Rich’s Success Recipe for the Los Angeles Rams to Climb Back to Contender Status

The Rams saved their season on Sunday. Rich asked the room if that was fair to say, and the math made the case for him.

A loss to the Raiders would have dropped Los Angeles to 2-5, with Seattle winning again and every team in the NFC North sitting above .500. Even if you assume only one team comes out of the East and the South, Rich said, 2-5 "would still be a very tall order." Instead, the Rams beat Las Vegas by two scores. "Man, did they come up with a stones win," he said. "They got to feel really good about themselves up in Thousand Oaks today."

What made it impressive was who was missing. Rich ran down the list: Davante Adams out for maybe the rest of the regular season, Trent McDuffie missing his second straight game with a groin injury, and captain Nate Landman missing his first game since joining the team last year with a concussion. Kobe Turner went on IR Thursday. Poona Ford is out for the season with a triceps injury. Puka Nacua was questionable with a calf issue that kept him out of practice last week, but he played.

And then, voila. Rich spelled out the formula in one breath. "Don't turn it over. Don't have special teams mistakes. Tackle and run the football and allow your all-world quarterback to pick the other team apart because your run game's working." The reply from across the table: "That's the recipe."

The run game delivered. After the loss to Arizona, Kyren Williams had been asked why the offense was out of rhythm and essentially answered that he was not in there enough. On Sunday he got 16 carries for 99 yards and a score. Blake Corum added 17 carries for 93 yards and a score, and the two became the first duo in Rams history to each post 75 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in multiple games together. Rich joked that he needed to call Marshall Faulk to ask whether he and Trung Canidate never pulled that off.

Nacua finished with eight catches for 68 yards and a touchdown, and the tight ends did their jobs. Davis Allen caught a couple of touchdown passes, and Tyler Higbee came up with a big grab on a high ball from Matthew Stafford on third down just as the Raiders were starting to close the gap. In Rich's telling, the Rams had started to "eff around" with some turnovers and were nearing the find-out stage.

Stafford's three first-half touchdown passes made him the Rams' all-time passing touchdown leader, and Rich noted he is the first player to hold that mark for two franchises after throwing 282 touchdown passes for the Lions.

Now the path. Next up is the winless Chargers in an all-Los Angeles matchup. Get back to .500, go to Arizona and exact revenge, and the Rams would hit the bye at 5-4. "Now you're talking," Rich said.

They will need to be healthy, because what follows is brutal. Green Bay visits the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Kansas City comes in after both teams played on the previous Thanksgiving, which Rich pointed out makes for a rare Thursday night game where everyone has a full week of rest. Then comes a trip to San Francisco, and Rich had a suggestion: go up a week early, "just to re-acclimate." He admitted it was probably unnecessary and pure pettiness, but the crew agreed it would be hilarious, especially if Sean McVay opened his postgame by asking why nobody wanted to know when they got there.

After that, Dallas comes to SoFi, followed by both games against Seattle, including Christmas, and a visit to Tampa that Rich warned "may not be as easy as one would think."

His bottom line: there is a path to being above .500 at the bye before that gauntlet starts. Entering it at 4-5 after a loss to the Raiders would have been "a massive problem." The Rams did what they had to do, which Rich found a little wild for a team with the most loaded roster in the league. "Just think about if you took a snapshot of the Eagles and the Rams from week three," he said. "What that looks like now."