Very well spelled out, RFL...

One thing that appears to be true to me is that while I'm in agreement with everything you said.... with both a tough and weak opponent the Ram's main reasons for less that top performance seem to be more of the self-inflicted type. Obviously this is more pronounced with a 'tough' opponent, as you point out, but still mostly self-inflicted.

Ram's appear to me to be a team that has all the cogs in place, and coaching... but have not quite mastered that elusive 'gel' we speak so often about.