Previewing the Rams-Chiefs Game and Looking at the Rams Roster Churn; 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 to Rams up your favorite LA Rams podcast. Gonna get into this Rams chiefs game. Gotta be really excited about that. Got a four-game losing streak going and we get to head to Kansas City and try to break it. Pick up our first win, since that victory over the Carolina Panthers, let's get it done right. Everything is lining up for Rams. Victory, just trying to convince myself of these fact. Before we get to our preview of the Rams Chiefs game, lots of things going on at Rams headquarters. The big news. Of course Daryl Henderson cut a guy. A lot of people viewed as our most dependable and productive running back really struggled this year though, wasn't really. Creating yards after contact is, however, the Rams 24th all time leading rusher 396 carries 1742 yards. 13 TD's of 4.4 average just 35 yards per game though good running back just seems to get banged up a lot and he's going to be a free agent next year anyways. So the Rams are painting this as sort of kind of doing him a favor, letting him try to sort through that already. By the way, he has already signed with the Jags. But again, he'll be a free agent next year. Who knows where he'll end up, but I don't think Henderson was very happy with the Rams based on some social media posts by him, but. Sad to see him go good running back, tough running back. Aramnau more what does that mean? After all this drama with Cam Akers, it's Henderson that gets cut. A lot of people really surprised by that as am I but. We really shouldn't be that surprised, right? Could have been either acres or Henderson. You want to make room for Kyren Williams. Obviously that's what's really going on here. Do you want kyrene and acres? Or Kayran and Henderson? That's really what it came down to, and with Henderson being a free agent next year anyways, let's go with anchors. And I would suspect Ron Rivers will get promoted from the practice squad for this Chiefs game. Well, Justin Hollins also cut basically our third edge rusher after Floyd and Lewis at this point. But where do we go from there as far as edge rushers and these guys have been really unproductive this year. And by the way, Hollins is also a free agent next year on the Rams websites too. Jackson writing that Raheem Morris said, hey, this could mean Michael Hoyt gets more snaps. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. That seems like it'd be more related to a Shawn Robinson injury, which we'll get to in a. 2nd but someone going to have to be added as an edge guy now could it be Daniel Hardy coming back from injury or are they going to elevate one of these two guys on the practice squad? Braden Thomas and Zach Vanvalkenburg won't know for a couple days, obviously, and there's really been a dearth of information on Daniel Hardy Rehab. If he's ready to go. Or not, but I suspect one of those three guys will be elevated and Michael Hoyt will get additional snaps. And finally, Kendall Blanton waived again this guy. Has kept his suitcase packed. I think he he was on the practice squad. He was on the active roster. He was released. He was on the Chiefs practice squad. He was signed again to the Rams roster at back and Forth. I hope he was only renting. I'm sure he was, but Kendall Blanton waived again, which is. A little odd, given this injury report Tyler Higbee day-to-day, we'll get to that in. 2nd but three guys gone, Darrell Henderson, Justin Hollands, and Kendall Blanton. The big surprise, the biggest surprise. Of course, Darrell Henderson, but him and Hollands, both free agents next year, so it kind of makes a little bit of sense. The injury report from today. Matthew Stafford back in the concussion protocol. He is out against the Chiefs. So what does that mean? That means Bryce Perkins is going to get the start. In all likelihood, he's been taking most of the snaps. John Wolford still struggling with that neck injury. He's limited tiny secky day-to-day. Brian Allen still not practicing with that thumb injury and Matt Skura another guy that can play center. He is limited with a knee injury as well, and Allen Robinson Limited with an. Ankle injury and like I said Tyler Higbee, day-to-day. Hey I have a feeling the Rams are comfortable that he's going to play. Or perhaps they wouldn't have cut Kendall Blanton, right? Just trying to connect the dots here and on the defensive side, a Shawn Robinson torn meniscus out for the year and he has been one of our best. Well he's