What McVay really wants: #4 seed or to rest players?

[MachS]

So I've been hearing some interesting rumors picking up steam the last two days, and it's that the Rams prefer the #4 seed to the #3 seed. Big reason being CAR/ATL are both pretty tough, but in the next round it would be much better to play in Philly against Foles instead of go back to MIN and face that defense on the road.

The other advantage to the 4 seed is I think it's expected CAR will end in the 5th seed. Anyone remember what Wade Phillips' defense did against Cam in the super bowl? I think we would rather face a mobile QB that we can contain in the pocket and make him beat us with his arm and shitty receivers. Same philosophy we take with Russel Wilson and we always play him pretty tough.

IF this is the case, what do you guys think? Is this McVay showing why he is so great and beyond his years. Or if avoiding injury isn't our MAIN objective for resting players, is it bullshit that this might cause Gurley to lose MVP and Goff to miss his 4K/30TD year?

 

[Zodi]

Looking at what happened with the Raiders last year with Carr going down in a meaningless game, I think the main focus is protecting our important players against a team with nothing to lose in the Whiners. I think we're still going to try to win that game. No team wants to lose.

The seeding discussion is kind of ridiculous. I don't think anyone wants to go into Philly mid January. I sure as hell don't. We had the Vikings against the ropes until the fourth quarter when we were playing third and fourth string corners, and McVay didn't use Gurley like he's using him now.

Bring on the Seahags, Panthers, Saints, Falcons, Vikings or Eagles. I aint scared. This is the first Rams playoff football in over a decade, and I'm going to enjoy it regardless.

 

[TexasRam]

Both. But not just rest or seeding also prohibiting a major injury.

The Vikings put starting Guard Easton on IR, and center Eiflen is hurt. Donald about to feast.

 

[Mackeyser]

yeah, I think it's mostly the health of our players.

As one of the healthier teams, I'm CERTAIN that McVay and staff realize that a good part of our success has been the health and availability of our starters and playmakers.

There are teams that will have starters limping into the playoffs and pulling a Bobby Wagner. I admire him for gutting it out...and Earl Thomas was probably right that he wasn't enough and should have let the next man be up. I think there are likely a number of teams that are one or two injuries away from not really being playoff teams (not including starting QB which is pretty much game over for every team).

I think with how McVay is seeing all the different ways he can get Gurley going, he's not afraid of anyone. That said, I think he's more dialed into defeating Philly than Minny and our run game and defense translate well to cold/bad weather.

We remember Nick Foles. Now...some of that was the stink of Fisher's coaches, but Chip Kelly didn't dump him because he was super accurate.

I'm way nervous mostly because I'm already incredulous about our level of success and it's hard to trust that we won't come crashing back to earth. But the more I focus on McVay's competence, the more I like our chances as much as anyone's.

The ONLY thing that I feel could derail us is Minny playing at home if they make the Super Bowl. That team and their fans are seeing this season as a season of destiny and, honestly, it's hard to argue with that.

 

[RamBall]

So I've been hearing some interesting rumors picking up steam the last two days, and it's that the Rams prefer the #4 seed to the #3 seed. Big reason being CAR/ATL are both pretty tough, but in the next round it would be much better to play in Philly against Foles instead of go back to MIN and face that defense on the road.

The other advantage to the 4 seed is I think it's expected CAR will end in the 5th seed. Anyone remember what Wade Phillips' defense did against Cam in the super bowl? I think we would rather face a mobile QB that we can contain in the pocket and make him beat us with his arm and crappy receivers. Same philosophy we take with Russel Wilson and we always play him pretty tough.

IF this is the case, what do you guys think? Is this McVay showing why he is so great and beyond his years. Or if avoiding injury isn't our MAIN objective for resting players, is it bullcrap that this might cause Gurley to lose MVP and Goff to miss his 4K/30TD year?

The individual awards are nice but they are not the goal of a "We not me" player. So I dont see a problem with resting key players, remember they still have to fill the 46 man gameday roster and have bodies to field a D, an O and all the ST units. It would be doing a diservice to the rest of the roster if McVay put Goff, Gurley, AD, Tree and Barron out on the field so they could reach incentives in their contract or win an individual award and they were to get injured or make an existing injury worse and force them to miss any time in the playoffs. This team has got to were they are by taking it 1 game at a time and concentrating on the things they can control. Now is not the time to seek gratification, it is time to go after the big goal of this team. One week at a time, do what is best for the team for the games we know are left for this season. And if the Rams take care of business they know they get another week to get better and face another oponent. And when the confetti falls nobody will give a rats ass about any individual award except maybe SB MVP.

I get that it sucks for the Rams fans that bought tickets to this weeks game expecting to see our starters rip the whiners a new one. But it assures that we will get to see the Rams starters/stars in as good of health as possible going in to the playoffs where they will be on the biggest stage of their young careers.

 

[gabriel18]

They'll have to beat the Vikings sooner or later so I say the sooner the better.
Then if someone knocks if the Eagles, we play the championship game at home. JMO

 

[Ellard80]

I think they'd rather play the eagles yes.. but really not any way to know that will really be the case.

