After reaching the Super Bowl two seasons ago, the Los Angeles Rams entered the 2019 campaign with high expectations. They were among the favorites to win it all and their projected win total was one of the highest in the NFL.
That’s not the narrative surrounding this team heading into 2020. The bar has been set lower for the Rams after they went 9-7 last season, with many analysts viewing them as nothing more than a middle-of-the-road team.
Peter King of NBC Sports is among that contingent of media members with lower expectations for the Rams in 2020, putting them right in the middle of his latest power rankings.
King ranked the Rams 16th in the NFL, and he said he likes them “more than most.”
Here’s part of what King wrote about the Rams:
I like them more than most. But in reality, it’s hard to know what to make of this team after the major makeover this year. Has there been a team in NFL history with a coaching braintrust this young—Sean McVay 34, offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell 35, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley 37? If the Rams return to the playoffs this year, Jared Goff will have to have a turnaround season, and that’s an iffy proposition. He was a confident mad bomber as the Rams marauded their way to Super Bowl contention in 2018 and has looked more tentative since. (First 11 games of 2018: 26 TDs, 6 interceptions. Twenty-four games since: 29-24.) Remember that Thursday night game against Minnesota early in 2018, when Goff threw high arcing bombs to Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks? Lovely. On-target. Bill Walsh used to have a saying (and he taught his scouts this), If I’ve seen a guy do it a few times on tape, it’s up to us as coaches to get him to do it that way all the time. That’s why the Niners drafted the inconsistent Charles Haley out of James Madison; Haley flashed a few times in college and Walsh thought they could get that out of him consistently.
This is a pivotal year for Sean McVay and the Rams, given the changes they underwent this offseason. Gone are proven coordinators Wade Phillips and John Fassel, and in are Brandon Staley, Kevin O’Connell and John Bonamego.
McVay clearly wants to take more control over the defense after mostly focusing on the offense for the past few years, and he hired someone who’s been called the McVay of the defense in the 37-year-old Staley.
The Rams also made several changes to their roster with Todd Gurley, Clay Matthews, Brandin Cooks, Nickell Robey-Coleman, Cory Littleton and Dante Fowler Jr. all gone, relying more heavily on unproven and younger players to step up.
If this plan backfires, the Rams will be left in a difficult position with pricey veterans at the top of the salary cap and more questions to answer next offseason with Cooper Kupp, John Johnson, Jalen Ramsey and Gerald Everett all entering the final year of their contracts.
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