probably been our best. Run defender that's a big loss. Someone is going to have to step up. Marquis Copeland would be the first guy up Michael Hoyt. They got a couple other guys in their practice squad. Someone is probably going to get elevated there as well, and travian Howard limited with a hip injury. Chiefs come in pretty healthy, and that's probably a good thing. It seems like the more bang depth of opposition is, the better they play, or the worse we play may be going up against a really talented and healthy team is going to bring out the best in the Los Angeles Rams. Let's look at it that way, shall we? Couple practice squad signings. Quarterback case cook. This out of T Oh high school Thousand Oaks high school stones throw from the Rams camp. I know that area well cook his latest college ball at Northern Arizona. He's had shots at making a few rosters. The Giants, Broncos, Vikings, Raiders and then on to the Edmonton Elks and Philadelphia Stars. And now. Now the Rams, the other guy they signed center Cole Toner. He's played in 13 games in NFL with three starts stints with the Cardinals, Patriots, Bengals, Chargers and Texans. He's out of Harvard. Hey, could we bring back Ryan Fitzpatrick throat toner in there for a few snaps? At center with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Probably the first center quarterback connection from Harvard to play together in an NFL is my guess. We're starting to get a look at what the Rams schedule will look like next year. They'll have the home and away with the Seahawks, Niners, and Cardinals. Obviously they will take on the AFC North. They'll get the Browns and Steelers at home. The Bengals and Ravens on the road. They take on the NFC East. They'll get the Eagles and commanders. At home and the Cowboys and Giants on the road, I think having the Cowboys on the road is a good thing and they will play one team at home from the NFC S. Likely the Panthers, but that vision kind of a mask could end up being almost anybody really except Tampa Bay. And the NFC North in the AFC S One team from each on the road. Right now the likely opponents are the Bears in the Texans, so that could work out well for the Rams. That's the one good thing that could come out of this year. They could end up with a fourth place schedule, not something I'm rooting for, but let's try to look at the bright. Side, shall we? And before we get to this Rams Chiefs preview and that, by the way, would be followed by our Rams up straight up game picks. Just a word about the college. Football Playoff is so annoying to me. USC beats UCLA now they take on Notre Dame and then probably Oregon in a playoff game. And Alabama and LSU last week were playing. Who were they playing? Ellison was hosting University of Alabama, Birmingham and and Alabama was hosting Austin Peay. Yes, that is how you pronounce it. I had to look it up Austin Peay and you know what the fix for this is these. Supposed football powerhouses. Is basically scheduling buys late in the year before things get really tough, while Big 10 and PAC 12 teams are taking on real opponents traveling for tough games. How about this? Voters treat an LSU win over University of Alabama. Birmingham the same way you treat USC if they traveled across the country and lost to a school like I don't know, maybe Virgin. Yeah, I'll give you a real example. Who do you think? Got rewarded and dinged for these two results. Utah travels across the country. And loses by three to the University of Florida. And then you have LSU and Alabama beating the University of Alabama and Austin Peay at home in late November. Ding these guys for winning these games for even scheduling it. LSU has LSU actually climbed in the rankings by beating UAB and Alabama. The same, I don't get it. Other teams are losing and they're beating UAB, so you leapfrog over the team that lost to a real opponent. I call BS on that. Alabama, especially. They're the 8th ranked team in the country. They have a 9 in two record and three of those winds all at home over Utah State, 55 to nothing over Louisiana Monroe 63 to 7, and Austin Peay 34 to nothing. And finally, don't forget our YouTube channel. Our YouTube handle is at La Rams up, easy to find and we are also starting an Instagram page. It's in its infancy, just getting it wrong, but it's going to be a great way of sharing short messages, injury reports, trade news, those types of things Instagram may be a great. Option Given what's going on at Twitter, so check it out. It's Rams up under score podcast on Instagram, Instagram. Com slash Rams up under score podcast. And like I say, we're just getting it rolling. It's going to get better and better. And by the way, if you forget these links to school to our website, Rams up com. There's links to both right at the top there. Check it out back in a minute with our Rams chiefs preview  