 

[OldSchool]

Bah, these are the same people who say Goff doesn't do anything it's all McVay doing it. You can't go into a weekend knowing how other games will turn out. You go in and take care of your business how you see fit. Playoff seeding has nothing to do with resting players. Keeping certain people healthy has everything to do with resting them.

 

[Merlin]

The seeding discussion is kind of ridiculous. I don't think anyone wants to go into Philly mid January. I sure as hell don't. We had the Vikings against the ropes until the fourth quarter when we were playing third and fourth string corners, and McVay didn't use Gurley like he's using him now.

It's not ridiculous at all Zodi. The Vikings are giving up 12.9 ppg at home and are one of very few teams to beat us this year. Meanwhile the Eagles have Nick Foles at QB which is an enormous dropoff from Wentz.

Eagles are not the same team. Rams are finally a smart organization because worst case (them losing to SF) they get a better round 2 matchup, while also gaining a bye for their key players.

Oh and btw it's entirely possible the Rams still win on Sunday with their backups in there. I don't think the Rams are angling for that 4 seed. I believe that it's part of the equation that greatly favors resting players.

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/12/29/do-the-rams-prefer-the-no-4-seed/

Do the Rams prefer the No. 4 seed?
Posted by Mike Florio on December 29, 2017

As the NFC playoff tree comes into shape, there’s a theory making the rounds that perhaps the team on track for the No. 3 seed would prefer to drop a spot.

The Rams, if they win on Sunday against the 49ers or if the Saints lose to the Buccaneers, will be the No. 3 seed. If the Rams lose and the Saints win or Panthers win, the Rams will be the No. 4 seed.

Under either scenario, the Rams will host a wild-card game before hitting the road for a divisional round game (if, of course, they win in the opening round). But who they play will hinge on where they land. And some think the Rams would prefer the path that comes from being the No. 4 seed.

If the Falcons beat the Panthers on Sunday, the Panthers will be the No. 5 seed and the Falcons will be the No. 6 seed. The thinking is that Rams coach Sean McVay prefers to face the Panthers over the Falcons in the opening playoff game. (Consider what Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips did to Panthers quarterback Cam Newton in Super Bowl 50, when Phillips was running the Denver defense.)

Then, if the No. 3 seed beats the No. 6 seed, the Rams (with a win) would head to Philadelphia instead of Minnesota for the divisional round. Though both teams beat the Rams, the thinking is that the Eagles are far more vulnerable.

Earlier this week, McVay addressed the difference between being the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in explaining his then-tentative plan to rest some starters this weekend.

“I think really what we’ve discussed is when you really take into consideration that there’s four potential teams that we can play,” McVay told reporters. “All of them are very, very good football teams and however it plays out you’re going to be on the road the following week.

When you look at getting guys healthy, knowing that you are going to be able to play a home playoff game and then you think about kind of the risk-reward, we feel like that’s probably going to be the best decision, is to rest some of those guys for our team. Make no mistake about it, the guys that we are going to go forward with, we’re going to do everything in our power to compete to go win a football game. But everything we do, like we’ve said, is intentional.

I think that’s served us well up to this point. You don’t take anything away for what this game means to us this coming week, but when you say, knowing that you do have the opportunity to play that home playoff game the following week and is it a three [seed], is it a four [seed]? How does that really alter and affect compared to some of things that could potentially occur, that’s more than likely the approach that we’re going to take.”

In other words, McVay factored his team’s path to the Super Bowl into his decision on whether to risk falling from No. 3 to No. 4. He may indeed realize that he’s better off one spot lower. And he may actually be.

The only potential problem with that strategy, of course, comes from the possibility that the No. 3 seed and No. 4 seed are left standing at the end of the divisional round, forcing the Rams to go on the road when they could have hosted the NFC title game.

 

[FrantikRam]

It's health.

In the locker room after the game against the Vikings, the players were saying they wanted to play them again. They get that attitude from McVay IMO.

And while the Eagles are an easier game than the Vikings, weather does weird things to games. The Seahawks/Falcons are worse than the Panthers, and if the Saints win their divisional round game (I expect them to), and we do, the 3 seed would net you a home game for the NFCCG.

So to reflect you have:

Seahawks/Falcons vs. Panthers
Indoor stadium vs. unpredictable weather
Potential home game in the NFCCG vs. road game

I get that the Eagles are worse than the Vikings, and that certainly does come into the equation - but there's enough positives that I personally would be going for the 3 seed.

 

[Zodi]

It's not ridiculous at all Zodi.

This thread's original question was asking whether McVay was resting players for their health, or to lose on Sunday to drop to the 4th seed. I'm not saying anyone on this board is guilty of this, but suggesting the Rams want to lose on Sunday so they drop into the 4th seed is what I mean by ridiculous. And it's a discussion that's happening around the media and in general sports forums.

The Eagles lost Wentz, but Foles has been good for them. Plus they have that defense, that stadium, those fans, and the weather. I'm in Pittsburgh the next four days. This weather sucks, and more snow is on the way. Philly is on the coast, but it's just as bad come mid January.

