[PARAM]

We didn't earn a bye. Didn't even earn the #2 seed. But we did win a division. Some say the toughest division in the NFL. And I checked. They're right. So, despite the concern, complaints and consternation of some in the fanbase, I'm happy. I think we accomplished most of what we set out to do for the regular season. It wasn't easy and we took some lumps. But to be where we are right now, we should feel good. There's a long way to go and some serious work to get done but we know we are capable of doing it. You don't fall into an ugly losing streak that threatens to completely change your season, come out of it strong and win the toughest division in football unless you're pretty fucking good. And losing in the final week of the season to your biggest rival in history should serve to only make the team work harder.

Can this team threaten us and that style concern us and those guys worry us? Sure. Its the NFL, players are well paid and teams are pretty good. Playoff teams are really good. But does anybody think there's a team out there, including SF, who's thinking "if we only get to play the Rams....."? I don't. So I'd just like to look at some positives.

Cooper Kupp. Now would anybody listing positives start with any other player? McVay's best receiver. He's been our leading receiver 4 of the 5 years he's been here. And the only time he wasn't, he was injured half the year. The year we went to the Superbowl. Now, every NFL fan on the planet knows how good is he and what he's capable of accomplishing. 145 receptions, 1947 yards and 16 touchdowns. 11 one hundred yard games and 5 others with 92 or more. 7 receptions in every game but 2. 6 of his 16 touchdowns gave us the lead, 1 tied a game and 1 was a game winner. 4 others made it a 2 score game. A positive? The guy was the fooking offense many games.

Aaron Donald. The only time AD would listed as the #2 positive is if the #1 had a mind numbingly incredible year. Stats don't do him justice. Sacks (3rd best of his career), QB hits, TFL, solo tackles and total tackles (highest of his career) can be seen on any stats sheet. Double teams, triple teams faced, pass rush win rate.....Seth Walder had to enlarge his chart to show AD's production in that area. Watching AD do what he does even when the "stats" aren't there is a pleasure.

Matt Stafford. The guy who came to us in the biggest, most talked about deal of the off season only #3? Some will say, "sure he's turned the ball over more than Jared Goff in 3 of his 4 years here". And that would be true, but he's also thrown for more yards in a season than any Rams QB ever, tied for the most TDs in a season and had the second highest QB rating for any Rams QB. He also averaged more than 8 yards per attempt, the 4th highest of any Ram QB starting 16 games. But those other guys were so good, they have to be mentioned before him. Of course in a few weeks it could be differenet.

Sony Michel. What a tough runner!!! He had a rough day yesterday but on the year he's been awesome. Most yards the last 3 years by a Rams running back not named "Todd" and he was just 12 yards short of Gurley's 2019 production on 15 less carries. What a trade.

Tyler Higbee. Say what you will about Higbee. He's not Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews, Gronk or Kittle. But he was 9th among TE's in receptions (61) and 9th in TE TDs (5) and he missed 2 games to Covid. The 61 receptions were his 2nd best in 6 years and his 5 TDs matched his best. His 560 yards were his second highest.

Cam Akers. Out for the season before training camp. But the miracles of modern medicine and hard work by Akers and the Rams trainers and he's here for the postseason.

Big acquisitions have come up big in big situations. Stafford, OBJ, Miller.
We won 12 games for only the 8th time in our long history.
After missing the playoffs for 12 straight years, we've punched our ticket for the 4th time in 5 years.
Though our OL has had a couple of bad games, they've been healthy all year. All 5 have started at least 15 games. And we have the 5th best offensive production of the playoff teams (26.6 ppg, 2.9 ppg behind #1).
Our defense has improved throughout the year and we're #3 among playoff teams (19.7 ppg).
We have a huge opportunity in front of us and we're better armed than we've been since McVay took over.

Let's see how we do.

[HellRam]

Good post and I honestly cant say I have any major gripes.

That said, anything short of the NFC title game would end the year with disappointment in my opinion.

[Hacksaw]

I've been disappointed every year except in 99. Let's make this one as good as we can get and maybe match it....

