LA Rams Von Miller could be huge plus for post season play

Winning playoff strategy

Last year, the Buccaneers fell to 7-5 before a late-season winning streak propelled the team to an 11-5 finished and the fifth-seed in the 2020 NFC Playoffs. The Buccaneers had to win games on the road against the Washington Redskins, the New Orleans Saints (who had beaten them twice in the regular season), and the Green Bay Packers before returning home to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL Championship game.

The regular season, all 17 games, ends up doing two things. First and foremost, the regular season divides up the 32 NFL teams into the 14 teams that will advance into the Playoff win-or-go-home round.

3 phases of NFL football

To NFL fans, the game of football does not vary from preseason to regular season to post-season. But to the players and coaches on the teams, the difference is dramatic. In the preseason, everything is basic vanilla, and the objective is to determine the ranking of unfamiliar players. From the player’s perspective, the goal is to knock off the rust, become familiar with the playbook, and remain healthy.

So the real ‘test’ to any NFL football team is the NFL Playoffs. Did anyone detract from the Buccaneers for losing five regular-season games? Of course not. Once the Bucs defeated the Saints in the playoffs, nobody cared about their two previous losses. The Buccaneers roster was injured early but got healthier as the season moved along.

Is that what the LA Rams are up to with these late-season additions? Was this about winning more regular-season games? Or did the team take a view of building the best playoff team for 2021?  Let’s look at why the Rams likely have added Von Miller for the postseason: