Tag: rams record

Rams 2022 schedule: Game-by-game score predictions

We predicted the final score of each game on the Rams’ schedule. What record will they end the 2022 season with?

The Los Angeles Rams have won at least 10 games in four of their last five seasons under Sean McVay. They’ve reached the Super Bowl twice, winning it last season over the Cincinnati Bengals.

What does the 2022 season hold for the Rams? Is another double-digit-win season in the cards?

After seeing the way this team came together late last season, there’s no reason to think they can’t win at least 11 or 12 games, despite having the hardest schedule in the NFL.

With the schedule now released, we went game by game and predicted the final score of each Rams matchup. In the end, we had them finishing with the same record as last season, which will have them in position for another Super Bowl run.

Sean McVay would rather not be reminded of his perfect record with a halftime lead

Sean McVay doesn’t want anyone to jinx the Rams, and understandably so.

Not everyone believes in jinxes, but Sean McVay certainly does. The Rams head coach helped lead his team to a 27-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night, moving their record to 7-3.

While that record is impressive, it’s not nearly as eye-popping as McVay’s mark track record when leading at halftime. With the Rams holding on to beat the Buccaneers after leading 17-14 at the half, McVay is now a perfect 32-0 as a head coach when holding a lead after the first half.

It’s a testament to his and his coaching staff’s ability to make halftime adjustments, often correcting things that went wrong in the first half.

After the win, McVay said he’d rather not be reminded of his unblemished record.

There was plenty of talk about his 31-0 record after the Rams took a halftime lead over the Buccaneers and they weren’t jinxed, holding on to win by three points. It will surely be mentioned both on the broadcast and on Twitter every time the Rams hold a halftime lead moving forward, so McVay won’t have his way with this one.

For now, he won’t stress about any possible jinx and will instead enjoy the feeling of winning a second straight game against a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

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Rams receive A- midseason grade after 5-3 start

The Rams are in a good spot at the midway point of the season.

Looking back at the Rams’ first eight games of this season, it probably didn’t go as well as the team had hoped. Sure, they swept the NFC East, but they lost disappointing games to the 49ers and Dolphins, and dug themselves too deep a hole in the first half against the Bills before a miraculous comeback attempt came up short.

Still, the Rams are in a good spot at 5-3, sitting just one game behind the division-leading Seahawks. And for all the criticism and doubt cast upon Los Angeles before the season began, 5-3 is a pleasant surprise.

Nate Davis at USA TODAY Sports handed out midseason grades for every team after the first half of the year, and the Rams were somewhat surprisingly given an A-. Here’s what Davis wrote about L.A. thus far.

Los Angeles Rams: Jared Goff is rebounding from a down year, completing a career-best 65.5% of his passes. Yet coach Sean McVay hasn’t had to ask as much from his quarterback, successfully restoring offensive equilibrium with a multi-pronged run game that’s surged since RB Todd Gurley’s departure. However the real story here might be a defense that’s quietly emerged as the NFC’s stingiest under first-year coordinator Brandon Staley.

The Rams have mostly exceeded the lower expectations that were set for them in August and September. Just look at their Super Bowl odds. They’ve gone from 20th-best to ninth-best in a span of two months, greatly improving their chances.

They’re squarely in the mix in the playoff hunt, sitting just one game out of the No. 1 seed in the conference. Their schedule will get tougher, but with that defense, they can compete with anyone.

 

 

NFC West is living up to the hype as the NFL’s premier division

The NFC West is the only division without a winless team and has an NFL-best 9-3 record.

Throughout the summer, there was almost no doubt about which division would likely end up as the best in the NFL this season. Yet, even with as much hype as the NFC West came into the year with, it has arguably exceeded expectations.

Through three weeks, no division has played at a higher level than the NFC West – and it’s not particularly close. The Seahawks lead the way at 3-0, followed by the Rams, 49ers and Cardinals all one game behind at 2-1.

The NFC West is the only division in football with all four teams above .500, with their combined record being a remarkable and NFL-best 9-3. In fact, it’s the only division without a winless team up to this point.

The closest division to the NFC West is the AFC North, which features the 2-0 Ravens, 3-0 Steelers, 2-1 Browns and 0-2-1 Bengals. But even that group of four teams can’t match up with the NFC West.

