Kupp Out, Stafford Back; What a Year for the OL; and a Preview of the Rams - Saints Game; from LA Rams Up

Welcome to Rams a pure LA Rams podcast. We cover just about any Socal sports team, but our primary focus here is your Los Angeles Rams. You can also check out our YouTube channel for weekly video content. Our YouTube handle is at La Rams up. I'm your host mark. Let's get to it. Welcome back Rams fans kicking off episode 134. Here we will be previewing the Los Angeles Rams New Orleans Saints game. We also have our Rams up straight up game picks also throwing in my power rankings. Haven't done that in awhile, just my top 12 also. We telling you which teams can kiss this year goodbye up to 9 teams now. 2 additions to the list this week after Week 10 results. Get through some round news here. Good news and bad news Cooper Cup of course. Going to be out a while. High ankle sprain requiring surgery. And we have to ask that question should he come back at all now if the Rams can find a way to win a couple here while he's out three or four while he's out, then yeah, maybe you bring him back. But if not, maybe we won't see Cooper Kupp again. This year, as sad as that is, but on the bright side. Silver lining here. Maybe this is an opportunity for Matthew Stafford, who is coming back this week. That's the good news. He's out there practicing out of concussion protocol. Maybe this is Stanford's opportunity to develop connections with some of his other guys. Allen Robinson. Ben skowronek. Hey Tutu Atwell, will he be active? Maybe Lance McCutcheon will get some snaps. No Cooper Kupp Matthew Stafford is going to have to start looking elsewhere and that could be a good thing, so it'll be fun to see. What this Rams offense looks like, especially the wide receiving core. And will Stafford get his tight ends involved? Maybe more than just Tyler Higbee, maybe Bryson Hopkins, the guy that showed so well in the playoffs in the Super Bowl. Maybe it's his turn to get involved. Rams got to figure that out and. Maybe the running backs out of the backfield. Of course, I'll talk much more about that in the preview, but. That's the main news Cooper cop done for a while. Matthew Stafford back end. It's time for our weekly offensive line update. The shakeup continues. Alaric Jackson, done for the year. Chandler Brewer having surgery out four to six weeks, David. Edwards is back. He should play, but. Don't get too excited, Brian Allen, nursing thumb and knee injuries might not be able to go. It's just incredible. What has gone on with this offensive line? The quick rundown. Joseph Noteboom tore his Achilles heel in week six. Aleric Jackson his replacement? Out for the season starting week ten with blood clots. David Edwards. He's been on IR since week six with the concussion issues. Brian Allen missed five games. Coleman Shelton has missed the last five games coming back now. Tremaine ankrom. Injured week two out for the year after one snap. Chandler Brewer now out four to six weeks and our top draft pick Logan breasts has been out for the year since the preseason. Pretty amazing, I don't want to make excuses for this team, but if you told me in the preseason that this is what this offensive line was going to go through, I'd probably say we were in deep trouble. And that's what's happened. And I've said, you know, a lot of teams have had similar situations. That the Rams have had his first deal with injuries. But when you look at this? The number of injuries that this offensive line has suffered. It's probably really not true. I don't. I wish someone with a larger mainframe than me could crunch some data on this. How many potential starters have gone down for the Rams and backups that became starters? How many games lost? On this offensive line, it's a pretty impressive number. I don't even want to take a guess, but it's got to be some kind of record. It just has to be. It's easier to talk about who hasn't been injured, who hasn't been injured well. The only starter Rob Havenstein Bobby Evans he's been healthy oday. Aboushi, who played a little bit tiny shaky, am I pronouncing that right? Probably not Matt, Skura AJ or Curry or Silver round draft pick on the practice squad. He has not been activated yet. Jeremiah Kony and the European exemption Max Percher. Those are the healthy guys, haven't got dinged up yet. But it's just amazing.  

All the offensive line we've gone through not to beat a dead horse, but. I'm going to try to recite this as quickly as I can, just for fun and see if I get this right. Probably not if someone asked me, hey, what happened to the Rams this year, I'd probably say this. The top draft pick Logan Breast tore his ACL in the preseason, was out for the year. Brian Allen the starting center got banged up. In the first game, missed five games, Coleman Shelton slid over from right guard, and Tremaine Ankrom took over for Sheldon. Ankrum fractured his fibula. On his first snap and Larry Jackson stepped in for him, Joseph Noteboom tore his Achilles. Alaric Jackson went from right guard to left tackle. Jeremiah Kolone took over at center, and Coleman Shelton moved back to right guard. Brian Allen came back and Shelton moved back to guard left guard David Edwards went out with a concussion and was. Replaced by Bobby Evans Shelton got hurt and was replaced by Chandler Brewer. Brewer is out for a few weeks but now Shelton is back. Alaric Jackson got blood clots out for the year, was replaced by tiny Secky. Edwards is coming back and replacing Bobby Evans. But now Alan is hurt and Shelton may have to slide back to center. And who will replace Shelton at right guard? Not sure that my friends in a nutshell is the Rams season. We'll be back in a minute with our preview of the Rams Saints game.  

