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Are the Rams in a position to steal the NFC West?

Andrew Kelly
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rams

After the eternal (7-9) struggle that was the Jeff Fisher regime, the Los Angeles Rams seem to be in a much better place under the direction of new coach Sean McVay. Along with general manager Les Snead, McVay has made many moves that have plugged holes in the Rams rosters that went unaddressed in previous years.

When McVay was introduced he spoke of a “process”. However, with the recent addition of high caliber receiving threat Sammy Watkins, fans are beginning to wonder if the Rams have a chance to steal the division, if and only if, all things fall into place.

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For the past few season, the Rams have been one of the tougher defensive units in the NFL. Now, under the new leadership of defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, the team looks to reach new heights on that side of the ball.

The defensive is lead by Aaron Donald, currently in a contract holdout. Donald couldn’t have had a more impressive three-year start to his career in any facet of the game. According to Pro Football Focus, Donald was the best defensive player in all of football last season. In addition to the best player overall the season before.

Surrounding Donald is a stout front seven that can wreak havoc on any run game and make any quarterback feel uneasy while sitting in the pocket. Behind Donald and the boys is a secondary that features many versatile, athletic players who love contact. All around this defense is shaping up to be very physical and compliment Phillip’s system very well.

The offensive side of the football, unfortunately, is a little less clear. Quarterback Jared Goff still holds the starting role. He looks to come into this season a lot stronger after being developed by McVay. Who also happens to be a quarterback expert. Goff is facing a big year and has been surrounded with weapons that should allow him to show what he truly is made of.

These weapons consist of returning players Tavon Austin and Tyler Higbee, free agent signee Robert Woods, rookies Gerald Everett and Cooper Kupp, and recently acquired Sammy Watkins. The sum of these parts is a Swiss army knife of a passing game. One that will have the ability to attack teams in many ways.

In the run game, Todd Gurley will be carrying the load with Malcolm Brown as his presumed backup. All eyes are on Gurley as teams around the league look to see if he can return to his Rookie of the Year form from two years ago. When Gurley runs in that manner, there are few teams in the league that can stop him effectively and none that can stop him completely.

A key factor in this offense will be offensive line play. Which was the fundamental flaw of the Rams last season. The Rams acquired former Pro Bowler Andrew Whitworth and fellow veteran John Sullivan to take over roles on the offensive line, going a long way to protect the blind side of their former number one overall pick, Jared Goff. This offense possesses the weapons to succeed. However, the offensive line needs to allow it the time it needs to operate. That will be the key factor in the offense this year.

So, can the Rams steal the NFC West? It is possible, yes. The division is far from the superpower in the league that it was just a handful of seasons ago. There is no team that is clearly going to run away with it. However, the Rams are still very young and inexperienced with an offensive line that has yet to prove itself. The Rams will have to exceed expectations and surprise a lot of people in order to attain the NFC West title. However, it is certainly not out of their reach.

They have the weapons in place to make a serious bang on offense if the offensive line can execute and quarterback Jared Goff is everything the Rams drafted him to be. All backed up by a defense that has the potential to be right amongst the top in the league.

– Andrew Kelly is a Staff Writer for cover32/Rams and covers the Los Angeles Rams. Like and follow on

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