Good thoughts and I'm also tempering expectations too. Though right now, in my opinion, the team's floor should be 6 wins and ceiling is probably 9.
Regarding 2007 and 2011- those were very flawed teams of course. And going into 2007 they came off a year when they were 5-8 but rattled off three wins at the end against bad teams to reach 8-8. But anyway, in both 2007 and 2011 they were devastated by injuries, in particular on the OL in 2007 which just killed the offense as a whole and in the secondary (plus QB ) in 2011. Part of what the Rams do need to hope for is a repeat in their health from 2016.
I do think Phillips will have a positive impact on the defense. And offensively a much better scheme and coaching staff is sure to help. The Rams offense was historically bad last year, probably the 2nd worst in the franchise's history. And as other places like FootballOutsiders have written, even "garden variety bad" would be a step up and could give them 2 more wins. But they are relying on a QB with 7 career starts, and OL with 3 new starters (albeit one that is a Pro Bowler) and two rookies as immediate contributors at WR and TE (Kupp and Everett).
If the Rams can go from 32nd in offense to even 26th while the defense plays consistently well (top 10 unit) I think 8-8 is very possible.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2017 03:24AM by LMU93.