Let's preview this week 11 game. The Los Angeles Rams traveling to New Orleans series record between these two teams. Rams lead 43 wins 34 losses. Last time they played September 15th 2019. Rams 27 Saints 9. Lots of field goals in that one. They only touchdowns, TD runs by Todd Gurley and Jared Goff. Memorable games you all know which one I'm going to go to here. January 20th 2019 Rams 26 Saints 23 in. Overtime all refer to it as the Nichol Robey Coleman Dante Fowler game. The Rams steal a win and go to the Super Bowl man. The Saints fan base still hates us for that. Saints are coached by Dennis Allen. It's his first year replacing John Payton. I did a segment over the summer on. NFL coaches and I'm pretty sure I had Dennis Allen near the bottom didn't understand this hire he had eight wins and 28 losses, leading the Oakland Raiders. And he's not faring much better. Saw an article just the other day suggesting he might get fired. They'll probably wait till the end of the season. I'm sure, but not going well for the New Orleans Saints this year. They come in with a three and seven record at the bottom of the NFC S alongside the Carolina Panthers. How'd they get there? Well, they lost her first three before beating the Seahawks, and then they lost the Bengals and Cardinals before beating the Raiders. The last two they lost to the Ravens and Steelers scoring a combined 23 points. This is a team similar to the Rams in some ways, especially the Rams without Cooper, Kupp and offense. It really has nothing to hang their hat on. Michael Thomas spin out all year. Andy Dalton. Nothing to get excited about it. Couple of good receivers. The young Chris alovi. I get Taysom hill. We'll talk about that a little bit more, but just an offense that doesn't really get you too excited. Defense can be pretty good, though both teams come in without their top receivers. Michael Thomas on IR Cooper Kupp. Not sure how long he's going to be out. And of course Rams offensive line. Issues virtually everybody has been hurt at one time or another, except for Rob Havenstein. I'm not even sure who's going. This week may not know until Sunday morning, but Brian Allen and Rob Havenstein are fortunately healthy and should be good to go. The other three spots, who knows? We'll see. Since draft picks this year, they took Chris Alavi at #11 and remembered this was the guy that the Detroit Lions were so excited that the Saints took him, because then they pounced on Jamison Williams, who is redshirting this year. Alavi has played pretty well, looks like a star of the future, the other picks. Trevor penning the angry offensive tackle he's on. Injured reserve. Rams don't really have any connections to this team. Player wise or coaching that I could detect. Let's talk about the Saints team a little bit more. On offense, their 10th ranked as far as yards per game, fairly balanced 9th passing 15th rushing. Andy Dalton comes in with 11TD's and seven interceptions. Just one of those efficient quarterbacks that. Doesn't really get you too excited, but you can play pretty good football. Don't totally dismiss Andy Dalton if he gets hot. He can be a really productive quarterback. Talked about Alavi, already 46 catches for 658 yards and two TD's not bad. Alvin Kamara, still the leading rusher 112, rushes for 469 yards just the one TD. Taysom Hill and Mark Ingram still contribute as well, so at times, it's a. 3 Headed monster there. They used Taysom hill in a lot of different ways. With Mike Thomas out, the receiving has fallen on Alavi and Jarvis Landry surprised the Rams didn't make a rented Jarvis Landry. He's really underrated. Last week, Jajuan Johnson, the tight end was their leading receiver against the Steelers, so keep an eye on him as well and they have that really good right tackle? Ryan ramczyk. On defense middle of the pack. Surprisingly more vulnerable to the ground game. Giving up over 130 yards a game. Linebacker Pete Warner leads the team in tackles. Cameron, Jordan 5 1/2 sacks that guys put together quite a career. Their secondary is really good on the back end, Marcus, Maye and Tyrann Mathieu, I think Matthews overrated. Make some splash plays here and there, but he's not the player. A lot of people think he is in my opinion, and then of course, the cornerback Marshawn Lattimore. They don't have to worry about Cooper Kupp in this game, so that's going to free up Lattimore to shut someone down, and he probably will. The odd Saints by three. That's a Cooper Kupp line. I think with cup it. Might be even. Or maybe Saints favored by one at home? The over under is 39 points, 39 points. I think the only way this point total gets to 39 points is if Brandon Powell returns a couple of punts for touchdowns. Hey, maybe that's what this team needs. Game will be played in a Dome, so weather obviously is not an issue. What are my fearsome 4 keys to this? Well, you know, normally back in the good old days I would focus on the things the Rams had to avoid doing so they don't give a game away. What do they need to do to secure a win against an inferior opponent? 