Rams WILL win the NFC WEST

[CanadaRam]

No more of that 7-9 bullshit

 

[RamFanWA]

Am I the only Rams Fan that thinks the Rams can AND will WIN the NFC West this upcoming season? Of course that is assuming Matt Stafford (AND, The OL!) stays Healthy! I do think the Rams will be much better than people think/expect!!!

Each new season - hope springs eternal!
I can't fathom how we not get steam rolled - or at least play very competitively - against the Hags and Whiners. I think these 2 teams are built to road grade...
Until I see us with a solution for this, I am more than a bit skeptical.
But - I am willing to fire up the BBQ in 7 months, for a little crow!!!!

 

[PARAM]

I envision looking back on the regular season, sometime in early January with one thought in mind. "That's why they play the games"

 

[Bkfld_Rams]

20-0

 

[Faceplant]

No more of that 7-9 bullshit

Agreed. I can see 7-10 if they stay healthy.

 

[Memento]

I’d love to be positive. I’m excited about this very young team, the competition they’re building, but I won’t go so far as to say that they’re ready to compete. All it takes is one or two major injuries; we know this from last year.

Inside linebacker has a true talent in Jones, interesting competition for that second inside linebacker spot and teams. But we will miss Wagner on running downs.

Our secondary is very young and we will see mistakes. Yes, Durant is dynamic, Rochell oozes potential, THT is my favorite draft pick of the whole draft, and there’s a bunch of hungry young corners eager to champ at the bit. Yes, our safety group looks competitive, and if Fuller is healthy, he’s a hell of a safety. Yeast, Lake, Taylor II, Quindell Johnson would still be an interesting group without Fuller. But again, this secondary is young, maybe a bit small, and if Fuller isn’t healthy - a distinct possibility - we’re lacking in leadership in the secondary. I’d love to bring John Johnson III back, just because of how reliable and smart he was for us, but I don’t think it will happen.

Our pass rush outside of AD is questionable aside from Hoecht and maybe Murchison. Yes, we have drafted three really intriguing edge rushers in Young, Hampton, and Mathis, to add to two interesting edge rushers from last year in Hardy and Kier Thomas. Yes, our two defensive linemen in Turner and Desjuan Johnson are really intriguing. Yes, the Browns, Copeland, and Jonah Williams are another year wiser. But I have not seen pass-rushing from any aside from AD, Hoecht, and occasionally Murchison. Our run defense will suffer without Grizzly Gaines (please bring him back next year?) and A’Shawn Robinson gone. BB3 has huge shoes to fill, and if he can’t, teams will run on us with impunity. A defensive line that can’t stop the run or rush the quarterback will get killed.

Our offensive line could see many new faces, and I won’t count on either Noteboom or Allen to remain healthy. If Alaric Jackson goes down for any meaningful length of time, we will not have a left tackle. Avila, Bruss, McClendon, Jackson, Havenstein, with Shelton, Anchrum, Zachary Thomas, and Arcuri as backups sounds good, but it’s extremely young and green. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Avila and McClendon aren’t ready. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bruss was recovering and still learning. And again, we cannot afford to count on Noteboom and Allen. I don’t even know if we can count on Shelton. I would not be shocked to see a new left tackle next year.

Aside from Kupp and maybe Jefferson, our receiving corps is not a proven dynamic threat, although the potential is there with Chatarius (I will never call him by that stupid nickname, so there!) Atwell, Skowronek, McCutcheon, Nacua, and whomever will return punts and kicks. Again, I say potential because other than Kupp, nobody scares a defense.

Tight end could be both interesting and extremely scary. Why do I say that? Because Higbee could be a post June 1st cut/trade. Hopkins as a starter scares the daylights out of me. Long and Davis Allen had better step the hell up because without Higbee - it’s the weakest group on the team - unlike any other part, a tight end group without Higbee scares absolutely nobody.

Our running backs are young and talented, I’d argue four deep with Akers, K-Will, and the two Evanses, and yet, will they be able to be relied on to pick up the offense and marry the passing and running games like we had with Gurley? Akers already demanded a trade last season. Zach Evans has maturity problems. Tiyon Evans is an UDFA. K-Will, I like, but he’s simply not a bellcow back.

Special teams will be young and interesting, but we will be starting a full rookie battery. There will be mistakes, and neither Dunn nor Brown are long-distance kickers.

And finally, quarterback. Point blank, if Stafford isn’t himself for whatever reason, we’re screwed. Stetson Bennett is not the answer as a starter. Perfect backup, not a starter.

I’m not saying we can’t go on a huge run! It’ll require a fuckton of a lot to go right, and as we know, oftentimes, things can and will go wrong.

 

[TexasRam]

Yea the Rams are definitely winning the NFC West..




