After easily handling the San Francisco 49ers to close out the season, the Los Angeles Rams get the bye week they earned, and two needed wins that gets them back on track for a postseason run.
Over 17 weeks of play, the Los Angeles Rams end their 2018 season with a two game win streak, a quarterback playing better, a star running back getting healthy again, and most importantly, some needed momentum. All positives as they ramp up for a playoff run.
After some stumbling coming out of the bye week, Los Angeles has found that groove again after beating up on the bottom division of the NFC West with wins at the Arizona Cardinals 31-9, and a solid 60 minutes against the San Francisco 49ers 48-32. Not terribly impressive teams in that the Cardinals finished at 3-13 and the Niners at 4-12.
Quarterback Jared Goff, who looked anything other than Jared Goff for the better part of December, has found his way back from poor to average outings against teams like the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, and Philadelphia Eagles.
The best news for Goff is the resurgence in the running game. The addition of C.J. Anderson was perhaps the biggest and best decision the Rams made personnel wise in 2018. It also allowed Todd Gurley to get some needed rest and help Goff find his game. If fans saw anything this season, it’s that the Los Angeles offense (specifically Goff) can only function with a healthy and highly productive running game, be it Gurley or Anderson.
All that said, the Rams got the best you can from a 13-3 season. While the top seed in the NFC was lost a few weeks ago, Los Angeles showed it can compete and potentially win against the New Orleans Saints.
While they will get the higher seed that remains after Wildcard Weekend, it will be curious to see how another week off either helps them, or possible does what the bye week did, which seems to have stalled their momentum.
The Rams, like every other team in the playoffs, control how far they go. They’ve demonstrated an ability to light up a scoreboard as well as grind out a few wins. In the postseason, either works so long as it gets you another game.
Source: “Los Angeles” – Google News