The secondary should be far superior to what we fielded last season. On the DL the front five & the backups also appear much better:

ER-Fowler/ Okoronkwo/ Young
DE-Brockers/ Franklin/ Thompson
NT-Gaines/ Joseph-Day/ Jones
DT-Donald/ Smart/ Copeland/ Owens
ER-Matthews/ Ebukam/ Lawler

As far as Goff I expect him to slowly gradually improve in 2019.

 

[Mojo Ram]

FTFY

Lost Suh, lost Saffold, lost Sullivan, lost Barron, lost Joyner. Could be addition by subtraction. Not all of those losses were financial losses either. In fact i would say the Rams wanted to get younger in those areas. Better? We'll see.

 

[Akrasian]

FTFY

Lost Suh, lost Saffold, lost Sullivan, lost Barron, lost Joyner. Could be addition by subtraction. Not all of those losses were financial losses either. In fact i would say the Rams wanted to get younger in those areas. Better? We'll see.

The only one that is clearly a loss (at least for the regular season - Suh played better in the playoffs, which is telling) is Saffold. Sullivan wasn't very good - I think Littleton can be better than Barron played, Joyner almost certainly will be outplayed by Weddle, for less. Basically, saves about $50 million in cap space, which allows upgrades elsewhere. And the one big loss - Saffold - is not likely to be worth his contract in a couple of seasons.

 

[TexasRam]

:blah:

 

[kurtfaulk]

Are you including Joyner in those 5 starters? Because if you are you should change it to 4 starters and 1 liability. The rams d got much better by not offering him a new contract and even better than that by signing weddle.

.

 

[RamFanInPC]

Obviously written by a RAM hater. All 6 bullets on the Rams are a negative spin while the 6 bullets on each of the other teams are a positive spin.

 

[shovelpass]

Obviously written by a RAM hater. All 6 bullets on the Rams are a negative spin while the 6 bullets on each of the other teams are a positive spin.

He may be, but it makes absolutely zero sense to list positives when the point you're trying to make is that the Rams are not going to win the west as easily. He can't be too much of a hater if he still thinks/expects that the Rams will win this west.

 

[Rams43]

Overall, the Rams are not weaker this season. They are stronger.

On O:

Better diversity and options at RB. Henderson should be a real weapon.
Allen will be an upgrade over Sully. Less experience but more strength and leverage. By midseason should be a significant upgrade.
Boom will not be as good as Saffold was at LG. But there won’t be a big drop off, at that.
Everett should be better this year.
Kupp is back and adds a new dimension to the O.
McVay will be more experienced plus benefit from lessons learned last year.
Gurley is the sole potential significant downgrade, tbh.

On D:

I like Gaines/Day over the regular season Suh. I’m serious.
Brockers should be better in this, his contract year. Did he play hurt last year?
Full season of the ascending Fowler and he’s in a contract year, himself.
Matthews is an upgrade at either Edge or ILB.
Kiser will be a better 2 down run defender than Barron ever was.
Talib will hopefully play 16 games this year.
Peters should pick up where he left off in second half of last season and playoffs.
Weddle is a HUGE upgrade over Joyner.
Rapp and Long offer Wade much better depth and scheme options.

Add all his up and I think that the Rams are gonna be significantly improved overall in ‘19.

 

[nighttrain]

Overall, the Rams are not weaker this season. They are stronger.

On O:

Better diversity and options at RB. Henderson should be a real weapon.
Allen will be an upgrade over Sully. Less experience but more strength and leverage. By midseason should be a significant upgrade.
Boom will not be as good as Saffold was at LG. But there won’t be a big drop off, at that.
Everett should be better this year.
Kupp is back and adds a new dimension to the O.
McVay will be more experienced plus benefit from lessons learned last year.
Gurley is the sole potential significant downgrade, tbh.

On D:

I like Gaines/Day over the regular season Suh. I’m serious.
Brockers should be better in this, his contract year. Did he play hurt last year?
Full season of the ascending Fowler and he’s in a contract year, himself.
Matthews is an upgrade at either Edge or ILB.
Kiser will be a better 2 down run defender than Barron ever was.
Talib will hopefully play 16 games this year.
Peters should pick up where he left off in second half of last season and playoffs.
Weddle is a HUGE upgrade over Joyner.
Rapp and Long offer Wade much better depth and scheme options.

Add all his up and I think that the Rams are gonna be significantly improved overall in ‘19.

All this W/O mentioning Henderson, who is gonna rock & roll
train