'cause that was very often the case, things have changed. The ramps need some help. They need a take away they made a couple of takeaways. My fear, some key number one is exactly that. We need a take away or two, maybe a pick 6. It's been since the. End of that Carolina game. Since we've had a take away. And that may be a function, surely is a function of the way we play defense. Our style of defense? Bend don't break. Is it conducive to a lot of takeaways in my? And we've been pretty unlucky in that regard to be honest, but. It'd be nice if that changed a take away or two. The luck turns a little bit in our favor and we get a couple takeaways against the Saints. There's some key #2 we got to move the ball on the ground against this team. They have a very good past events, a little less sturdy against the run. We showed some signs of life last week, just a little bit, just a little bit of life had some holes there at times. We need to get Henderson and Akers going, and if they can't. Let's get Kyren Williams in there. He looked quicker than either of those guys. I don't think they. Will go with Kyren Williams as a starter. I don't think that's the type of move McVay makes with his team. I wish it was, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Kyren Williams out there for the second series or the second set of downs. We'll see for some key #3. Hey, how about uh? Chunk play of some kind. How who on this team can make a chunk play a splash play? It might have to be the defense, but on offense it might be Brandon Powell van Jefferson. Someone kind of step up. They're not even playing 2/2 at well, so we can cross him off. List some kind of chunk play a big offensive play. The type of plays that Cooper Kupp typically would make for us, and those plays that he's been making have kept us alive and kept us in some games. We're going to need someone else to step up, and a big 40 yard, 50 yard play along. Touchdown a pick six if it's on defense. Something we need something really good to happen for us. Maybe a Brandon Powell punt return. He's been close a few times. Really close and wouldn't be surprised if that happened this week. He's been close a few times and maybe this is the week he breaks one. And for some key #4 someone has to step up in the receiving game, maybe a couple of guys. And if Stafford plays, it's going to be on him to get these guys involved. But maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Matthew Stafford is going to have to look for someone besides Cooper Cup. Is it going to be Higbee? Van Jefferson Allen Robinson is Lance McCutcheon going to get his shot? Even one of the other tight ends, Bryson Hopkins has disappeared again. Or maybe it's the running backs out of the backfield, not screenplays. Something a little bit different. Mix it up, center screens, screens in the middle of the field. We're running back. Haven't seen that very much this year, kayron. Williams Darrell Henderson. One of these guys getting involved in the passing game something's gotta change. Someone is going to have to step up a couple of guys if we're going to move the ball into St defense in the air, that's for sure. I have no problem with us going to the running game. Trying to shorten this game. Let our defense win the game for us put. Just a few points on the board, but still we're going to have to have a receiver or two involved somehow with Cooper Kupp not participating. My prediction Rams 13 Saints 10. Yes, that's my prediction. That's the type of game it's probably going to be, especially if the Rams are going to win. Will definitely be low scoring. Can't see both of these teams getting into the 20s. Just don't see it unless it's a total breakdown by one of these defenses, but that's how I'm going to roll with the Rams. Get back in the win column beating the Saints 13 to 10.  