I'd rather have a rematch against the Vikings in a dome than a rematch with the Eagles (even with Foles) in Philly. But that's just me.

 

[The Ramowl]

I also think it's about resting the players. I don't trust any other team to beat the Vikings, so I think we really have to beat them sooner or later in order to go to the SB (are we actually having this conversation ? Still in disbelief).

I mean, if we end up 4th, we'll have to go to Philly in January AND then beat the Vikings in their stadium, best case scenario the Saints in the Dome, not fun either. I hope we beat SF.

 

[Merlin]

This thread's original question was asking whether McVay was resting players for their health, or to lose on Sunday to drop to the 4th seed. I'm not saying anyone on this board is guilty of this, but suggesting the Rams want to lose on Sunday so they drop into the 4th seed is what I mean by ridiculous. And it's a discussion that's happening around the media and in general sports forums.

I'm trackin what you're saying.

And I think it's partially true. It's the overall combination of resting key players and those benefits of creating a bye week for them, as well as the fact that if they lose to the whiners they get a better round two matchup vs the Eagles.

I don't think the Rams would concede that game only for the round two matchup. But the overall benefits vs drawbacks show it's a wise decision basically. The media is just gonna do what they do and make it look like it's all about the matchup.

 

[DaveFan'51]

So I've been hearing some interesting rumors picking up steam the last two days, and it's that the Rams prefer the #4 seed to the #3 seed. Big reason being CAR/ATL are both pretty tough, but in the next round it would be much better to play in Philly against Foles instead of go back to MIN and face that defense on the road.

The other advantage to the 4 seed is I think it's expected CAR will end in the 5th seed. Anyone remember what Wade Phillips' defense did against Cam in the super bowl? I think we would rather face a mobile QB that we can contain in the pocket and make him beat us with his arm and crappy receivers. Same philosophy we take with Russel Wilson and we always play him pretty tough.

IF this is the case, what do you guys think? Is this McVay showing why he is so great and beyond his years. Or if avoiding injury isn't our MAIN objective for resting players, is it bullcrap that this might cause Gurley to lose MVP and Goff to miss his 4K/30TD year?

I, for one, don't think McVay is concerned about "Who we Play"! He has said ' He wants to rest our Key players' so they are ready for the playoff's, and he plans on going for the 'Win against the 49ers'! It's that simple, no "Jockeying" for a specific seed position!

And I don't think Goff and Gurley care about a couple more yards or TD's in stats, they just want the "Win's"!

 

[Kevin]

There is no reason to believe that a road game in Philadelphia is easier than a road game in Minnesota. None. I was at the Minnesota game when the Rams took the opening kickoff and went down the field and scored. Don't underestimate the Eagles with Foles. The Eagles also have three RBs that can hurt us.

And remember that we have to beat one of the wild card teams just to get the privilege of playing in Philly or Minnesota in the second round. Seems like we are looking past that game and assuming we will win. Not an assumption I would have made at the start of the season. If the Rams are looking past the first round like we are, they could get bounced by a more focused wild card team.

 

[OregonRamsFan]

So I've been hearing some interesting rumors picking up steam the last two days, and it's that the Rams prefer the #4 seed to the #3 seed. Big reason being CAR/ATL are both pretty tough, but in the next round it would be much better to play in Philly against Foles instead of go back to MIN and face that defense on the road.

The other advantage to the 4 seed is I think it's expected CAR will end in the 5th seed. Anyone remember what Wade Phillips' defense did against Cam in the super bowl? I think we would rather face a mobile QB that we can contain in the pocket and make him beat us with his arm and crappy receivers. Same philosophy we take with Russel Wilson and we always play him pretty tough.

IF this is the case, what do you guys think? Is this McVay showing why he is so great and beyond his years. Or if avoiding injury isn't our MAIN objective for resting players, is it bullcrap that this might cause Gurley to lose MVP and Goff to miss his 4K/30TD year?

Excellent point talking about how Phillips’ Broncos defense handled Cam in the SB.

 

[OregonRamsFan]

There is no reason to believe that a road game in Philadelphia is easier than a road game in Minnesota. None. I was at the Minnesota game when the Rams took the opening kickoff and went down the field and scored. Don't underestimate the Eagles with Foles. The Eagles also have three RBs that can hurt us.

And remember that we have to beat one of the wild card teams just to get the privilege of playing in Philly or Minnesota in the second round. Seems like we are looking past that game and assuming we will win. Not an assumption I would have made at the start of the season. If the Rams are looking past the first round like we are, they could get bounced by a more focused wild card team.

I don’t think we are looking past any team, really. But good point just the same.

 

[bluecoconuts]

McVay does not like injuries, remember how distraught he was when Hemmingway went down in the preseason? I think he very much does not want to risk someone like Donald or Whitworth being rolled up on by some asshole Whiner looking to prove a point in their final game of the season. Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I think it's all about rest and health.

In the playoffs, every team is dangerous, but I do think the Vikings are the second best (complete) team behind our Rams.