Rams are the workforce that no person desires to play within the postseason

The Los Angeles Rams are as soon as once more making a late-season surge in the direction of the postseason. Final 12 months, the Rams began 3-6 earlier than going 7-1 down the stretch. As one of many hottest groups in December and January, the Rams had been a scary workforce as soon as they reached the playoffs. The identical could possibly be stated concerning the Rams this season. They began 1-4, however have gone 7-2 over their previous 9 video games.

Whereas the Rams haven’t seemed as sturdy as they did over the second half of final season, they’ve managed to place themselves in agency management of the NFC West. Since Week 8, the Rams rank ninth in offense EPA. They rank twenty first in protection EPA, however twelfth in protection success fee.

NFL Workforce Tiers

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Tyler Loechner of FTN Fantasy just lately put collectively a listing of groups that no person desires to see within the playoffs. Loechner compiled his checklist of groups that may nonetheless miss the playoffs. Coming in at primary on the checklist was the Rams. Stated Loechner,

“The Rams are a middling 17th in total team DVOA, but they are eighth in passing DVOA, 11th in rushing DVOA, and seventh in overall offensive DVOA. The Rams have knocked off playoff teams/contenders in the Bills, Seahawks, and Vikings over the last six weeks, but they’ve also been blown out by the Cardinals and Eagles and struggled against the Saints. Long story short: They are incredibly inconsistent. That’s reflected in some of their efficiency stats as well. But when they get hot, they absolutely cook. Matthew Stafford has proven to have playoff magic, and the team’s wide receiver duo is still arguably the best in the biz. The Rams have to be viewed as the scariest team that might miss the playoffs.”

Even because the worst division winner within the NFC, the Rams are a workforce that not many would need to see within the playoffs. Whereas the Rams have been wildly inconsistent at occasions, they’ve proven the power to beat a number of the greatest groups within the NFL. The Rams beat the Minnesota Vikings earlier this season after which took down the Buffalo Payments. Each of these video games had been at SoFi Stadium which is the place the Rams would play on wild card weekend.

The Rams have the playoff expertise and pedigree that makes for a harmful playoff workforce. As soon as we get to January and 14 groups stay, video games develop into win-or-go-home. There aren’t many quarterbacks and head coaches that anyone would soak up that state of affairs than Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay.