While the NFL teams are looking for the coming season, excuse the Los Angeles Rams as they are looking for the date of the week off.
While most teams intend to incorporate new faces and another year of experience in the mixture, RAMs are more curious to know when they have to hit the gas pedal.
The head coach Sean Mcvay has another competitor of the Super Bowl on his hands, even if some Paris pre-prosticators list them around the ninth or 10th best option to win a second title in five seasons.
Rams are not the sexy choice to win everything. They have stars like Matthew Stafford in the quarter-Arrière and Puka Nacua at the wide receiver. But Aaron Donald left for a full season, and Cooper Kupp is now with the Rivaux Seattle Seahawks.
And while starting quickly is the goal for many, the Rams are the thoroughbred in search of a comfortable place during the first two laps – determined to move towards the end of the backstretch before finding a hole on the rail or climbing four large to run on the ground.
The Rams under Mcvay underline the pre -season, but have never insisted it – at least the matches anyway. Over the past two seasons, they have treated the start of the calendar as the time to understand their advantages and disadvantages.
In 2023, the Rams were only 3-6 at Bye Week and struck off as a team that turns more towards the draft. Stafford missed the last of these first nine games – a defeat against Green Bay packers – with an elbow injury.
After Bye, however, the Rams went 7-1 and pushed the Detroit lions to the edge of the wild round of the playoffs, and on the road, no less.
In 2024, it was another unsightly beginning with Nacua and Kupp nursing injuries. The Rams were 1-4 to Bye but went 9-3 on the section, crushed the Vikings of Minnesota in the round at the Joker and took the Eagles of Philadelphia to the limit of the divisional tour, once again on the road.
Better known as the day that Saquon Barkley had a monster and breathtaking day in the snow for the Eagles, the Rams have seen things differently.
One day, they allowed 285 yards to rush – 205 of that in Barkley alone – the Rams have always found their way to the 18 yards of Philadelphia in second position with 1:19 remaining and a chance to move forward. A bag and two incompleteness ended their season.
It was a managed affected pass far from an appointment with the Washington commanders at home during the NFC championship match. A victory there would have created a complete steam head and a date against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
Thus, while the chiefs enter the season by trying to strengthen the details of their defeat of the Super Bowl in the Eagles in order to win everything, the Rams do the same thing quietly.
The key to confidence in Los Angeles is a dynamic young defense that has emerged from the shadow of Donald’s departure. The rush to the passes is relentless with Byron Young, Jared Pours and Braden Fiske. The race defense? Not so much.
The 37-year-old Stafford health, who barely participated in pre-season practices with an aggravated disc on his back. He does not play in pre-season matches anyway and already knows the offensive as well as anyone.
Of course, he could have used more time to synchronize with the new wide receiver Davante Adams. Or maybe this is what the pre-Bye calendar offers.
Alaric Jackson remains a question point early in the left tackle after having treated blood clots, while Steve Avila, Coleman Shelton, Kevin Dotson and Rob Havenstein anchor the patterns of passing and blocking passes.
The position of the ball carrier is a force with Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. Williams simply accepted an extension of a contract of $ 33 million over three years after an appearance in Pro Bowl in 2023 and an 11th place in the attacking player of the year to vote last season.
However, it is Stafford who holds the keys – knowing that he can inform the engine early, or go into fuel economy at the start of the season.
“He looks like the stud we know,” said Mcvay about Stafford, before going to a more careful tone while speaking of staff making all his progress in his return to the field.
“I know he does everything he can to take great care of him,” said Mcvay.
The success after Bye Week this season depends on it.
