Coming off a season where they did everything right except win their final postseason game, the 2019-20 Los Angeles Rams are looking to make things right by marching through the regular season again and taking care of business until they’ve won the Super Bowl.
Of course, without a referee’s missed pass interference call during the NFC Championship game against the New Orleans Saints, the Rams would never had gotten their shot at the 2018 Lombardi Trophy, but once they did the Patriots kept them to a field goal and Los Angeles limped away quietly into the night.
For the 2019-20 season, the Rams have added depth to their defense, given their quarterback a veteran backup, and anticipate the return of an injured receiver while discovering their star running back may have arthritis, and we cover all those stories here as well as look at the odds and predictions of the team’s postseason potential. If you reside in New Jersey and want to place bets, check out our guide for future bets.
Pass game – Shane Waldron (Promoted January 2018)
When you lose the previous Super Bowl like the 2018 Los Angeles Rams did to the New England Patriots 3-13, it’s tough to feel like it was a great season, but it definitely was.
The Rams won their division, the NFC West, with a record of 13-3, and for the second season in a row, both under new head coach Sean McVay, Los Angeles went to the playoffs and continue to be one of the favored teams in the NFC and NFL.
Their second-ranked offense more than made up for their 19th ranked defense until it really counted, which was in the Big Game where Goff and crew were virtually shut down by the brilliance of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and his trusty enforcer, quarterback Tom Brady.
General manager Les Snead will have to decide if he wants to build for another Super Bowl run in 2019 and upgrade his already excellent roster in free agency.
Otherwise, he’ll have to make up his mind to trust his players who have mega-deals (Donald, Goff) will get the job done surrounded by youthful depth who don’t cost nearly as much.
Chances are Snead will float somewhere in the middle and use the draft to prepare for the future and free agency to continue filling what few roster holes still remain.
Offensive guard Rodger Saffold, ranked by Pro Football Focus and the seventh best offensive guard of 2018, signed a four-year, $44 million deal with the Tennessee Titans.
Center John Sullivan, who became a free agent once the Rams decided not to exercise a 2019 option on the NFL veteran’s contract.
Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, now a free agent who demands more than the Rams are willing to pay but who is still searching for a new NFL home.
Safety Eric Weddle, the 12-year NFL veteran who had 68 tackles, 3 passes defended and a sack with the Baltimore Ravens last season, now with a two-year, $10.5 million contract with the Rams.
Linebacker Clay Matthews, the former Green Bay Packers star who is known for his roughing the passer calls, now with a two-year deal worth $9.25 million.
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who is already on the team but is coming off a season-ending torn ACL injury, and who when healthy, provides Goff with a dependable mid-range target who is able to find yardage after his catches.
Offensive Line, Running Back Depth
Nose Tackle
The Rams have 7 picks in the 2019 NFL Draft, and they are:
Since the 2009 season, Los Angeles has only been to the postseason twice, and that was in 2017 and 2018 under head coach Sean McVay, whose youth and game planning style has inspired a lot of other NFL teams to look for similar head coaching talent.
In their franchise history, the Rams have been to the playoffs 29 times, to the Super Bowl four times and the NFL Championship game four times.
The Cleveland Rams won an NFL Championship in 1945, the first Los Angeles Rams won it once in 1951 and the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl once in 1999 against the Tennessee Titans, 23-16.
The first question the Los Angeles Rams have to answer is whether their star running back Todd Gurley’s knee is going to allow him to run the way he used to or like how he did in the final fourth of the season and in the playoffs, which was relatively unimpressive given the man’s talents.
It has recently been reported that Gurley now has arthritis in his knee, the resulting soreness of which may explain why despite making cuts on the field that no injured man could make, arguably the best player on the team spent so much time on the bench towards the end of the season.
Look for Snead to use at least one of his lower draft picks to grab a young running back with fresh legs who could give Gurley more time to rest his knee.
The Rams have strengthened their defense through free agency and have even brought in a veteran backup quarterback, Blake Bortles, just in case Goff ever goes down, so they will be able to take a good run against their first place schedule and most likely see the playoffs for the third season in a row.
After the 2017 season, the Rams’ offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur was snagged by the Tennessee Titans to be their offensive coordinator, the only difference being that he would now be calling the plays from the sideline, something he had wanted to do but couldn’t in Los Angeles.
McVay decided to split the offensive coordinating duties between two coaches and promoted two of his coaches to the position.
Offensive line coach Aaron Kromer became the run game coordinator and tight ends coach Shane Waldron became the pass game coordinator.
McVay continues to call the plays as well as send audibles in to Goff right up until the quarterback’s helmet mic cuts out with 15 seconds left on the play clock.
According to the oddsmakers, the 2019-20 Los Angeles Rams have two main opponents to worry about in the postseason – the New Orleans Saints in the NFC and either the New England Patriots or the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC.
If McVay can figure out how to re-spark his team’s run game and Gurley somehow returns to old form while a healthy Kupp returns to his slot and pulls defensive attention towards him again, the Rams would be tough to beat and the odds they’ve been given certainly seem to back that up.
If you live in New Jersey and want to bet on futures in NFL you can do so on 888sport. Check out the latest odds here:
Good luck!
Los Angeles Rams Postseason
To Win NFC West | To Win NFC Championship | To Win Super Bowl LIV | Bet Now |
---|---|---|---|
-155 | +400 | +900 |
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