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This segment we're going to touch on two things. I'm going to give you my power rankings, update it for the first time in a while, and as you all know, I'm not going to go 1 to 32, just the top 12 teams plus the three teams that are just outside the top. Well, like you, not really too interested in who's rated higher. The Bears or the Saints or the Browns. Not much interest to me, so we'll just do the top 12. The other thing I'm going to do is update my list of teams who are done, teams who can kiss this season goodbye. Thank you for participating now as a refresher in week six, I counted out the Panthers and the commanders. Week seven I said goodbye to the Texans and the Lions. And in week eight, the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Jacksonville Jaguars and week nine, the Las Vegas Raiders, and now week ten behind us, is there anyone new? Any additional teams we need? To add to this list, AFC East absolutely not all four teams or over 500. In the AFC North, we already rolled out the Steelers. Browns slipped to three and six. Four of their next five games, the Bills, Bucs, Bengals, and Ravens now now two of those games against divisional opponents. Some would say that's an opportunity for the Browns. I'm going the other way. I'm saying the Cleveland Browns 2022 season is over. Thank you for participating. See you next year. Cleveland Browns AFC S We already ruled out the Texans and Jags. Colts and Titans still both in the mix, AFC. West, the Raiders. We've already said they're done. What about the Broncos three and six? They overall have a tough schedule, but let's see what happens in these next two against the Raiders and Panthers. This is an opportunity for the Broncos to bring their team back from life support. So we'll put them on our watchlist, not calling them done yet. The NFC East we already rolled out to commanders. The other three teams still alive and well, the NFC West. Sorry I'm not counting out. The Rams can't do it. It's not in my nature. Cardinals, 49ers, and Seahawks all still have a shot. The NFC north. We already ruled out the Lions, Packers and Vikings are still alive. The Bears the Bears are three and six. They were on my watchlist. Their schedule gets brutal though The Jets, Packers, Eagles. Bills and Vikings laugh. Yeah, I'm sorry I'm calling the three and six bears done. See you next year. Chicago Bears. Thank you for participating. Your season is over and see S already ruled out the Panthers. The Saints are three and seven, but that division is still in reach for them. Could say the same about the Panthers. They have the same record, but I ruled them out and as I said, no, I'm ringing the bell when I say you're done, you're done. The Panthers are done not going to make that same call on the Saints right now. Now, but they made to beat the Rams. Or maybe they will be done. So two new teams on this list, the Browns and the Bears were up to 9 teams that are done. Thank you for playing guys. See you next year will probably be adding to this list next week. So what about my? Power rankings I'm going to tell you the three teams that are just outside this top 12. Probably going to get some disagreement on this. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'm not buying it quite yet. 2 nice wins. Rams should have had him in that game and I have a feeling that's the game that the ramps are going to be ruined. Heaven let it slip away. The Packers they get a win, but their resume is really not that impressive. Same for the Seahawks. Seahawks always seem to have this magic about him where they pull out games. Couldn't do it last week in Germany against the Bucs. I'm really impressed with the way they have played. I've already won my bet on them over 5 1/2 wins. That was my bed of. The year. But I'm still not buying them as a top twelve team. I still think that defense, although improved, is still susceptible as the Bucs showed last week, especially the Seahawks run defense. Really surprising how poor it was.  

So who are my top 12 #12? I'm going with chargers. They went on the road and lost a close game without their two top receivers. Their tackles were both out and they hung in there. They're a good team and I got them at #12 #11 Cincinnati Bengals. I'm not sure if they're going to hang on to that spot. That loss of Jamar Chase really hurts. Hopefully he can come back at some point. For now, I got the Bengals at 11 and I'm already second guessing myself on that, but. Leave Matt 11 #10, the Dallas Cowboys. Can't get a win at Lambeau. Still a very good defense. Tony Pollard has been playing really well. Cowboys at #10 the 49ers at #9. Their roster could be top three, especially with McCaffrey in the fold. But I still have a lingering doubt about this team being able to win big games in the playoffs. Good team. They got some proven to do. And of all these teams I'm talking about they might have. The worst quarterback? #8, The New York Giants gotta give it to them, they just keep on winning #7 The Jets gotta give it to them. They just keep on winning #6 the Miami Dolphins. Very exciting team. I'm tempted to move them up in the rankings, but for now I got them at #6. Next, three or four teams you could really mix them up any way you want. I don't have a strong argument for having the Dolphins at 6:00 instead of three or four, but I'll leave it at that #5. The Buffalo Bills six and three. Maybe the team everybody had crowned as the Super Bowl champions after that Thursday night win over the Rams. Having some issues now. #4 the Baltimore Ravens. I think this team is on a mission. This might be the year Lamar Jackson gets to the Super Bowl #3 the Philadelphia Eagles. Some chink in their armor losing at home to the commanders. Hey everybody has a bad day at the office including the Eagles and they were actually in that game to the end. Can't hammer them too much. #2A team that's not getting the love they deserve. The Minnesota Vikings pull out a win on the