Arguments, pro and con, for Rams

The Los Angeles Rams are looking to make history this week by becoming the first team to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LVI by playing at home in the stadium designated as the site of the NFL’s championship game.

Last season Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the first team to win the Super Bowl in their own stadium, but punched their ticket with a thrilling win at Lambeau Field over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game.

The Bucs were the opponent that the Rams left on the road to reach this stage and had it not been for a series of mistakes protecting the ball in the last quarter, the victory could have been more convincing than it finally was with a dramatic 30-27 win.

The Rams are looking to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since their loss to the New England Patriots in the LIII edition three years ago and just beat the quarterback who stood in their way of the title that year.

But before thinking about the championship, Los Angeles must end the stigma of the dominance that the San Francisco 49ers have recently established over them with six consecutive victories, including the regular season sweep.

1. Defensive pressure. The Rams have faced two diametrically opposed quarterbacks in their two playoff games and the result has been positive in both matchups. First they held Kyler Murray in check with two catches and five hits, then Brady was the one who suffered from defensive pressure with three catches and six hits, both of which ended up throwing interceptions.
2. Ability to react. Los Angeles was practically on the ropes, they saw a 27-3 lead vanish in the second half and with 42 seconds to play they started their winning series with a catch, any team at that point would have taken a knee to let time run out and not risk another turnover (after having had three in the game) that would have condemned them to elimination.
3. Sean McVay’s experience In five years as head coach, McVay has a 55-26 (.679) record, including a Super Bowl appearance.
4. Cooper Kupp. The Rams faced a tricky scenario, with the momentum of the game leaning toward the Buccaneers, who had not only tied the score but caught Matthew Stafford on the first play of the offensive series, the quarterback relied on the wide receiver on a 20-yard pass to get into Buccaneers territory and then Kupp caught another delivery down the middle of the field at the Tampa Bay 12 to set the stage for Matt Gay’s game-winning field goal.

Five reasons the Rams won’t advance to Super Bowl LVI

1. First, Cam Akers lost a fumble at the Buccaneers’ 1-yard line with 24 seconds to play in the first half on a series that was shaping up to end in points, with a 20-3 lead for the Rams would have virtually defined the game, instead it rallied the banged-up Bucs.
2. Inability to stop the run. The Rams allowed San Francisco to rush for 291 yards in their two regular-season meetings, both losses, with Deebo Samuel becoming the X-factor in those games by averaging 6.23 yards per carry and scoring two touchdowns. Los Angeles had no answer for the Niners’ ground attack, much less Samuel, who is coming off putting San Francisco in position to beat the Packers on the final play in the Divisional Round.
3. Odell Beckham Jr. We know that the wide receiver is a ticking time bomb and at any time can become a problem for an offense’s harmony by demanding more passes than a quarterback can commit to a target, which invariably can translate into interceptions. Last week, Beckham caught six of eight passes in his direction and all was hunky-dory, but in the two losses to San Francisco in the regular season he had identical performances with two receptions for 18 yards in each game.
4. Historical background. This stat is very telling and not good for the Rams, but teams that have swept a regular season series have won 14 of 22 times when a third playoff meeting occurs since 1970. That is, only eight teams that lost twice to the same opponent in the regular season have been successful in a postseason rematch, although the last time it happened was last year when the Bucs beat the New Orleans Saints.

5. Kyle Shanahan has taken Sean McVay’s measure. The head coaches overlapped between 2010 and 2013 when they worked together at Washington, where Shanahan was offensive coordinator and McVay served as offensive assistant and then tight ends coach, before inheriting the position from Shanahan the following year. Both took over as coaches of their teams in 2017 and despite McVay’s favorable results early in their rivalry, with three wins in four meetings, Shanahan has taken the last six games in a row by a combined score of 159-108.