The Los Angeles Rams scuttled together a win that distilled Fisherball down to its very essence yesterday in a 9-6 win over the New York Jets. With the win, the Rams improved to 4-5 and closed off a four-game losing streak.
Now, they return home to face off against the Miami Dolphins in Week 11 with things looking very interesting across the conference.
Injuries
It’s pretty ridiculous how fortunate the Rams have been and continue to be on the injury front.
The only real injury affecting the Rams’ personnel going into the game was to rookie WR Nelson Spruce, now dealing with his third injury of the 2016 season. The Rams got through the game without adding anything major to that list, soooooooooooooooo...Let’s not put anything past Head Coach Jeff Fisher, but there’s a legitimate chance the initial injury report coming on Wednesday following the Rams’ second practice of the week could be just Spruce by his lonesome.
Performance Issues
Welp.
One thing I’ll drop here and try to get to in larger context at some point this week - Fisher was being dead ass serious about the defense needing to play better. Offenses in Fisherball are very, very rarely going to meet a level of performance resembling that of most of the NFL. Yesterday’s 280 yards and 0 touchdowns are indicative of the system, not the execution. The Rams were next to last in the NFL in yards per game and last in scoring and UNDERPERFORMED in both. And won.
And that’s the point. Fisher needs/requires/demands his defenses be damn near perfect. His special teams require consistency and punts of jaw dropping caliber.
He aims to play games that finish 9-6. 9-3. 13-10.
You’ll take it and you’ll like it. Or not.
Standings
Last night’s Seattle Seahawks-New England Patriots games was phenomenal entertainment. The Seahawks were able to get out of Massachusetts with the win following Arizona’s gritty win over San Francisco keeping them atop the NFC West.
I did a radio spot on SB Nation Radio last night with Joe Spano and suggested that the potential road to the playoffs lies mostly with the performance of the rest of the NFC and not necessarily with the Rams since we know this team isn’t going to finish with double digit wins. Here’s how the NFC picture looks right now:
While the Rams are deep down that picture, you’ve got 5-win teams as high as the Detroit Lions who are your current NFC North leaders.
It’s just a really mediocre season for much of the NFC right now which is obviously keeping the Rams in the mix. As long as that holds (and given what we’ve seen from most of the 5- and 4-win teams, it’s reasonable that it will), the Rams could get to December with some legitimacy to their postseason hopes even if they slip up in the next two coming games.