The Los Angeles Rams picked up another strong win last Thursday night, defeating the New Orleans Saints 30-22. The win was their fifth in the last six games, improved their record to 8-7, and placed the Rams in the drivers seat of their postseason outlook.
Now that all the dust has settled on Week 16, the Rams currently sit as the sixth seed in the NFC, tied with the Seattle Seahawks but owning the tiebreaker due to a season sweep of their division rivals. And now with a win and a little help, the Rams could clinch a postseason spot in Week 17.
First and foremost the Rams must take care of business against the New York Giants. While the Giants have not been great this season and are trying to figure out their quarterback situation after benching Tommy DeVito in their Monday night loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, it is still a game on the road in what will certainly be some cold weather.
But should the Rams get that win, along with a Seahawks loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it would lock L.A. into the playoffs. The Steelers are coming off an impressive victory over the Cincinnati Bengals and are in the midst of their own fight for the postseason as well, so they will be throwing everything at the Seahawks in order to get that victory.
The other scenario that would lock the Rams into the playoffs, though far less likely, would be a tie between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings, along with Los Angeles getting their own win of course. The Vikings and Packers are two of the four teams, along with the Saints and Atlanta Falcons, who are currently 7-8 and one game behind the Rams and Seahawks in the playoff race.
The most important thing is that the Rams focus on what they can control, and that is going into New York and coming out with a victory. Getting that win puts them in prime playoff position even if they don’t get the help they need to lock in that spot, a postseason spot that no one predicted they would even be in contention for at the start of the year, or in the middle of the season when they were 3-6.
But thanks to a bounce-back season from Matthew Stafford and the emergence of Kyren Williams and Puka Nacua boosting the offense, not to mention a defense that has really come into its own over the past few weeks, the Rams are on the brink of proving a lot of people wrong and locking in their spot to the postseason.