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[thirteen28]

Fuck it, go big - they're gonna win the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the NBA Championship, The Masters, WBC heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight titles, the World Series and the World Cup.

We ain't fuckin' round no more.

 

[RamDino]

Can't we just take it one game at a time and enjoy every Sunday? Let's let the season unravel on it's own and go with the momentum. That's what happens every year. Injuries, new stars coming into their own, teams changing directions, always lots of changes... Everyone's prediction is fine but there is no reason to argue about it when we have absolutely no control over it. Me personally, I don't believe the Rams are gonna have a very good year... too many changes. But i will be rooting for the team every week and hoping that I am wrong. Nothing wrong with that. Go Rams!

 

[Mojo Ram]

Niners - 14-3
Rams - 10-7
Seahawks - 7-10
Cardinals - 6-11

Not bad. I’d take a couple wins from AZ and give them to SEA though. I think our shot at a wildcard could come down to a tiebreaker with SEA or another
9-10 win team.

 

[Dodgersrf]

Our offense should keep us around .500.

If we can get our young defense playing well, we can squeeze out a few more wins.

I'm expecting some early growing pains by our defense, though. As we all are.

Let's hope for a relatively, healthy team this year and we could get a late season push into the playoffs.

 

[snackdaddy]

I can see us getting back into the area of 24ppg. I just expect to be giving up about 27ppg.

I forget which publication it was. But someone on facebook posted it ranking our defense second worse in the NFC. Mainly due to the loss of so many starters and replacing them with inexperienced late round picks.

Ramsey, Wagner, Floyd, Robinson, Gaines, Rapp are 6 of ten starters. Other guys we lost played significant snaps and started some games. That is a lot of turnover on a defense that was average last year. I can see why our defense would be ranked so low.

Its been said Morris had them giving a lot of cushion last year because he wanted to protect the inexperienced guys from getting beat deep. If that was the case, I think we should expect a whole lot more of it this year.

 

[Kupped]

I don't see it... but If your health scenario plays out, I think it will be a good season.
You never know.. that's why they play the games.
My biggest concern right now is the secondary... there just isn't anything there to place much faith in at the moment. Doesn't mean they won't be good, there are just sooooooo many big questions there.

I have a little more faith in the defensive front after the draft.. but.. yeah.

 

[tomas]

If Ram's offense can average 35 points a game-- we can win the division-- and above average functioning offensive line - a good running game-healthy Stafford and Kupp.

 

[Allen2McVay]

If Ram's offense can average 35 points a game-- we can win the division-- and above average functioning offensive line - a good running game-healthy Stafford and Kupp.

35-points-per-game!?!

 

[El Chapo Jr]

If Ram's offense can average 35 points a game-- we can win the division-- and above average functioning offensive line - a good running game-healthy Stafford and Kupp.

So guess we aren't winning the division. We'd be lucky to break into the top 10. Here's those stats from last year.

 

[Turducken]

If Ram's offense can average 35 points a game-- we can win the division-- and above average functioning offensive line - a good running game-healthy Stafford and Kupp.

Well we scored 32.9 ppg in 2018 (when Gurley was OPOY and before Belichick cracked McVay's code).

 

[Merlin]

Let's go shock the World!

 

[JYB]

Thinking the Shitgulls have really come up the last 2 years and knocked it out with this last draft.

I don’t think many casual football fans realize the level of talent they are quietly accumulating. We don’t have a way of really countering them tbh. (taking itty bitty Tutu years ago and not a solid C) we’ve set ourselves back a few years drafting like idiots and not working the UDFA lines properly.

Interestingly, the guy who the Seabags took one pick before Tutu -- Dee Eskridge -- is getting even less playing time than Tutu. There's already speculation among Hawk fans that he may be a bust (https://www.fieldgulls.com/2022/9/19/23360505/dee-eskridge-bust-nfl-seattle-seahawks-draft-class).

There were rumors that the Rams were interested in Eskridge, but I doubt that's the case. We know they target players and I suspect they had Tutu targeted for that pick. If there was any speculation about their wanting Eskridge, it was probably a smokescreen.

 

[Merlin]

Interestingly, the guy who the Seabags took one pick before Tutu -- Dee Eskridge -- is getting even less playing time than Tutu. There's already speculation among Hawk fans that he may be a bust (https://www.fieldgulls.com/2022/9/19/23360505/dee-eskridge-bust-nfl-seattle-seahawks-draft-class).

There were rumors that the Rams were interested in Eskridge, but I doubt that's the case. We know they target players and I suspect they had Tutu targeted for that pick. If there was any speculation about their wanting Eskridge, it was probably a smokescreen.

If they were high on him in the draft I imagine they'd bring him in for a look if/when he's cut. GMs tend to track the guys they liked coming out.