The Rams fell to the Falcons 27-24 on Monday night, dropping their record to 11-5 and putting them into either the fifth or sixth seed on the NFC’s side of the NFL playoffs. Given the Rams will undoubtedly be on the road and the only thing that can change is their postseason opponent, Los Angeles could have elected to rest its starters against the Cardinals in Week 18. Sean McVay has other plans.
After Monday night’s loss, the Rams’ head coach revealed he plans to play his starters in Week 18 for a simple reason: “We need to play better.”
He’s not wrong.
L.A. was 11-3 entering a Week 16 game against the Seahawks in Seattle. In what was one of the games of the year, the Rams blew a 16-point lead and lost 38-37 in overtime. They followed that up with a really poor performance against Atlanta, in which quarterback Matthew Stafford threw three interceptions and likely buried his chances at winning MVP.
After starting 3-2, the Rams won six in a row before a disappointing 31-28 loss at Carolina in Week 13. They bounced back to blow out Arizona 45-17, and beat the Lions 41-34 in Week 15 before losing consecutive games to the Seahawks and Falcons.
As things stand right now, the Rams are the sixth-seed in the NFC and would travel to Philadelphia to face the Eagles in the opening round of the playoffs. They had better be at their best for that trip because the defending champions have gotten it together and have reeled off three wins in a row.
The Rams could move up to the No. 5 seed, but they’d need to beat Arizona and get some help.
McVay didn’t say how long he plans to use his starters, but it makes sense that he would want to have his squad hitting on all cylinders before facing either of those teams.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sean McVay Reveals Plan for Rams Starters in Week 18 After Loss to Falcons.