road against the Bills. The Bills kind of handed it to them but give the Vikings credit. They took it. And they have one. Impressive Rd win for the Vikings. And #1 the Kansas City Chiefs A-Team. The Rams play in a couple of weeks. They got it all going on and they got Patrick Mahomes great coach. Pretty good defense, lots of weapons. Kansas City champs for a scary team of all these teams. Regardless of the rankings, the six most serious Super Bowl contenders to me are those teams I have in the top six forget the rankings. But I think that right now it would be a good money bet the AFC representative will either be the Chiefs, Ravens bills or dolphins and the NFC Rep will either be the Vikings or Eagles. Now giants, Niners Cowboys could all have something to say about that. On the NFC side, but that's what I'm rolling with for now. My top 12 teams after 10 weeks of the NFL season take it or leave it. Let's get to our week 11 Rams up straight up game picks, but first a look back at last week and I have to be quite frank with you. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week for myself between Pete Lorenzo, Mike. And myself, I was the only one that picked the Seahawks to beat the Buccaneers. And I was the only one to pick the Saints to beat the Steelers, and that dinged me really good. The result is Mike went eight and six on the week. Pete and Lorenzo both went seven and seven and I went five and nine. I'm still ahead of Pete on the year, but I'm falling further behind Lorenzo and Mike. Mike with 96 correct Lorenzo 93. I have 87 and Pete has 86 and this. Week week 11. I don't know if I remember a more difficult week to pick games straight up. I count it 10 games, maybe 11 that I could easily go either way on and I was so troubled by this and the fact that I did support it last week. I decided to let my special assistant, who prefers to remain anonymous, but knows everything. I let him make the picks up. This week I'm going to step on the sideline and I'm going to give you his picks, and I've made my picks 1st and then I let him throw his out there and he actually picked six games differently than me, so we'll see if my special assistant can get me back in the game here. Tough week to do it, but that's why I'm leaning on him. I need a breather. I need to step back. Not doing too well the last few weeks. So what are my special assistance? Picks, Titans, Packers? He's going with the Packers at home. That could be a really fun game to watch. Both teams coming off of big wins. He's rolling with the Packers though. Bears and Falcons. Falcons at home. He's got the Falcons, Panthers at the Ravens. That's one of the game sets. Fairly easy to pick you would think. Anyways, going with the Ravens, another game that didn't take a lot of deliberation. I'm guessing Browns at bills that game could be played in several feet of snow. Not sure who that favors, but going with the Bills commanders at the Texans Commanders showed really well on Monday night they go on the road to Houston and my special assistant is taking the Texans equals at Colts. Now he tells me he was so tempted to take the Colts Jeff Saturday improving to two and oh as a head coach. But he's taken the Eagles to bounce back after suffering their first loss of the year. Jets at Patriots. Now I was tempted to take The Jets and actually I did take The Jets, but my special assistant is well aware apparently of how the Patriots have dominated The Jets and he's rolling with the Patriots. I took a look at the football database and. The Patriots have beaten The Jets 13 straight times and the last time The Jets beat the Patriots in regulation was, in 2011 a playoff game, January 16th, 2011. That's crazy. Rams at Saints. He's wired just like me. He's taking the Rams. Lions at the Giants and I rolled with the Lions. I said I would never pick them again. But I did, and so is my special assistant rolling with the Lions. The official pick Raiders at the Broncos. He's taking the visiting team to Raiders. Both these teams really disappointing. Which one is going to be more disappointed after this one? The Denver Broncos and fans of Russell Wilson will be filmed it after this when the Raiders win it chiefs at Chargers. Now there's going to be a lot of Chiefs fans in the stadium. Charges have been so banged up at key positions, so I'm not sure they can hang with the Chiefs no matter where they play. Chiefs take this one. Cowboys at Vikings extremely important game in the playoff picture for both teams Vikings. Probably going to take that division that win over the Bills gives them some breathing room with the Packers also winning last week, but they have to have the Packers in their rearview mirror a little bit, right? But we think my special assistant thinks Cowboys are going to win this on the road. Bengals at the Steelers. Steelers were really surprising to me anyways, beating the Saints. I guess I was the only. One that saw. It that way, but the Bengals will take care of them in Pittsburgh and the 49ers at the Cardinals. Cardinals might be feeling their groove. 49ers, you know, that wasn't that impressive? Of a win against the Chargers at home, in my opinion. Think the 49ers of the better team Cardinals are going to give them a fight at home. Though this could be a really fun game on Monday night. But we're taking the 49ers. Those are my rants. Up straight up picks letting my special assistant make the picks this week. And if he does poorly and I fall behind peoples go well, I can just say, hey, that's what happens when you let your assistant make the fix back next week to see how we did. That's going to do it this episode. We hope you enjoyed it. Remember, you can reach us at Rams up podcast@gmail.com. Visitourwebsite@ramsup.com, you'll find links to all of our episodes, as well as transcriptions. And don't forget about our YouTube channel on handle is. At larandomstuff.com till next time, keep the horns up. It stays safe and have fun like that. 

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