[max]

We got swept by the Niners for the 3rd straight year. We won the division yet we’re unable to shut them up. They said it would be a body bag game and they physically took it to us especially in the 2nd half and we now have a decimated secondary. That is a huge disappointment. I have a very sour taste in my mouth and that won’t change unless we at least get to the SB. That’s what was expected when they went all in with all the acquisitions this year and gave up all that draft capitol.

[Hacksaw]

Expecting to go to the Superbowl seems like a rather lofty expectation..

[max]

Expecting to go to the Superbowl seems like a rather lofty expectation..

Ok. So we traded away a ton of picks this year to add players to win the SB now. At least that was the common understanding with the ongoing “we’re all in for this year” mantra of the organization.

Maybe that’s a lofty expectation, but it’s one they embraced with their moves.

For me, I expect them to continue to embrace that expectation and not back out and say we had a successful season even though we didn’t achieve the goal we were all in on.

[PARAM]

Expecting to go to the Superbowl seems like a rather lofty expectation..

And expecting to just "go there" isn't. It's the same as saying "I want to at least see them lose the Superbowl". Really?

We lost to the niners. Again. So what does that mean? We suck? No. They are a very good team. Tough. Run the ball well. Play good D. They won 7 of their last 9. They didn't give up and became the first team to beat the Rams when they had a halftime lead under McVay? Neither did the Rams. The Rams led 17-0 and basically gave the momentum to SF.....on a dumb play call with 0:49 left in the half. Over the rest of the game, the niners fought hard to tie it and at that point, many lesser teams would have folded. The Rams didn't. They forced 2 punts and picked off a pass in the end zone on a remarkable play, then put together a 9 play, 77 yard TD drive that gave them the lead and took 5:13 off the clock. They held SF to -8 yards on a drive they "had to have" and ran the ball 3 times forcing SF to use all of their timeouts.

That was the right move, and I disagree with the fans who say it wasn't. It was the complete opposite of empty backfield on 3rd and 1 with 0:49 left in the half. Our defense was capable of holding them...held them the previous drive......and the odds of them going 83 yards in less than 2 minutes was slim. You have to tip your hat to them that they got it done. We helped with a couple of bad decisions and blown coverage on defense but guess what? We're still the division champs, hosting a playoff game and capable of beating anybody in the NFL.

"I won't be satisfied unless they get to the Superbowl"?

I'll wait to see how the postseason unfolds before I decide whether I'm satisfied or not. I will be disappointed if they don't win it all but the level of disappointment depends on how the games go.

[Hacksaw]

Every team tries to achieve the Super Bowl, expecting to get there as different.
@PARAM
@max

[max]

Every team tries to achieve the Super Bowl, expecting to get there as different.
@PARAM
@max

We must understand the difference between the investments put into achieving the Super Bowl this year. Not every team traded away a boat load of picks to get there this year.

Some would argue the Rams mortgaged their future to get there, and thats debatable. But clearly they invested more draft capital than any other team to get there this year. I'm not glossing over that fact.

[PARAM]

Ok. So we traded away a ton of picks this year to add players to win the SB now. At least that was the common understanding with the ongoing “we’re all in for this year” mantra of the organization.

That was the goal. And at the time weren't there a lot of 'logical' comments from fans that, "they're all in every year"? Is it really a failure if they don't win? If that's the case McVay's entire time here is a failure! But is it, really? They acquired Whitworth, Woods and Watkins (2nd Rd pick) in 2017. Cooks (1st rd pick), Suh, Peters (2nd and 4th), Talib (5th Rd) and Fowler (3rd and 5th) in 2018. Matthews and Ramsey (two 1st rd, 4th) in 2019. Leonard Floyd, A' Shawn Robinson, Matt Gay in 2020. Stafford (two 1sts plus Goff), OBJ (for $$$), Miller (2nd and 3rd) in 2021. Which seasons weren't they "all in" in?

They didn't bank on losing Akers for all but 1 regular season game. They didn't bank of Woods going down. Or all the other injured guys who they expected to help. It's something every team has to deal with and the fact they acquired all those guys is the reason we still won the division and are a legit contender. But if they don't win it all were all those acquisitions a waste? Is Stafford gone next year? No. OBJ? Miller? Sony? We'll see. It's common sense you should do everything, acquire every player you can to win a Superbowl. But only 1 team does that each year. So 31 teams worked hard, acquired talent and it was all for naught?