Let's hear it for the Rams OL and secondary, getting hot at the right time

When the 2024 NFL season began, two groups on the LA Rams team were not as effective as hoped. Of course, enduring multiple injuries to key starters and rotational players has that effect, and the result of those injuries and struggles of backups to fill in was a team that fell to a 1-5 record before the Week 6 BYE.

Had this been a lesser team, coached by lesser coaches, that would have been enough to turn the team's focus to the 2025 NFL Draft for another reboot. Some fans had already begun to lobby hard for the team to blow up the entire roster and start over. Thankfully, the team did not follow the advice of those fans.

The Rams began to get healthy, slowly but surely. And with better health comes better production on the football field. A healthier offensive line translated into a more communicative and cohesive blocking scheme. A healthier secondary translated into a much stronger defensive performance. And through it all, the once 1-4 Rams team found ways to win close games. In fact, since that Week BYE, the team has soared to a record of 8-2.

But getting healthy is not an automatic cause for success. Without superb coaching and a comprehensive plan that begins at the practice field and carries over all the way to post-game analysis, the team continues to run the risk of trying to fix something that truly is working just fine.

If you recall, the team restored veteran Jonah Jackson for one week as the starting center in Week 10. The results were so noticeably adverse that the team opted to return Jackson to the bench and restore rookie Beaux Limmer to the starting lineup. That Week 10 gaffe resulted in a loss to the Miami Dolphins by a score of 23-15. We can only imagine how that game might have turned out had the team stayed the course.