After L to 49ers, who do the LA Rams face next in the Wildcard Round?

The LA Rams have no time to rest, lick their wounds after a deflating loss in Week 18, or take a long weekend holiday or vacation. That’s because as soon as the Week 18 contest was over, the Rams were immediately slotted into their next game. This time, it’s not a best-of series. It’s not a 17 game season.

This time, it’s survival of the fittest, a win-or-go-home series of four games against ever more talented and competitive opponents.

Not only will the Rams face the best teams, stocked with the most talented NFL players. But this will also put the team against the brightest, most persuasive, and gifted coachings staffs as well. After the sporadic winning streaks followed by losing streaks, do you feel confident that the Rams can cobble together four consecutive wins in that pressure-packed environment?

Four games now stand between the LA Rams and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Four wins against playoff-caliber teams. Four games, and hopefully four wins. It was always going to be that way. The only changes that Week 18 contests made were whether or not the Rams would play at home, and in what order would their opponents fall.  That is now all decided for the NFC Playoffs.

Wildcard Round

In terms of their first opponent, I don’t believe that the Rams could have asked for a better matchup. While they face the Arizona Cardinals, they have enjoyed nearly as much success over Arizona as the San Francisco 49ers have enjoyed over them.

And to place matters a bit more into perspective, these are the same Arizona Cardinals who have lost four of their last five games. The team that started them on the downward spiral? The LA Rams.

Next week’s games will likely find the Philadelphia Eagles facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the San Francisco 49ers heading to play the Dallas Cowboys, and the Arizona Cardinals will travel to Los Angeles to play the Rams.  If the Rams win that round, they will likely travel to Green Bay to take on the Packers once more. Of course, that assumes that both the Cowboys and the Buccaneers win. If either team is upset, the lower seeded victory will play the Packers.

Ground game

While the Rams have historically struggled against the 49ers for three years, that has not been the case against the Cardinals. The Cardinals’ defense is a bit more vulnerable to running plays than the 49ers.

Look for the Cardinals defense to welcome back DL J.J. Watt. However, TE Maxx Williams and WR DeAndre Hopkins are currently on injured reserve.

In their second meeting, the Rams were able to get a modest running attack going on the powerful running of RB Sony Michel, who was able to rush 20 times for 79 yards. Despite the lack of production in Week 18, I cannot see any reason to abandon the run in the first round of the playoffs, particularly when Seattle Seahawks RB Rashaad Penney rushed for nearly 200 yards against the Cardinals’ defense.

The Rams may be backing in, but they are in the NFL Playoffs.  Now, it’s up to the players and coaches to keep them there.