DraftKings Sports Book, an official sports. Betting partner the NFL is my go to when betting on the NFL this holiday season. Right now everyone can earn up to 100% boost with draft kings stepped up, same game parlays. And if you're looking for a week 12 same game parlay. How about this one right now? Texans plus seven against the Dolphins. The over under is 45 the Texans have the worst rush defense in the league given up 181 yards per game. First of all, I think the Texans plus seven is a good bet, and I think we're going to go with the under on that point. Total of 45. For a couple of reasons, both teams are going to try to run the ball. That'll shorten the game. Damian Pierce has a good chance of slicing and dicing. In this dolphin defense, so both teams. Are going to be. Running the ball. So take the under on the point total. Take the Texans plus seven and I'm going to say take most dirt over under rushing yardage. He's going to get plenty of action against this Texans defense. And how about this? If you download the. DraftKings Sports Book app now. And use code tip. Then place a $5 bet on any NFL team to win their game. You get $150 in free bets if they do only at DraftKings sports book with code tip the minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes. For details. Let's preview this week 12 game. The Los Angeles Rams visiting the Kansas City Chiefs and I'm really bummed about this. Remember that 2018 game? Talk about that in a second we went at the Rams and Chiefs. To face off in the Super Bowl last year, even that would have been great. Great, we finally get a game with the Chiefs and the Rams are fallen on hard times. This game is really not that attractive at all, especially if you're around fan of sure Chiefs fans are going to go to this game thinking man this is going to be fun and odds are it probably. Will be, it'll be fun for Kansas City Chiefs fans, not so much for Rams fans, serious record chiefs lead seven wins, 5 losses. The last time they played I already mentioned it. The greatest game ever played. November 19th. Almost on the anniversary there, November 19th 2018 Rams 54 Chiefs 51 man that game at the Coliseum and prime time it had a special feel to it. 35 points scored in the fourth quarter. Sampson Emicon and Gerald Everett, two TDs apiece, Goff and Mahomes combined for 891 yards, passing in 10 TDs. Mahomes had six of those. Tyreek Hill 250 yards receiving MA Homes and golf both lost two fumbles. Ed Koch, one of the best in the business. Andy Reid, key players. Patrick Mahomes, their quarterback the best tight end in perhaps the history of the league. Travis kelce. We don't want to talk too much about their young center creed. Humphrey Rams could have drafted him, and they passed on the defensive side. Chris Jones still getting after quarterbacks and. Frank Clark and Carlos Dunlap, two ex Seahawks Clark, along the defensive line. Carlos Dunlap. Morgan Edge outside linebacker Guy and linebacker Nick Bolton. Making a name for himself. You'll see him racking up tackles for sure. Injuries for the Chiefs. The big one is Clyde Edwards. Helaire questionable, but Isaiah Pacheco has stood in for him. He had 107 yards against the Chargers rookie running back lookout for him. You may not have heard of him, but he's no slouch. He's good running back. I talked about the Rams injuries in the opening segment, hoping Tiny sekien Brian Allen can go Higbee Day today. Those are the. New things the Rams are dealing with. Hopefully Brian Allen can get back, but he is not practicing yet. So the Rams issues along the offensive line continue. We'll go down that long list of injured offensive lineman. You all know about that by now. Chiefs had a bunch of draft picks last year and a couple of guys already contributing. One is defensive end George Karl Aftos out of Purdue and the other is sky more the wide receiver out of Western Michigan. Let's look at some team stats offensively. Chiefs are #1 In yards per game 450 yards, mostly through the air #1 passing attack, this Rams defense could be a good test for them now. It's going to have to be if the Rams are going to have a chance. Defensively, cheats are middle of the pack. They give up 250 yards to the air per