It has been a long road, but the Los Angeles Rams are sitting in a good spot ahead of the 2022 NFL playoffs.
At 12-4, the Rams have positioned themselves to win the NFC West but will need to secure a victory in Week 18 against their rivals the San Francisco 49ers. The matchup has playoff implications because if Los Angeles wins, then San Francisco could potentially be knocked out of a Wild Card spot.
Even though the 49ers have slightly underwhelmed during the 2021 season, they always seem to come through against the Rams and Jalen Ramsey acknowledged that fact, via Cameron DaSilva of USA Today:
“They have had our number. It’s OK to say. That’s the truth,” Ramsey said. “They’ve played pretty good ball during those games that they’ve beat us. They’ve been physical during those games. We have to be super physical.
We have to set the tone, not match the tone. We’ve got to be the tone-setters. We really do have to play good complementary football this week. Offense, defense and special teams. We have to limit turnovers on offense and we have to get some turnovers on defense, for sure. We fought through some adversity. We fought through losing turnover battles these last couple weeks. We fought through it, so we know we can do it. We know what we have in us, but it would be great to put it all together and end the season on a high note.”
Despite that though, Ramsey says the Rams are still going into this weekend with confidence, via Lindsey Thiry of ESPN:
"They don't have mind control over us or anything like that," Jalen Ramsey says about the 49ers, who have won five straight over the Rams. "We're going out there confident on Sunday."
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) January 6, 2022
Ramsey has yet to earn a win against San Francisco, and head coach Sean McVay has dropped the past five games against his former colleague Kyle Shanahan. One weakness of the Rams is the physicality in the trenches and that is where the 49ers have taken full advantage.
Last time the two teams met, Los Angeles lost the turnover battle and were embarrassed 31-10. With so much on the line, it will be interesting to see how Ramsey and the rest of the Rams handle a tough 49ers team looking to keep their playoff dreams alive.
