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All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald (#99) leading the Rams out of the tunnel. Photo courtesy of turfshowtimes.com

LOS ANGELES RAMS – 87th SEASON, 57th IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, and 8th SEASON BACK IN LOS ANGELES

2022 Record: 5-12, third place in the NFC West

  • Worst record for a defending Super Bowl champion in NFL history
  • Lost nine of their last 11 games, including a six game losing skid from October 30th to December 4th

Coach: Sean McVay, seventh season

Home: SoFi Stadium, capacity 70,240

Key Players (2022 stats):

  • Matthew Stafford, OB – 68.0% completions, 2,087 passing yards, 10 TD, 8 INT
  • Cam Akers, RB – 786 rushing yards, 4.2 ypc, 7 TD
  • Cooper Kupp, WR – 75 receptions, 812 yards, 6 TD
  • Tyler Higbee, TE – 72 receptions, 620 yards, 3 TD
  • Van Jefferson, WR – 24 receptions, 369 yards, 3 TD
  • Earnest Jones, LB – 114 tackles, 4 TFL
  • Jalen Ramsey, DB – 88 tackles, 4 TFL, 2.0 sacks, 4 INT
  • Aaron Donald, DT – 49 tackles, 10 TFL, 5.0 sacks
  • Michael Hoecht, DT – 36 tackles, 4 TFL, 4.5 sacks

First Season: 1936

Years in Los Angeles: Eighth since moving from St. Louis in 2016, 57th overall

NFL Championships: Four – 1945, 1951, Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999 and Super Bowl LVI in 2021

Conference Championships: 7

Division Championships: 18

Playoff Appearances: 31

First Game: at Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, September 10th

First Home Game: vs San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, September 17th

The Rams’ Jake Hummel (#35) enjoying a good moment with his teammates. Photo courtesy of twitter.com

Thoughts and Predictions:

When I was researching the stats for last year’s Rams on pro-football-reference.com,

I discovered that several of their players, while googleing their names, are no longer Rams as key guys like linebacker Bobby Wagner, who led the team in tackles in 2022, is now a Seattle Seahawk while Leonard Floyd, who paired up quite well with all-Universe Aaron Donald in their front seven for years, is now a Bill in Buffalo.

Heck, even Matt Gay, who missed only two field goal attempts last year, is now an Indianapolis Colt.

Plus add to that these issues:

  • Matthew Stafford, at age 34, starting to get a bit long in the tooth as his numbers weren’t too great in his nine games before he was knocked out for the season, and…
  • Wide receiver Cooper Kupp not only missing half of 2022 due to injury after having such a spectactular year in 2021 in being a main factor in the Rams winning the Vince Lombardi Trophy, but is projected to miss the first month of 2023 because of an issue with his hamstring.

Which leaves those Rams needing to have a ton of guys to come through and have great campaigns, guys like running back Cam Akers and wide receivers Van Jefferson and Tutu Atwell,

If that team of Sean McVay’s is to have any chance of bouncing back from having the worst record of any defending Super Bowl champion in history.

That goes for the defense as well, as Jalen Ramsey and especially Aaron Donald cannot do everything by themselves and there will be many other guys on that side of the ball who will need to come through.

That they went 0-3 in the preseason, including getting smashed by the Denver Broncos in their last outing (Yes, I know it was the preseason and the starters didn’t play, but still), didn’t instill any confidence in me as far as how they may fare as their first test in Seattle against a solid Seahawk team while facing their loud and notorious 12th Man crowd is in three days from this writing.

Having said all of this…

To be perfectly honest, there’s really not that much to say regarding how I see the season unfolding for those Super Bowl champion-once removed Rams.

They could have everybody come through in playing inspired football and get ten or eleven wins and a playoff berth – if everything goes perfectly and there are no significant injuries.

They could also have a worse campaign than they suffered through last year and win only five games again – or even fewer than that.

I say if they go 9-8, I’ll see that as both good progress, good improvement, and a source of encouragement for the future.

If they make the playoffs as a Wild Card; no way do I see them winning the division as those 49ers are just too good – and don’t even get me started on how those Niners have owned the Rams in recent years (that 2021 NFC title game notwithstanding), L.A. going 2-8 against them since 2018,

Then McVay needs to be Coach of the Year.

Unfortunately, I just don’t see those good things happening as those Rams are going to have to prove me wrong with regards to whether or not they will bounce back and be a contender in the NFC West or the NFC in general.

In fact,

I’m honestly a little surprised that there hasn’t been T-shirts made up saying “Make The L. A. Rams Great Again”

Being that they are the NFL team that I root for; I suppose that makes me a fan,

I do hope I’m wrong in how I see that team’s fate being this season.

Oh, and one more thing…

I have NEVER been too big a fan of those jerseys and helmets that those Rams are currently wearing.

At all.

They REALLY need to go back to those classic throwback uniforms and helmets from the 1970s and 80s – the ones pictured at the top of this post – and make those unis permanent.

Does anyone besides me agree with that statement?

Let me know in the comments section below.

Quaterback Matthew Stafford (#9) dropping back to pass during a game last season. Photo courtesy of notiulti.com