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Heading into Week 17 of the 2024 NFL season, the Los Angeles Rams completely control their playoff destiny.
Sitting pretty at 9-6 with just two games to play, if Sean McVay's team can win out, Los Angeles will represent the NFC West in the wildcard round of the playoffs, likely in the third seed between the Philadelphia Eagles and whichever team wins the NFC South. If they win in Week 17 and the Seattle Seahawks lose, the divisional race is over.
If the Rams win in Week 17 and still lose in Week 18, they still get to represent the West in the playoffs based on the victory tiebreaker over Seattle, according to ESPN. And shoot, even if LA loses this weekend, but Seattle wins, evening up their record at 9-7 all, they could still secure the win in Week 18 and still get into the playoffs at 10-7.
Needless to say, this is very good news for fans in LA, or at least wherever said fans are choosing to spend their holidays, as the city notoriously clears out during the final two weeks of the year. Soon, SoFi will be alive with at least one home playoff game, and who knows, that number could even potentially expand to two if the Rams beat the sixth seed and the Eagles lose to the seventh seed, regardless of which team it ends up being. Finally, back to near full health, the Rams could shock the world with an impressive run into the playoffs, and the Rams could be three wins away from returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2022.
How did that turn out? Oh yeah, a parade down Figueroa Street.
But before the Rams can start thinking about parade routes, Super Bowl merch, and a new shirt for GM Les Snead – maybe Love Them Picks, thanks to the strength of his recent draft classes? – the Rams have to get past the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi. Yes, the Cardinals have already been eliminated from the playoffs, and yes, Arizona just placed two offensive linemen on IR, but that doesn't mean they couldn't look to play spoiler under head coach Jonathan Gannon. Considering how hard the Cards played LA back in September, with the Rams looking truly lifeless against a team many a fan thought could shock the world, who knows, maybe this could be a reality check for the Rams about their ultimate ceiling in 2024?
1. The Cardinals' running game is entirely based on James Conner
For the second year in a row, James Conner is a 1,000-yard rusher for the Cardinals. Now granted, he was able to accomplish that feat in only 13 games for the year last season versus 15 in 2024 due in no small part to averaging .5 fewer carries per game and .3 fewer yards per carry, but in the end, 1,000 yards is 1,000 yards and when running backs typically start to slow down on the wrong side of 27, Conner has been heating up as a steady power back who can still ring off big runs in open space while also contributing as a receiver out of the backfield, too.
If Conner can go in Week 17, the Rams might just be in trouble, as his pairing with the ever-elusive Kyler Murray has been money, and LA's rushing defense is notoriously porous, as their 25th-ranked unit clearly proves. Though they haven't played a ton of running quarterbacks in 2024, when they have, including against Murray in Week 2 and the Eagles in Week 12, they were gashed for a combined 555 yards in just those two games alone.
And yet, with Conner currently questionable with a knee injury, 1,000 yards already secured, and nothing left to play for, would the Cardinals really consider risking their top rusher's long-term health for a meaningless game? Would Conner want to risk injury in a pointless game at this point in his career?
Now granted, if Conner can't go in Week 17, the Cardinals still have a few interesting options at their disposal, including 2024 third-round pick Trey Benson. But if the Pitt product is ultimately ruled out for the contest, the Rams will have a pretty good chance to make Murray and company one-dimensional in Week 18, which, considering their past issues against dominant running games, would be a welcomed development.
2. Matthew Stafford gets revenge on the Cardinals' defense
In Week 2, Matthew Stafford turned in an ugly effort against the Rams. After watching his team go down early, with Arizona amassing an insurmountable lead by the end of the first quarter, the Rams' QB threw the ball 27 times but was only able to pick up 216 yards without a single passing touchdown, which would end up being his sixth-lowest total of the season.
Now granted, in that particular game, the Rams' defense really set them up for failure, as Murray threw the ball 21 times for 266 yards and three passing touchdowns, plus five more runs for 59 yards, but in Week 17, Stafford has a chance to get his revenge against the Cardinals, as their passing defense isn't all it once looked cracked up to be.
Fielding a surprisingly healthy secondary this late in the season, with just one player, Elijah Jones, on IR and another, Joey Blount, questionable for the game, the Rams will be squaring up against Arizona's best in Week 17. Their best, however, is only the 13th-ranked passing defense in the NFL, with the Cardinals one of the few teams who have actually allowed more passing yards than they have amassed on offense. If Stafford can just hit his average completions per game of 21.5 against a defense allowing an average of 9.8 yards per attempt, the Rams should have a pretty good game, with that number coming in at 211, but if Stafford really wants to lean in on a defense that gave him trouble as a sort of pre-playoff mettle test, there's little reason to believe he couldn't go over 250 yards, or even flirt with 300, which is a mark only one team, ironically enough, the Chargers, has hit in 2024.
3. Kyren Williams leads the Rams to their tenth win of 2024
After months and months of hubris, Sean McVay has slowly but surely had to admit something fans have known all along: the Rams are a team built to run the ball.
Now yes, they have maybe the most underrated quarterback in the NFL, two of the top wide receivers in the NFC, and a head coach who continues to get copied nearly a decade after he took over the job, but they have an offensive line made up of road graders, one of the better backs in the NFL still on his rookie contract, and an offense seemingly designed to benefit from a strong play action game. Why did it take until the season was nearly over for McVay to realize he could lean on his run game instead of throwing the ball 100 more times than he ran it?
Frankly, it's hard to say, but from December on, it's clear McVay learned the lesson, and the Rams are better off for it, with Williams officially passing the 1,000-yard mark, and even his backup, rookie draftee Blake Corum, getting in on the action more and more with each passing week.
Facing off against the 22nd-ranked rushing defense in the NFL that currently has six front seven players who are either on IR or the injury report, if Williams gets 20-plus carries in Week 17, it's hard to imagine the Rams would leave the holiday weekend without a post-Christmas win.
