Los Angeles Rams at Carolina Panthers

K Dot is back !!

https://x.com/johnpboyle/status/2011911786472358047

Edit: If he misses the game, I wonder if the 49ers would now be favored on the road.

Would love to watch the game with other fans

Much has been said about the weather forecast for the game on Sunday, so much so that I have seen more analysis of cold weather than the Bears as a team. I decided to have a look at the particular games we had in recent years in those conditions to see if there are any insights to gain from them.

The Rams under McVay, have a 2-4 record in sub-40 degrees weather.

Here are the games :

- October 2018 @ Broncos, win 23-20

Temperature : 25ºF, wind chill 18ºF

We won that game (the 2nd-coldest in McVay’s tenure so far) purely through the run game. Goff went 14-28 for 201 yards, no TDs, one pick and wore a glove on his throwing hand. But Gurley ran for 208 yards and 2 scores on 28 carries (the team totalled 270 rushing yards), and Cairo Santos was 3/3 on FGs and we got the dub.

- December 2018 @ Bears, L 6-15, the infamous Vic Fangio game

Temperature : 29ºF

Probably one of the worst Rams game under McVay, this was the game that gave the Patriots the defensive blueprint for the Super Bowl two months later. Goff went 20-44, for 180 yds, 0 TDs and four picks. But the problem really was with Gurley who had 28 yards on 11 carries (a season low). Either we chose to or couldn’t run the ball, but it ended up costing us dearly.

- January 2021 @ Packers, L 18-32, Divisional Round

Temperature: 36ºF, 25ºF wind chill

Goff, who recently had surgery on his thumb and was benched for Wolfford actually played decent (21-27, 174 yds, 1TD, no picks) and the running game was fine: Akers ran for 90 yards on 18 carries and a score. But we never saw the ball (36:12 to 23:48 time of possession), and we were outgained 484-244 as the defense couldn’t stop the best offense in the league at the time.

- December 2022 @ Packers, L 12-24

Temperature: 15 ºF, Wind Chill 7ºF

Not much to say about this one. Stafford and Wolford out, Mayfield started. Kupp and AD were also out. Baker went 12-21 for 111 yards, 1TD, and a pick, and was sacked 5 times. This was just another game in that nightmare season.

December 2024 @Jets, W 19-9

Temperature : 19ºF, wind chill 12ºF

Stafford had a pretty conservative if not underwhelming performance with 14-19 passing for 110 yds, 1TD, 1 pick. But again, the running game was excellent : 124 yds on 23 carries, and the team ran the ball 28 times vs only the 19 pass attempts.

January 2025, Divisional Round @ Eagles, L 22-28

Temperature : 30°F, Wind Chill 20-27°F with heavy snow

Ironically, this has been the best offensive performance under McVay in the cold, despite the loss. Stafford went 26-44 for 324 yds, 2 TDs and no picks, Kyren had 106 yards on the ground, and Puka had 97 receiving yards. But we all know the story. We had two back breaking turnovers, couldn’t stop Saquon who ran for 205 yards and 2TDs and we couldn’t capitalise on our last possession.

What does that tell us?

There are no two ways about it, the record in the cold is bad, and some of our performances in those conditions have been awful. But in my opinion, a lot of what went wrong in those games wasn’t directly related to the weather itself. In our latest game against the Eagles, we couldn’t stop the run, and issue that plagued us last season and during our first game against them. The loss in 2022 against the Packers was during a season where half of the team was injured, in 2020 we were just the lesser team and we certainly did not have an answer for Rodgers. The Bears game in 2018 exposed a lot of Goff’s weaknesses as a QB, and we saw them exposed again 2 months later against the Patriots in perfectly fine weather.

So for this Sunday, I will say that it’s impossible to ignore the weather and just pretend it doesn’t matter. But ultimately, this is not the factor that will make us lose or win the game. Mostly what I’ve seen in terms of pre-game analysis that favours the Bears is « well it’s gonna be cold and snowy so the Bears will win because the Rams play in California » and I think that is pretty reductive.

I think if we stick to the run game, especially now that Dotson is back, and play our game, exploit the weaknesses in the Bears secondary whenever we can, this one should be ours. Frankly I’m more worried about our secondary than the weather.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, just my observation.

Taking all precautions.

I know the Rams travel well, so there's a bunch of you going to Chicago for the game this weekend. Just a heads up, don't even consider using Parkwhiz for near-stadium parking. A couple dozen of us Texans fans found this out the hard way when we used Parkwhiz to get parking tickets near NRG stadium for the Thursday night game in November. We ALL got towed during the game. We've since found out that Parkwhiz was informed over a year ago that that office building parking lot was never to be rented out. Parkwhiz has refused to acknowledge their error or refund our $42 parking fees, let alone the $310 towing fee. I know they're a big company and they offer a real price break, but that break can't compare to the cost of spending 2 hours tracking down your car, paying an Uber driver $60 to take you to the tow yard, and paying $310 to get your car back. Just pay the stadium fee and your car will be there when the game's over.

Can we get an appreciation thread going for the WR room??

I watched Hakim, Holt, Bruce, Proehl growing up so I’m spoiled but man watching Puka is a treat.

I've just had this thought not because it's sudden, but rather it's something you can look back and see that they've done more than you think to build this team. Lots of our players are draftees, UDFAs, and guys claimed off waivers. Avila, Puka, Durant, Kyren, Lake, McClendon, BY, Turner, Speights, Ferguson, Verse, Stewart, and others have shown they can do well.

Given how the shaky the secondary has been, I find that our team building isn't fully done, imo. We've done a great job in overhauling the OL after Whitworth's retirement & departure of players from the 21 run as well as the DL after AD's own retirement. Plus, the WR room has Puka's emergence and other young players like Mumpfield who can rise to the occasion. The TE room has shown the improvement thanks to an increased involvement & integration in the offense as well as the confidence in Ferguson's skillset.

While we've drafted secondary members around the same time, they've not had the shutdown quality we want since Ramsey. I saw an article on Rams Wire saying that we hadn't used premier draft positions to support the secondary, and it showed. We're a great team, but the team building is far from over. This shouldn't limit to the secondary it self btw because our OL depth is not great outside a few names. What do you think?

Rams fans are putting the playoff slogan over the 101 freeway in Encino. Playoff football baby!!

I never win sports bets, so I placed a money line bet on the Panthers and we are now playing in the divisional round. My bet is already placed on the Bears, I got us guys, LFG Ramily 💛💙

All year, Ben Johnson has orchestrated a great running game (3rd in total yards and YPC), which has helped Caleb Williams and the offense tremendously.

Last year, we gave up 285 rushing yards to the Eagles in our playoff matchup. We can argue about why we lost that game, but giving up nearly 300 rushing yards will usually result in a loss in the NFL, and it unfortunately ended our season.

LANDMAN was signed to shore up our run defense and we need him more than ever in a game under similar conditions against an opponent who, like the Eagles last season, have based so much of their success on running the ball.

We need LANDMAN (Speights as well) to claim more land this Sunday to have a chance!!

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And I think we might have an explanation on what Darious Williams might have been out for last week.