PREGAME Vikings at Rams Pregame Thread

[Tano]

I think people are selling Minnesota short. I definitely see us as under-dogs. The spread is currently 2.5, and I honestly thought it would be a bit more.

Addison has really come on lately. He is legit weapon right now. Add Jefferson and Hockenson to the mix, and that is a deadly air attack for the Vikings against what is a pretty meh secondary for the Rams - albeit one that is coming on strong in recent weeks, particularly situationally. Darnold is a very capable QB - do not let last night fool you with recency bias. Aaron Jones is a great RB and a true dual threat. How soon we forget him running all over us when we met the Packers in the playoffs. We all know Kevin O'Connell is a great coach. Their defence is good and leads the league in turn-overs I believe. They are particularly good at breaking up horizontal passes - not good news for McVay's loved tosses to Puka along the line of scrimmage.

We caught the Vikings at a good time this year and I think that is clouding some fans' judgment. We got them on a short week, with them flying cross-country, to play on the road. They lost their LT mid-game. The Rams were playing for their lives. We still barely won. The way some people in this thread are talking you would never know the Vikings finished 14-3 in the best division in football. And you don't think they will be fired up after that loss to Detroit in prime time?

We do have a big QB advantage though, which on its own can at times be the difference. We also have a (less big) coaching advantage - McVay is one of the few i'd take over KOC. We are also at home, which is big, even if Minnesota fans travel well, and we are facing a franchise that has not yet learned how to win. Things might snowball if they lose control at any point. "Oh no, here we go again, another choke". Kicking is so important in the playoffs. Karty appears to be firing on all cylinders at just the right time, whereas their rookie kicker seems to be imploding after coming off an injury. I think the Rams can pull off the upset. But it will take a huge effort. Minnesota is a heavy Super Bowl contender. The Rams are a good team but one more good draft away from being in that class IMO - but any given Sunday!

But they played mostly crappy teams this year for the most part.

Lions Packers twice - they lost both to Lions and barely beat the Packers

Rams - lost

Cardinals - barely beat them after week 8 when Murray morphs into a terrible QB

49ers - not the same team this year

Texans - best game they played

Falcons - not really that impressed with them even though they had a decent record

Then they beat the following teams

Jaguars
Titans
Colts - QBs sucked
Bears twice - sorry they sucked - as others have stated - I can't believe we lost to them
Giants
Jets

So that is pretty much 10 games where they should have won and then they went 4-3 against decent to good teams.

To sum up - their record is overstated. They are a good team but one we should beat if we play our game. We need to mess with Darnold's head. If our DL pressures Darnold, we win. If we give him 3 to 5 seconds, we lose.

 

[Corbin]

regular season wins without the playoff doesn't mean much!

I know the pride thing is fun but advocating for a quality backup is important. Especially with Staffords health and age.

Ps Grab A Pole is 4-2 in the playoffs.

 

[RecklessRams]

Dopest hoodie ever since 2018

 

[RecklessRams]

It won't load, epic

 

[RecklessRams]

Our Rams

 

[Loyal]

I know the pride thing is fun but advocating for a quality backup is important. Especially with Staffords health and age.

Ps Grab A Pole is 4-2 in the playoffs.

I meant Super Bowl wins, ya Jimmy G lover!
He played pretty well yesterday.

 

[Corbin]

I meant Super Bowl wins, ya Jimmy G lover!
He played pretty well yesterday.

Dude, what are the chances he leads us to a title if Stafford gets hurt?

Being in this offense, with McVay, and Stafford had to have rubbed off on him in a none Blue Pill Grab A Pole type of way! lol

 

[snackdaddy]

14 wins is 14 wins. Weak schedule or not Vikings should be favored. But its still a game we can win. And I guarantee you when they ask the guys who do pregame shows in the studio on Monday night, there will be more than one predicting a Rams win. Probably be 50/50.

 

[snackdaddy]

Dude, what are the chances he leads us to a title if Stafford gets hurt?

Jimmy can win games. He actually did better than I expected. Sean knows what his strengths are and call call plays to fit that. But yeah, when you need a game winning drive I trust Stafford a lot more. I think Stafford finishes that final drive yesterday.

 

[Corbin]

Jimmy can win games. He actually did better than I expected. Sean knows what his strengths are and call call plays to fit that. But yeah, when you need a game winning drive I trust Stafford a lot more. I think Stafford finishes that final drive yesterday.

Yeah I agree whole heartedly. This isn't even a Jimmy vs Stafford debate, but as backup if Stafford gets an unfortunate injury I am happy asf we have Jimmy Bluepill instead of Wolford, Bennett, or whatever other nonsense we've had back there recently! He's at least capable.

 

[Merlin]

View: https://x.com/pff_moo/status/1876260729122410570?s=46&t=gEUcKN5ugzpn7hhJJvpNKw

Say what you want about our areas of weakness, but yeah this team is battle tested as hell.

 

[Merlin]

What's funny about Darnold is I remember him running out of that tunnel as a freshman at USC and looking like it wasn't too much for him with a respectable start, and thinking to myself damn this kid's gonna be a good as hell down the road. And that was part of the reason why I loved him coming out, the USC homer in me.

