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The Rams are in London this week. Our boys from the "Lou" are out there enjoying crumpets, bitter beer, fairy cakes, and every other type of food listed here.
Oh, they're also there to do battle with the bloody New England Patriots. We should be favored by the fans over there – I mean, the Patriots are technically anti-British... right?
New England is led by the Tom Brady and they have a variety of weapons. The Rams will have to find a way to take away some of these options and figure out how to score. Here are some blokes that can play big parts in helping the Rams achieve victory:
QB Sam Bradford
Bradford is like a woman in a relationship. Sometimes, it is good, promising even... Then there's certain days the relationship is going down the drain. All hell lets loose. Against the Pats, we'll need to see the good version of Sam. He'll have to find a way to be effective in the red zone and score.
FS Craig Dahl
Why is this dude starting? Why is he even on an NFL roster? Regardless of my strong dislike for the cat, he's our starting free safety. He'll face probably his toughest match this week versus New England's Rob Gronkowski. Gronk is a beast of a TE, and above average defenders struggle to contain him in the passing game. We are well aware pass coverage is not Craig's strong suit, so he'll have to be at his best.
WR Brandon Gibson
Gibson is just like Sammy – there are days he looks good, and days he looks bad. Against Miami, Gibby looked great. He caught 7 passes for 91 yards. Good, solid numbers. On the flip side, Brandon has days where he only records two catches for 19 yards (Chicago game). He is Sam's top target at the moment and he'll have to be productive on Sunday to give the Rams a chance to win.
WR Brian Quick
Quick has been seeing the field more frequently over the past few weeks. This should bode well for the rookie who had a slow start, even if his snaps come during garbage time. He started looking better last week against Green Bay, hauling in a 22 yarder – his longest of the season. Quick is a big body on a team that doesn't really have a big target.
DT Michael Brockers
The Rams' run defense has been pretty strong in recent weeks. In the past three games, the defense has not allowed more than 75 total rushing yards ( highest was Green Bay with 70 rushing yards). A big part of the improvement in the run defense can be credited in part to Brockers. He is a behemoth of a human at 6'5, 322 pounds. He and fellow defensive tackle Kendall Langford do a swell job of clogging up running lanes. New England boasts a running game that averages 148.3 yards per game. The Pats' leading rusher is Stevan Ridley, but Danny Woodhead is a threat out of the backfield as well. Brockers and Co. will need to do a good job to slow down New England's running attack.