This snub by The Ringer's Sheil Kapadia is more like an uncultivated insult

In 2023, the LA Rams fielded a football team designed to be powered by their offense. And for the most part, they were. The team used a reinforced offensive line, a rejuvenated veteran quarterback named Matthews Stafford, and two superb seasons by RB Kyren Williams and rookie WR Puka Nacua to end up among the Top 10 offenses in yards games (seventh-ranked) and points scored (eighth-ranked).

Not only was the offense quite effective, particularly in the second half of the 2023 NFL season, but it was effective in such a way as to leave plenty of room for a far more effective offensive impact in 2024. You see, the team only benefited from 11 games from their starting five offensive linemen, 15 games from starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, and 12 games apiece from running back Kyren Williams and WR Cooper Kupp respectively.

And ignoring the upgraded depth of the offensive line, quarterback, running back, tight end, and wide receiver positions, that alone should have weighed into any 2024 offensive projections to propel this team to come to rest among the NFL's Top-5 offenses this season.

Well, unless you are The Ringer's Sheil Kapadia. Then you cherry pick some recognizable NFL team names, shake them up, and create a projected Top-10 offensive ranking that starts off ranking the Green Bay Packers, last year's 12th ranked offense in terms of points scored, at the top.

Based on what?

The Rams were a more effective offense in 2023 at running the football, and become much strong with the addition of rookie RB Blake Corum and veteran RB Boston Scott, plus the fact that the offensive line is stronger than ever. The Rams passing game was more effective in 2023 than the Packers, and has added rookie WR Jordan Whittington, will have a full season of veteran WRs Cooper Kupp and Demarcus Robinson,

And then there is the added production of having two viable starting tight ends in Colby Parkinson and Davis Allen to fill in for the injured starting tight end Tyler Higbee. And even in that, Higbee will eventually suit up for the Rams this season.

This is not about the total team performance. This is not about the uncertainty of the special teams, nor about the effectiveness of a young defense. This projection is about the LA Rams offense, the same offense that cracked the NFL's Top 10 ranking with far fewer talented players.

A snub would be dropping the Rams to ninth or tenth ranking in this projection. But ignoring the Rams offense completely is a complete slap in the face. Even he admitted to trying to factor in 'luck' from the 2023 season and presumed the reverse of that 'luck' when projecting the team for 2024. If that was the premise, why not reverse the misfortunes of the team in terms of injuries to key offensive weapons? And why factor in the offensive line injuries when we had already proven that the starting five only competed together in 11 games?

Fragility. His reason boiled down to fragility. The fragility of veteran QB Matthew Stafford, WR Cooper Kupp, and the offensive line. No such fragility factored into ranking the 49ers offense at three. He cites 'if they all get healthy,' in their assessment. So the 49ers all get healthy, and the Rams fall apart? Got it.

This article reads like a dart board ranking, with rationalized reasons that fail to pass the sniff test to justify the randomness of the rankings in the first place.

Kapadia is back to his Philadelphia Eagles roots, and as such has little understanding of the NFC West Division, except that the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Eagles in 2023. But the 49ers may not even be the best team in the NFC West Division in 2024. Whether intentional or not, his oversight of ignoring the Rams offensive upside in 2024 comes off like an uncultivated insult.

Thanks for reading.