So it's interesting to see him finally playing up to his talent. The dude is definitely talented. But I agree the Rams should pressure the shit out of him because where he lacks is the playoff experience. He's been bouncing around but hasn't really been at the head of a legit contender like he is now where he's the dude. This means if the Rams take his ass to task early and often we can steal a win from them.

And I say steal because I think the Vikes definitely have the better roster. But the playoffs are where a team like the Rams are very dangerous because they have an elite head coach and a QB who can rip your soul out through your ass. So if our pass rush goes off and our secondary covers halfway decently then yeah I could see us advancing, no doubt about it.

 

[CGI_Ram]

What's funny about Darnold is I remember him running out of that tunnel as a freshman at USC and looking like it wasn't too much for him with a respectable start, and thinking to myself damn this kid's gonna be a good as hell down the road. And that was part of the reason why I loved him coming out, the USC homer in me.

So it's interesting to see him finally playing up to his talent. The dude is definitely talented. But I agree the Rams should pressure the shit out of him because where he lacks is the playoff experience. He's been bouncing around but hasn't really been at the head of a legit contender like he is now where he's the dude. This means if the Rams take his ass to task early and often we can steal a win from them.

And I say steal because I think the Vikes definitely have the better roster. But the playoffs are where a team like the Rams are very dangerous because they have an elite head coach and a QB who can rip your soul out through your ass. So if our pass rush goes off and our secondary covers halfway decently then yeah I could see us advancing, no doubt about it.

I’m right there. We got a legit shot.

The Vikings have a scary offense with a lot of options. The defense DEFINITELY needs to make Darnold hurry. We maybe can steal a turnover if we do.

The play calling under Mike LeFleur felt a little fresh, yesterday. Maybe this duo between McVay and him is peaking as a wild card in all of this.

 

[RamBall]

What I gathered from watching McVay’s decision to rest our starters vs Seattle was that, in the long run, he thinks we have a better chance of beating Minnesota and Detroit than we do Washington and Philly. He’s probably tight. We’ve proven that we can beat Minnesota and have come close to beating Detroit at their place the last two times we’ve faced them. Going into a frigid Philly, a team that humiliated us weeks ago, and winning is a tall task. Best let another team try to knock them off.

That said, after watching the Vikings-Lions game last night, if we bring heat to Darnold and disguise our blitzes well, we can beat them. He seemed to only have eyes for Jefferson last night and withered under pressure. A Ram victory also depends on Stafford being Buffalo Matthew and not SF Matthew who got lucky after several defenders dropped sure interceptions. Some games I’ve seen the soul-stealer in his eyes and other games he looks unsure and less confident. Let’s hope the offense rallies and the defense continues to make the plays they need to in order to keep this team moving forward.

What I took from McVay resting key players was that McVay feels this team can beat anyone as long as the key players are healthy, and that this team wont get far if those key players are injured. I just dont see McVay losing a game on purpose to influence a playoff matchup.

 

[ArkyRamsFan]

Maybe, maybe not. I am sure because of the trade there might be extra motivation. Regardless Rams need to take these games one at a time and looking on the bright side playing Minnesota, even if it does rain in Southern California the field will not be affected.

Seems it never rains in southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya?
It pours, man, it pours

~ArkyRamsFan~

 

[den-the-coach]

Seems it never rains in southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya?
It pours, man, it pours

~ArkyRamsFan~

Albert Hammond.

 

[ArkyRamsFan]

Albert Hammond.

Yep, Albert Louis Hammond to be exact. [Actually for some reason I always thought that this song was written and sung by Arlo Guthrie....guess I was way off....]

~ArkyRamsFan~

 

[Corbin]

Random funny story, went to place bets like normal at the Casino. Thought I’d have a couple of beers at the bar and started talking to an older dude and his wife decked out in Vikings gear next to me. Guy was passionate. He told me supposedly a scout his friend knows with the Vikings said that the Rams were talking to their FO on the back channel to trade Darnold to the Rams for 2 or 3 firsts this next off season.


I immediately looked at the bar tender and said “ he can you call these two an Uber, they are completely smashed!” Guy laughed but kind of half way chuckled. Seen him at the end of the night to cash those bets and told him we’ll see him in the playoffs… wish I could mess with him right now! lol

 

[RamFanWA]

I feel better after viewing the Vikings board.

A few quotes:

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Think about it. Would it not be just like the Vikings to go to LA and get mugged. After over 60 years of this I expect nothing else.
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Wait all week for the biggest regular season game ever. All day was in a good space...no worries really. Just hoped for a good clean game. Not asking for perfection! And this slopfest happens! How Vikings is this!
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yeah, not liking the matchup. We're probably the better team, but we don't match up well. I expect LA to use the same gameplan we had against Detroit. Maybe Darnold is a bit cooler after that beating, but I expect them to harass him all game.

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And a few twitters:


View: https://x.com/WillRagatz/status/1876339339472367682



View: https://x.com/ASchatzNFL/status/1876271213821247815



View: https://x.com/TPPSkol/status/1876287543286858218

 

[shovelpass]