Since 2012, the Rams have been 3-2 after bye weeks. Mostly it's a story of the quarterbacks.
That was with a different coach but there are enough players around from then who know this chemistry that it could carry over or even be recharged in new ways. I don't know about that really but the history is interesting anyway.
In 2012, they lost 3 straight before the bye, and lost them dramatically. Among other things the OL was a mess. Remember the 45-7 loss to the Patz in London? That was just before the bye. They then used the bye to upgrade their redzone passing offense and get their OL back healthy. From that point on they had a near 50% TD rate in redzone passes, among the 2-3 best in the league, and had a much stronger 2nd half, starting with the famous overtime tie game in SF, a game where they were expected to be patsies but played tough. They went 3-1-1 the 5 games after the bye in the wake of going 0-3 in the 3 games before the bye. They never had enough steam to overcome the record from the first half of the season but they were clearly different and better after the bye.
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In 2013, they won after the bye but that was with Clemens and so not a structurally different team the way they were in 2012 after the bye. That is, they could improve the redzone passing game with Bradford in 2012, and re-gather an OL that had been an injury mess before the bye in 2012, but in 2013 there was only so much they could do with Stacy and Clemens.
In 2014, they tried, but that was with Austin Davis. This is the game where they tried and failed to stage a comeback against the Foles quarterbacked Eagles. A game that was there for the taking but it was clear the qb lost the game for them.
In 2015, they lost in an embarassing way to Green Bay before the bye, and that was the beginning of the end for Foles. They managed to reduce his profile in the 2 games after the bye, which they won against lowly teams by springing Gurley loose and playing good defense under Williams. They won those games by a total of 51-12 and Gurley in both games combined ran 39 times for 261 yards. Those gave the illusion that Foles could still manage a game if they could run and play defense. 2 more games with Foles melting down and that "fix" fell apart so they switched to Keenum.
In 2016 after the bye they played Carolina tough but to no avail. Not being able to run the ball in 2016 eventually took its toll on everything.
So from 2012-16, they were 3-2 after the bye. In each case they put in major fixes, the most successful coming in 2012 and then (much more temporarily) in 2015.
In the last 5 years their qbs after byes have been Bradford, Clemens, Davis, Foles, and Keenum.
I actually think it's something of an achievement to do as well as they did considering the fact that there's only one starting caliber qb on that list.
I expect them after NY to be 4-2 after byes. The McVay Rams fix issues on a weekly basis--it's visible. Imagine them with an extra week.
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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2017 04:49AM by zn.
