Rams Fans United - Los Angeles Rams Fan Discussion Forum

Dick84 wrote:First off... I see two games the Rams wouldn't be favored in if the season started today... At New Orleans and.. Possibly, at home against the Eagles.

Two.

One of the biggest factors so many outsiders point to when questioning the Rams this year is Jared Goff. I get it.. They don't feel he has the "swag" they like.. He didn't have a great game against the Falcons and he had that Rookie year.
Well... Nothing I've read/heard/seen suggests he's done anything but grow in this offseason. He grew appreciably every year at Cal. His system is the same.. He's still maturing.

Simply said... I don't see much chance of him having a setback and, more likely, expect he'll have a nice jump this season.

Related factor... Coaching. McVay's had an offense for three years now and has shown me enough that he can adapt and change and grow. Remember.. A year ago.. Most of us thought the Tight Ends were going to have a big year because *that's what McVay did*.... Well, nope. He creates effective offenses. I trust him scouting himself and making changes over other teams scouting the Rams and figuring out how to stop them.

Another weird take some outsiders have is not expecting Cooks to have much impact.
Why? He's been incredibly consistent in his career and McVay has been trying to get him for two years. In McVay's last year in DC... Garcon and Jackson had 1000 yards plus. Sure.. Someone will get fewer touches this year.. But I also expect the Rams to run more plays total and to have appreciably higher total yards.

The biggest worry, to me, was losing Whitworth.. and Noteboom just makes me feel confident that the Rams would be okay.

Now.. losing Goff? Of course that would be awful.

Rams D... Well... The corners are a massive upgrade. Do people forget that the Rams were winning games last year with Troy Hill starting? He's 6th on the depth chart now. Joyner and Johnson have had a full year together.. They added freaking Suh. Yes... They have some challenges on generating pressure from the edges... But it's not nearly as profound as some suggest. Health will be important. If Longacre and Easley are healthy... I don't think we'll be talking too much about the outside pressure problem.

I also like the young guys.. JFM.. Ebukam.

Here's a random one... Littleton will lead NFL inside linebackers in Sacks. The kid knows how to slice through a line.. Notice how he did that so often on special teams and that he did it in one of two starts last year. He's an instinctive player and fluid athlete.

Special teams will be awesome.

The homer in me sees a very, very special season. When you go "best case scenario" for every team... The Rams best case scenario seems to be higher than anyone else, imo.

Good read. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Fingers crossed that u are right.

The only thing that would concern me is what the they say about the best laid plans. Things change so fast in the NFL. Last year all 4 division winners were not playoff teams the year before.

So getting that out of the way, yeah, on paper the Rams have a Superbowl contender. Goff doesn't have to be lights out. Just be efficient and make plays when they need to be made. Todd Gurley is a quarterback's best friend. A dual threat out of the backfield. If defenses are playing that well, you can do different things with him.

And then there is that defense. I don't know if they'll come out firing on all cylinders from day one, but they have a chance to be very, very good. On par with the good defenses that have won Superbowls.

This is the first time since the GSOT that I have real expectations coming into a season. Being a Rams fan for so long makes me cautious though.

I see the RAMs being in the top three in all three phase of this team,,, O, D, and ST... as long as we don't have any major injuries with our skill players...

This team has been playing fast during camp....
which is a sign, that they are not thinking about the plays,
they are just reacting on the plays.....

What I'm looking forward to,

What new plays on the offense they will throw out... Could we see some RPO's or the power game, with an extra lineman and two TEs and of course seeing that deep ball from Goff to Cooks...

On the D side,,, I'm watching what will happen in the Middle of the front line.... All the switching with AD, Suh and Brockers... adding Easley with a 3rd and long on the outside and AD on the other DE side of the rock
or Just keeping Suh and AD making that push right up the middle against non running QBs.

With running QBs, we will have our ILBs keying on them... since we will have the Smother Brothers hawking opponents WRs....

This year with our schedule I only see two QBs that can be duel threats, Wilson for two games, Rodgers and Wentz.... With some other QBs that have athletic abilities, but not known for running.....

Well with the push right up the middle,,,, that will slow down those running QBs...

And it wouldn't be wised for Wentz to start running like in the past... if he wants to survive in this game... He seems to get injury prone between college and now in the NFL....

I want to see us be the healthiest team in the league.

Agreed Dick. Barring injury, this team is Damn near unbeatable. Averaging 30 points a game last year and now they have an upgrade over Watkins. Sick. The defensive additions, sick. I think having Suh, Donald, and Brockers is going to be overwhelming for every team in the league. The defense will be allowing less than 17 pts a game. This team is built to blow up the league this year. With McVay in charge and word getting out what the culture is like, attracting good free agent talent will never be a problem.

Elmgrovegnome wrote:Agreed Dick. Barring injury, this team is Damn near unbeatable. Averaging 30 points a game last year and now they have an upgrade over Watkins. Sick. The defensive additions, sick. I think having Suh, Donald, and Brockers is going to be overwhelming for every team in the league. The defense will be allowing less than 17 pts a game. This team is built to blow up the league this year. With McVay in charge and word getting out what the culture is like, attracting good free agent talent will never be a problem.

This is either exactly why we win.

Or, don’t.

Idk, has a team who has actually never won a damn thing in years been so favored?

I’ve been a fan of a losing team. My team has won zero recently.

Now, all of a sudden I’m the fan of the golden child team like a Pat’s fan.

Not buying it. Rams need to play.

We done nothing yet.

As much fun as I am going to have watching them this year, the way I am looking at it, this one year is only part of it. I heard someone say they raised expectations this offseason to the point where anything short of a superbowl will be failure. I don't see it that way. I see a long run ahead, a perpetually contending team, and yeah some superbowl chances. They have Snead, McVay, Kromer, Phillips, Pleasant, Fassel, Goff, Cooks, Woods, Gurley, and Donald...most if not all of them will be around for a while, and as we know they have plenty more besides those guys. And will add more. The Rams will be a top team for a long time. They will be fun to watch and easy to root for. So as much as I know I am going to enjoy 2018, where they end up this year is just going to be one part of a longer story.

The LB core was the biggest question going into training camp, and still is, IMO. Barron is not looking like he will play monday night, has limited practices, if any. Longacre & Easley have a recent injury history. Lawler, Young and Kiser are rookies. Littleton & Ebukam are first year full time starters. Looks like Wilson will sub for Barron, however he did struggle at times in K.C. More questions than answers in the unit, however in Wade I trust.

pmill66 wrote:The LB core was the biggest question going into training camp, and still is, IMO. Barron is not looking like he will play monday night, has limited practices, if any. Longacre & Easley have a recent injury history. Lawler, Young and Kiser are rookies. Littleton & Ebukam are first year full time starters. Looks like Wilson will sub for Barron, however he did struggle at times in K.C. More questions than answers in the unit, however in Wade I trust.

This is why we can't think about them yet as possibly being one of the top defenses of all time. The ones that fit that definition were strong in every unit. Baltimore 2000, for example, had top DL, LBs, and DBs. It may turn out that Ebukam and Littleton are good and Barron comes back (I am starting to doubt he will though). But we obviously have no idea yet.

If the Defense plays up to how they look on paper, you might as well hand us the Lombardi now. Our offense only has to be good, not stellar. If Cooks is what we think he is it will just create more room for Gurley, opening up the offense even more than last year. Don't forget Bone's unit either. Kickoffs get an upgrade with the new rule and hopefully Cooper will light it up. A healthy Greg the Leg will be a plus also.

The unknown factor will be the Injuries through the season.