game, but they had the 5th toughest Randy. So that may not be the best matchup for the rants. If Stafford is out, Rams are going to have to try to run the ball. Can't see John Wolford or Bryce Perkins doing a lot of damage through the air. Odds cheats by 15. I first saw that and I thought, wow, that's pretty high but then give it a little bit of thought. You know what? I'm not taking Rams. Plus 15. I wouldn't touch this bet either way, actually. Hopefully the Rams can keep it close, maybe even pull out a win, but cheese by 15 actually sounds about right. Weather it's going to be in the upper 40s, might hit 50 degrees and sunny. A little windy, but not enough to be a factor. Team records Rams come in three and seven on a four-game losing streak. Chiefs come in eight and two on a four-game winning streak. Their only losses to the Bills and Colts. There are some 4 keys to the game now. I was a guest on another podcast and they asked me to share my thoughts on the three things the ramps needed to do to win and I'm going to reiterate three of those and throw in another one for some key #1. Need a little bit of productivity from the offense. Just a couple of good drives. Two TDs would be nice, 14 points out of our offense. Hey, I'll take 13 now. That's not going to be enough to win. We're not going to be able to keep pace with this Chiefs offense, that's for sure, but more to come on that 13 or 14 points from our offense. Is that asking too much? Maybe a little more if our defense gives us some short fields. More on that in a second. For some K #2 you know Brandon Powell has been pretty close to breaking one really close. I think he might be running more popular Rams at this point. The passion he plays with and Italia. This would be a great game for him to break one. Put seven on the board for the Rams. Special teams pitching in in a big way. And that's what we're going to need we. May need to play like that. If it's not a popular Turner or block kick something like that. I know very wishful thinking over here, but that's what I'm rolling with. A special team score courtesy of Brandon Powell that would be nice if there's some key #3 You know, a lot of people have been criticizing the Rams style of defense. The bend don't break, but overall it has been generally successful. The problem is our offense is getting nothing done. And if you offer, it's getting nothing done that bend. Don't break is not a bad approach. Make the other team burn up a lot of time, 14 play drives and then force. A field goal. That is the recipe for success when your offense kind of sucks. The problem is. Last week we gave up a big play and other weeks we started to give up some touchdowns in the red. Zone, and that's where it all falls apart. And the other thing that's falling apart is no takeaways. Not since the Carolina game. Four or five games ago. Our last win right? No takeaways. 0 takeaways. We need to be +2 in the take away department. We're going to lay back and let Mahomes dump passes off in front of our cornerbacks and safeties and our linebackers. Let's jump. One of them. Let's get a take away and maybe. Turn one of them into six quick points. Maybe set up our offense for a short field for an extra touchdown. That's what we need. And I hate to say it, we're going to need some magic like this. And for some key #4 kind of already mentioned it, we need to force field goals. We need to make the Chiefs settle for three, shut them down in the redzone. It should be OK now giving up big plays, we're going to play that bend. Don't break and this could be one game where that's wise a wise approach. Let's do that. But then let's force field goals. Make the Chiefs settle for three. That'll go a long way to keeping us in this game. Setting up Brandon Powell spot return right and we pull off the win. A lot of wishful thinking over here. Absolutely, that's what it's going to take. Rams can't go toe to toe with the. Chiefs, they're going to need some help. They're going to need some special plays from the special teams and the defense, and just a little bit of productivity from the offense. And they have a chance. And yes, I'm telling you there is a chance. And that's my prediction. Rams 27 chiefs 26. Now in my Rams up straight up game picks I go the other way, but. I'm allowed to do that. This is my podcast I'm trying to keep up with a couple other guys in the statistics. As far as picking straight up games. So I'm going to be sensible and my ramps up straight up game picks, but here for this segment Rams 27 Chiefs 26.  

