Tell Me About the Rams / How Do We Match Up?

[wcu]

The Rams are a good team. I actually watched a bunch of their games this year. We'll have to play a complete game to beat them. That being said, they went through a streaky phase in the middle of the season, just like we did. I don't think you can point at individual games and say "they only beat so-and-so by 3 points, or struggled with x." because you can do the exact same with us.

1. Stafford is majorly gifted. His personal story is a lot like the story of the Bengals' past 30 years. I'm glad he's having success after being vanquished to the Lions for most of his career. I'm not saying he's Andy Dalton, he's far superior, but there's definitely a "Good" Stafford, "Bad" Stafford thing going on with him. Hopefully we'll catch him on a "Bad" Stafford day.

2. Taylor and Callahan have their work cut out figuring out how to deal with the Rams' d-line. They'll be able to bring the heat just like the Titans did, but they have the best defensive player of the last decade doing it. That's a major mismatch in their favor. Hopefully the coaches can scheme around it, because if not, Aaron Donald may have 9 sacks himself.

3. The OT's and Center are pretty dang good. The guards are just guys. Can our D-Line take over like they did against the Chiefs? This is one of the huge keys of the game...forcing "Bad" Stafford to show up.

4. The back half of the Rams' defense seems kind of lame. If our o-line holds up (big if!), it seems like Burrow and our WR can carve them up. Of course Ramsey is the best in the business, but so is Chase. I'm not going to make a call who comes out on top in that matchup. But the good news is that our offense is varied and stacked at all of the skill positions. Even if Ramsey completely cancels out Chase, it doesn't seem like they have the horses to stop the rest of our weapons.

5. Cam Akers is a heck of a running back, but he's shown a habit of putting the ball on the ground in the playoffs. Hopefully we can make their offense one dimensional. Sony Michele doesn't bother me in the least.

6. We know who OBJ is. He's definitely had a revival of sorts in LA, but that doesn't change his strengths and weaknesses. What about Van Jefferson? They've got their own three headed monster at WR. All of our corners are going to have to be at the top of their game.

7. Cooper Kupp is just a stud. No way around it. All season, everyone has known that the Rams' offense runs through him, and yet he has consistently found ways to get open and make huge plays. He's got to be the #1 focus of the defense, but that's obviously easier said than done.

There are no easy outs at this point. Whoever is in this game deserves to be there. Just like the rest of the games, this is going to come down to keeping Burrow upright and winning the turnover battle. We do that, and we should win.