Rams need to make sure Tavon Austin doesn’t get revenge game during playoffs

Tavon Austin will be looking for revenge during the Divisional Round when the Los Angeles Rams take on the Dallas Cowboys.

After an exciting weekend of action during the Wild Card Round, the Los Angeles Rams will now face the Dallas Cowboys in what is expected to be a thrilling Divisional Round matchup on Saturday night.

While the Rams finished on top of the NFC West for a second year in a row, the Cowboys were able to finish on top of the NFC East for the second time in three seasons thanks to a strong second half of the regular season in which they looked like one of the hottest teams in football.

In comparison, just because Los Angeles has the better record doesn’t necessarily mean they should be viewed as the favorites over Dallas since this is a very tough football team playing with a ton of confidence at the moment.

Not to mention, the Cowboys are also loaded with plenty of weapons that are capable of exploding for big plays at any given moment, including a familiar face in Tavon Austin.

Back in the spring during the 2018 NFL Draft, the Rams finally found a trade partner for Austin in the Cowboys when seeing how the team had previously been trying to find a way to move on from the wideout after rewarding him with that ridiculous contract.

For reasons that are tough to explain, Los Angeles clearly jumped the gun before the 2016 season when they decided to give Austin a hefty four-year, $42 million extension, which eventually earning him the role of being one of the league’s most overpaid players.

Even after the team found a way to get Austin to restructure his contract back in March, this was always a tough situation for the speedster since the 2017 season made it clear that he wasn’t exactly the best fit on the roster for the Rams.

When looking at all of the others players who were flourishing under Sean McVay‘s offense, it was always a mystery as to why Austin couldn’t do the same since the head coach seemed like he would be the one to finally use his talent to the best of his abilities.

So when the Rams finally were able to receive an offer from the Cowboys back during the draft to move on from Austin, this seemed like a move that was necessary for both parties since each side needed a fresh start.

Now, of course, Los Angeles has to deal with the possibility of Austin looking for revenge against his former team Saturday night when Dallas comes to town. And while Austin may not have seemed like that much of a threat a few months ago, the team’s recent win over the Seattle Seahawks shows the Rams can’t address this situation with a light approach.

Austin may not have been that much of a threat on offense, but it was his work on special teams with a few impressive returns, including some that were almost returned for touchdowns, that should have Los Angeles on high alert.

Even if the Rams prevent Austin from finding the end zone on one of his returns, allowing him to put the Cowboys in great field position with weapons like Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott could be just as costly for McVay’s squad.

Revenge games sometimes bring out the best in players, no matter how good or bad they were leading up to the contest.

From Austin’s perspective, there’s nothing the former West Virginia star would love more than to torch his former team by coming through with a monster game to send them home packing early for a second year in a row while his Cowboys advance to the NFC Championship.

So when it comes to surprise factors for the Rams to keep an eye on for the rest of the week, Austin’s impact shouldn’t be ignored, or the team may regret it by the conclusion of Saturday’s game.