Time for our week 12 Rams up straight up game picks and you know what last week I did pretty darn good or shall I say my special assistant did I deferred to him? Let him make these specs and but to be honest with you I. Think we are insane? I think on most of these there was probably one game each where he got it right. I would have gotten it wrong and vice versa. Nonetheless, I went. We went eleven and three, as did Pete Prisco, so we both gained ground on Mike Florio, who was ten and four, and Lorenzo Reyes, who was nine and five. So the standings right now Mike still leads the pack with 106 right? Followed by Lorenzo 102. Me and my team 98 and Pete Prisco 97 would have been even a better week if I had picked the commanders instead of the Texans. I was the only one that got that wrong and I was the only one that picked the Rams over the Saints, so that's like an automatic Ding for me. Whenever the Rams lose now whereas. Last week was one of the most difficult weeks I've ever seen to pick, and we win 11 and three. That's pretty good. This week gets a little bit easier. First game bills at Lions lions on A3 game-winning streak. They're at home, but I think the bills handle them, and interestingly enough, this will be the bills second straight game in Detroit. Haven't played that game last week in Detroit. Due to the snowfall in Buffalo giants at Cowboys, obviously a big game when we're talking about playoff seeding and a playoff spot period, perhaps down the. Rode Giants coming off that loss at home to the Lions and the Cowboys smashed the Vikings in Minnesota, so the obvious choice is the Cowboys. And that's my pick. Patriots at the Vikings. Man Patriots did such a great job of shutting down The Jets. Defense is really starting to play well Vikings that was a dud against the Cowboys defense, but I think the Vikings win this one. Broncos at the Panthers and this is actually a tough game. I don't think much of the Broncos. Don't have a high opinion of their quarterback at this time. Panthers, you know they're kind of up and down. Mostly down though, I'm going to take Russell Wilson and the Broncos on the road Buccaneers at the Browns, Buccaneers and Tom Brady have a lot more to play for than the Browns. At this point I'll take the Bucs Ravens at Jags Jags. Make a game of it, but the Ravens will win Texans at the Dolphins. Kind of the same story. The Texans are no pushover, but this Dolphins team is a Super Bowl contender. A serious Super Bowl contender at this point, I'll take the Dolphins. Bears at The Jets. The Jets are a little bit dysfunctional right now. A lot of teammates rolling their eyes at the quarterback with not a good look. Last week Justin Fields turn it up on the ground. I think the. Jets win this, though this is a big game for The Jets if their quarterback can't get us. Hacked together. They could be in trouble. Bengals at the Titans. This is my game of the week. I could go either way on this. The bank will still without Jamar Chase, though Titans will scheme against that defense and come out with a win. Falcons at the commanders. The winner of this game step forward towards the playoffs. Perhaps commanders are playing really well specially. On defense, I'll take the commanders. Kyle Pitts is out, but he hasn't really been a big contributor in the 1st place. Still, I'll take the commanders. My second game of the week Chargers at the Cardinals. Cardinals ran into a buzz saw. The 49ers really hit and stride the Chargers. They just have been so dinged up at key positions. Played well against the Chiefs, just cannot close the deal against good teams, but I'm going to take the Chargers in this one on the road. Raiders at the Seahawks. You know if it's. In Las Vegas, I take their Raiders. If it's in Seattle, I'll take the Seahawks. So therefore I'm taking the Seahawks Rams at chiefs. What do I gotta say about this? Now my game preview. I'm predicting the Rams win, but in my official ramps up straight up game pics, I can't do it. Can't do it. Can't even say it. But you know how I feel about it? Move on to the next game. Saints at the 49ers New Orleans defense can be something special. This will be a good test for the 49ers. But I'll take the 49ers. If Jimmy G can avoid making big mistakes, 49ers win. Packers at Eagles. This is not your grandfathers Packers. It's not your father's Packers. It's a mediocre Packer team. I'll take the Eagles and Steelers at Colts Monday night. Colts led by Jeff Saturday. I'll take them to. A very mediocre Steelers team. Mediocre teams right now. Mediocre portin. Steelers Packers Rams. It's a new world in the NFL. Those are my Rams up straight up picks or this week. No help from my special assistant. These are all mine. I'll sink or swim with my own pigs this week.  

That's going to do it for this episode. We hope you enjoyed it. Remember, you can reach us at Rams up podcast at. Gmail.com. Visit our website. At Rams up com to find links to all of our episodes as well as transcriptions. And don't forget about our YouTube channel. Our handle is at La Rams up.com till next time get the horns up, stay safe and have fun out there. 

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