Obvious disappointment but I agree. No guarantees at all that they come right back there next year. Tough hill to climb and changes on the way. But they are built for contention- starting with McVay and Goff- and that puts them ahead of 3/4 of the teams in the league already.
True team loss in my opinion. Well, true offensive team loss. Yes, McVay was too conservative and was outcoached. For sure. Yes, Goff got confused at times and made a few bad decisions. But the OL got flat beaten too many times. Cooks, as well as he played overall, should have come down with that TD catch. It was scheme AND execution across the board on offense.
Personally, I don't buy into "if only we had Kupp." The Rams were again one of the healthiest teams in the league. Missing just one key guy is something most every other team would have loved to have.
I had a feeling they would need 10 catches combined from Reynolds, Everett and Higbee given that NE was going to double either Cooks or Woods and then have Gilmore on the other. 3 catches on 8 targets for them combined didn't cut it...
It was a great run and coming up 10 points short against Belichick and Brady is nothing to be ashamed of. Frustrating, yes, because it was within their grasp.But we all said all along this was a matchup of better talent (Rams) vs. much more experience (Patriots).
I thought it was a fantastic season and could not be more proud of how far the team came. The future is bright- but a lot to be done...
So for 2019...
Agree about having to move on from Barron and Joyner. Littleton is becoming a good ILB but he needs a bigger guy inside next to him. Kiser? Maybe. If not go get a true ILB somewhere in free agency.
Fowler I would like back. I think he earned it and fit in well.
Suh- at a lower number for another year, fine. Not at $14M again or even $11M. And not long term. We'll see what he wants.
Sullivan- I agree that if you rank their starters 1 through 22 he would be in the bottom 3-4. So....
I hope Whitworth comes back for one more year.
