SoulfishHawk":3pc3upkl said:
It's just my own opinion, but people acting like they are going to the Super Bowl already is way too premature.
I'll believe it's gonna' work out when I see it. And the still have to stay healthy. Putting together a so called "super team" doesn't automatically equal a title. They clearly are being crowned. Just not by me.
I mean, there were times during the season where the Rams had better advanced metrics than the 1999 team. And while many have talked about having to play a "first place" schedule, we randomly drew the Saints and Vikings last year on top of playing the Eagles and Cowboys (with Zeke).
And while you can say this kind of thing every year, it's worth noting that if the Rams had beaten the Eagles last year and then played the starters and beaten the Niners in week 17, that's a 13-3 team with a first round bye. Doubt the Eagles win the super bowl.
That's only relevant to why I don't think the Rams are being overrated at all - they were actually a better team than the 11-5 record last year and then laid an egg against the Falcons - that's a concern - but then the team went out and got much, much better.
You have to have watched the Rams games to truly get a grasp for just how much better the Rams got - Ogletree was one of the worst rated MLBs against the run last year - Littleton, the man that will take his place, will be an upgrade for what he will be asked to do. Quinn had a good 5 game stretch, but mostly collected sacks last year because of Donald's pressure up the middle.
On the flip side, Suh at NT is a massive upgrade - we were playing Ethan Westbrooks and Tanziel Smart there last year..
Trumaine Johnson was overrated as well - Kayvon Webster was solid but not spectacular. Talib and Peters are MASSIVE upgrades over those guys - especially for what the CBs are asked to do in this system.
And then you have Cooks over Watkins - Watkins missed all of TC last year, Cooks has been here since day 1. That's a huge deal.
The Rams were one of the best teams in the NFL last year with average QB play - from a young QB with potential and a lot of room to get better. We had some injury luck on the OL, but that's why we spent several draft picks to bolster the OL depth.
The only thing stopping me from being flat out confident that the Rams will win the superbowl are that for all our upgrades, the Eagles are adding the best young QB in the NFL to a team that won the superbowl, and the Vikings added Richardson and Cousins. These three teams are stacked on a level that I haven't seen in one conference.
I also believe it's unprecedented for a team to have added players the caliber of Suh, Cooks, Peters and Talib in one offseason. People keep talking about the dream team Eagles but I think maybe one of their FA signings would be on this level.
