4 players who must shine for the LA Rams in Week 13

Is it hard to get excited about the LA Rams’ upcoming contest at SoFi Stadium for Week 13?  On paper, the Jacksonville Jaguars are an ideal opponent. They are the 26th ranked offense for yards and the 31st-ranked scoring offense in the NFL. They are the 20th ranked defense for yards and the 26th-ranked scoring defense in the NFL.  They are the 13th-ranked kickoff return team in the NFL and the 24th-ranked punt return team.  Best of all, they are 2-9. Worst of all, they have beaten the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills

If you fear an upset this year as that of the winless New York Jets from a year ago, you have some very good reason for that. The LA Rams can be a very good team but can be equally befuddling and frustrating.  So much so, that we can seldom tell who will be on their game until the team has played their first quarter or so.

But this is a team that will ‘fix it,’ right? Well, the LA Rams are getting a bit angry and nervous, and that has been spilling over to the team’s head coach Sean McVay during his weekly podcast. Well, the timing is right for the LA Rams to get some improvements in place. After getting rocked and rolled against some of the best teams in the NFL for three weeks straight, the team faces an opponent that can be beaten.

That’s just what the LA Rams will do.  But this won’t happen on a whim or due to simply participating. This is a game where the LA Rams can earn a decisive victory, but only if the team shows up worthy of a decisive victory. For the LA Rams, that means some players must show up in this game.

Punter problems

We all know the story by now of the LA Rams punter competition, and how the Rams traded a far better punter, Corey Bojorquez, to the Green Bay Packers for next to nothing. We also know that the LA Rams, although they renegotiated his contract, are paying far more this year for the services of Hekker than the Packers pay Bojorquez. Significantly more.

I don’t think that there is a fan of the LA Rams who does not love punter Johnny Hekker. But the Rams clearly aligned with Hekker out of loyalty rather than performance. So it really should come as no surprise when the early December 2021 NFL punter rankings have Corey Bojorquez as the 11th ranked NFL punter, but Johnny Hekker as the 33rd-ranked NFL punter. In a professional football league with just 32 teams, that means that one team has two punters better than Hekker. That’s pretty embarrassing.

The LA Rams need to get back on track, and it’s not going to be one player showing up, but rather a myriad of small but noticeable improvements.  It can and should start with a veteran like Hekker. NFL Championships are not won by career-high single-game performances, but by an entire team putting up flawless football.

Johnny Hekker, even after renegotiating his contract, remains the ninth-highest paid punter in the NFL. Now, if he could perform like a top-ten punter, the Rams would be quite pleased.