The Rams, Cardinals, 49ers and Seahawks all rank in the top 15 in points scored this season, and all four teams have a points differential of at least 16 points – which puts each club in the top 12 in that department. The NFC West is the only division with all four teams owning a positive points differential through three weeks.

This is all while the 49ers limp into Week 4 without the majority of their best players, and after both the Rams and Cardinals lost in the fourth quarter on Sunday. This division could easily have three undefeated teams, with the last-place team being alone at 2-1.

What has worked in the NFC West’s favor so far is the fact that there’s only been one divisional matchup thus far, with the Cardinals beating the 49ers in Week 1. Otherwise, the rest of the games have been outside the NFC West.

That’ll change in the second half of the season when there will be more divisional contests – particularly for the Rams. Naturally, they’ll begin to beat up on each other at some point, but there’s no question about which division has been the best in the league through three weeks.

USA TODAY projects Rams’ 2020 record, and it’s not pretty

Nate Davis isn’t high on the Rams, projecting them to go 6-10.

The Rams are no longer the kings of the NFC West as they were for two seasons from 2017-2018, finishing third in the division last season. Could they slide even further in 2020 and end up in the basement of the NFL’s best division?

Nate Davis of USA TODAY released his annual record predictions for the upcoming season and that’s exactly where he has the Rams finishing. Davis projects the Rams to go 6-10, behind the 7-9 Cardinals, 9-7 Seahawks and 12-4 49ers.

The 49ers and Seahawks make the playoffs in this scenario, but neither reaches the Super Bowl; Davis projects a Saints-Ravens matchup with New Orleans winning it all.

Here’s what Davis wrote about the Rams, noting Jared Goff’s play behind a shaky offensive line, a rookie defensive coordinator and early kickoffs in the first half of the season.

Los Angeles Rams (6-10): They’re not two years removed from that Super Bowl LIII run even if it feels long ago. Not going to be easy for QB Jared Goff to reclaim his Pro Bowl form behind these blockers and inexperienced backs. Meanwhile, the defense is breaking in rookie coordinator Brandon Staley. Oh, and the Rams will also be dealing with four 1 p.m. ET kickoffs in the first eight weeks.

A 6-10 record isn’t out of the question for Los Angeles, especially given the competitiveness of the NFC West and how difficult the Rams’ schedule is. They have to face the likes of the Cowboys, Eagles, Bills and Buccaneers outside the division, none of which are easy wins.

They do have favorable matchups with the Jets, Dolphins, Giants and Washington, but the Rams can’t sleep walk through those games, either.

When we predicted each game on their schedule, we had the Rams going 10-6, which is a stark contrast from Davis’ projection. There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding this team and coaching staff, but the talent is there for Los Angeles to make a playoff run. It just needs to be more consistent offensively and improve on defense.

USA TODAY projects Rams to go 6-10, finish last in NFC West

USA TODAY’s Nate Davis doesn’t have high expectations for the Rams in 2020.

With new uniforms, a new logo and a spectacular new stadium, 2020 is shaping up to be a big year for the Los Angeles Rams. And when they do eventually get on the field, the team will have a different feel with Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks, Eric Weddle and Cory Littleton all gone.

As exciting as their brand refresh is, the Rams and their fans just hope they can have some success when the games actually start. That won’t be the case, though, according to USA TODAY’s Nate Davis.

On Thursday, Davis released his annual record predictions for each team in the NFL, along with playoff projections and a Super Bowl matchup. He doesn’t have high expectations for the Rams, predicting a 6-10 record and last-place finish in the NFC West.

Los Angeles Rams (6-10): They don’t look good … literally true in the wake of Wednesday’s uniform reveal. That aside, maybe they won’t miss the production of Gurley and recently dealt WR Brandin Cooks. But what about a still-shaky O-line? Or a linebacker corps devoid of playmakers? Or QB Jared Goff, who took a step back in 2019? Oh, and their first three road games are all 1 p.m. kickoffs on the East Coast.

Davis’ concerns are all warranted, and he’s probably right about the decision to part ways with Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks. The Rams already have replacements on the roster at much lower costs and without durability concerns.

But there are worries about the offensive line, which was disappointing in 2019. The linebacker unit is one of the most uncertain in the NFL, with Micah Kiser and Kenny Young potentially starting. The schedule doesn’t do Los Angeles any favors, either, with the Cowboys, Eagles and Bills up first in September.

As for the rest of the NFC West, Davis has the 49ers taking the crown again at 12-4, followed by the Seahawks at 9-7 and Cardinals at 7-9. Only the 49ers make the playoffs out of the West, though, and Davis has them losing in the divisional round to the fifth-seeded Buccaneers.

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Torry Holt says Greatest Show on Turf was better than 2007 Patriots

Torry Holt would pick the Greatest Show on Turf over the 2007 Patriots, who went 16-0.

The 2007 New England Patriots ran the table in the regular season, going a perfect 16-0. They won their first two playoff games, but then hit a wall in the Super Bowl and lost to the New York Giants.

They finished 18-1, coming up one win shy of a truly perfect season.

That Patriots team is widely viewed as one of the best in NFL history. Yet, Torry Holt would still pick the Greatest Show on Turf over the 2007 Patriots.

“The ‘07 Patriots were dynamic. They were really good.” Holt told Rob Lep of Sports Illustrated. “Moss, Brady, and Welker and all those guys. But you know I’ve got to go with us. The amount of points and the consecutive years which we did it was just unbelievable. We took the National Football League by storm because of the speed in which we played, the routes, the concepts which we were running and the points, which is incredible. So I’d go with the Greatest Show on Turf, but no disrespect to those 07 Patriots. They were phenomenal, but the Greatest Show on Turf was the best.”

The Rams’ best team was in 1999 when they went 13-3, leading the league in scoring with 526 points and only allowing 242. They were a well-rounded unit, which makes it no surprise that they went on to win the Super Bowl that year.

They were led by Marshall Faulk, Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce and Holt, going 37-11 across three seasons with two Super Bowl appearances.

The 2007 Patriots have a strong case as the better team, though. They scored 589 points and only allowed 274, ranking first in total offense and fourth defensively. If not for Eli Manning’s miraculous completion to David Tyree’s helmet, the Patriots very likely would’ve finished 19-0.

But regardless of which way you lean in this Rams vs. Patriots debate, both teams were among the best in NFL history.

Sean McVay focused on finishing 2019 season with a winning record

Sean McVay has turned his attention to Week 17.

Sean McVay is an optimist as a coach, always looking at the bright side of things even when a game or season doesn’t go the Rams’ way. This year certainly fell short of expectations for Los Angeles, but McVay is still finding positives despite the Rams being eliminated from playoff contention at 8-7.

Here’s what the coach said after the Rams’ 34-31 loss to the 49ers, making it clear that he wants to finish the season with a winning record of 9-7 despite not being able to make the playoffs.

“Unfortunately, that means our postseason chances are eliminated but I know this: We’ve got an opportunity to finish the season the right way, finish with a winning season and got a bunch of winners in that locker room, and that’s what I expect us to do as we move forward to Week 17 against the Arizona Cardinals,” he said.

The Rams finished last season in the Super Bowl, which is far different from having your playoff chances drop to zero in Week 16 as the Rams did this year. As much as McVay wishes they were playing for another championship, he’s being a realist.

“We’re not gonna do that, but I do trust that we’re made of the right stuff,” he said. “I know that once we get through next week, I can’t wait to attack the offseason, figure out how I can be better.”

The Rams were a longshot to make the playoffs even with a win on Saturday night. McVay and all the players know that, but it doesn’t make the loss any easier to swallow. They’re going to watch the film as usual, but quickly move on and prepare for the Cardinals in Week 17.

“We’re going to look at this film and we’re going to move on and we’re going to do everything we can to finish the season off the right way. To be able to finish with a winning record, that’s the next thing. You always have the playoffs and that’s out the window. ‘Well all right, hey, let’s have some pride. We get 16 opportunities like we’ve talked about. This represents the final game of the season for this team. love those guys in the locker room and want to make sure I do my part to try to have a good performance and cap it off the right way.”