Do LA Rams face sit ’em or start ’em dilemma in Week 18?

Players gotta play

Any parent of a young child learning to ride a two-wheel bicycle quickly learns that the worst thing to shout to that child is “Look at you! You’re doing it!”.  As soon as that child hears those words, they look to the ground, to their pedals, the front wheel goes wobbly, and then the entire contraption topples over.

You can’t look down.

So too must the Rams compete in Week 18 without fear or trepidation. There cannot be a ‘go out and play, but don’t risk injury’ mindset for the team. Players who pull up to avoid injury oftentimes are the players who eventually are the ones who suffer injury. The LA Rams gotta play to win.

Come too far to sit on the bench

Let’s be honest.  We know that Andrew Whitworth is starting at left tackle at the ripe ‘ole age of 40 years old. He didn’t endure 16 years of play in the NFL to be bubble-wrapped and placed on the bench as a healthy scratch. He wants to be on the field making plays with his teammates.

The LA Rams suffered when defensive tackle Aaron Donald suffered a rib injury when playing against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wildcard Round of the 2020 NFL Playoffs. While he played injured the following week, he was clearly not himself. But if a rib injury couldn’t keep Donald on the bench, how do you foresee him handling a healthy scratch to prevent an injury?

Players who compete in the NFL do so for each other. It’s no secret that players want to show up big to help out the other guys on the team. And Week 18 is against the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams do not want to give the 49ers a free pass into the playoffs. You can bet if the roles were reversed, the 49ers would have all their starters on the field the entire game, and may even throw in a few trick-plays for good measure.