Rams Week 14 win could be the lynchpin to another playoff run

While the LA Rams offense certainly exploded in Week 14, piling on points like a basketball game, is it fair to conclude that the problems over scoring points in behind this team? Or is this just one more anomaly, a data point that falls far from the season's trend as to give false hopes to fans who are desperate for any signs of life from an offense that has appeared to be sleepwalking through the season so far?

Let's not rationalize why the team has struggled to score points up to this point in time. After all, what's past is past. But is it fair to conclude that a new day is dawning? Well, in the words of my former math teacher, one data point does not a trend make.

So we simply don't know just yet.

But we dop know that it was enough to snap the Buffalo Bills seven-game winning streak, as well as the Rams two-game home losing streak.

Throughout the 2024 NFL season, the LA Rams have been locked in a vicious cycle of winning just enough games to reach .500 and then losing once more to fall below the even mark. That pattern has held fast for the team through 12 games, frustrating players, coaches, and perhaps most of all, fans.

But the cycle has been more than week opponent vs bad opponent. The Rams have beaten two of the toughest teams on their schedule in 2024: The Minnesota Vikings and now the Buffalo Bills. So what make this victory so different?

For starters, the Rams finally have both starting WRs and OTs on the football field at the same time. The Rams opened the season without either OT Rob Havenstein and Alaric Jackson. When they returned in Week 3, the Rams were without WRs Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. The Rams have won two games now that they are all back and healthy.

How can Rams Week 14 win help in last four games?

If there was ever a time to show up on the offensive side of the football, Week 14 was it. After all, the front office never constructed a Top-10 defense for 2024. The plan was more likely to build a defense that was just good enough to hold a lead and be a thorn in the side of opposing offenses. In Week 14, that was all they needed to be

The Rams ran 42 times, and only passed 30 times. The Rams took the lead and kept on scoring. And the offense put up a ton of point against a good defense. You can bet that the defense noticed.

Yes, it was just one game. And yes, one data point is by no means a trends. But the heavens opened and the rains fell, and fell. It's okay to believe that the drought may be over.

Perhaps most importantly, the Rams football team needed a game of that level from veteran QB Matthew Stafford. The front office is tasked with making decisions about the team's future with imperfect data. Yet Stafford proved that if the Rams can keep him upright in the pocket, he can engineer a sensational offensive outburst.

Every avalanche starts with that final snowflake. And wouldn't you know it, I hear some rumbling on the mountainside.

As always, thanks for reading.

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