Every week, I usually like to take my expectation of the game and exaggerate it wildly in order to make it bold. However, the way the Los Angeles Rams are playing, that simply will not do. Predicting that the Rams will stomp all over the Texans by 30 points? Yawn. Shutout? Sounds feasible. Blocked punts? More of the same.
So, with that being stated, I’m going conservative this week, predicting a messy, emotional, hard-fought battle that will be ugly, but also character-building.
Let’s get bold.
Jared Goff will suffer some growing pains while still getting the W
Listen, I’m a big fan of the Mighty Goff. I want him to throw for 300+ yards on Sunday. However, I feel like he’s going to backslide a bit. Not because he’s bad, it’s just the way the NFL is — you can’t count on good things lasting. He’s still going to come out with the win, but Goff is going to throw a handful of picks, turning down the volume on his hype for at least a week.
Tavon Austin will have 100+ all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns
As Coach McBae expands his playbook with his insanely innovative play calling, a guy like Tavon Austin works perfectly for that. No longer a blantant decoy with no real purpose on the field, his new role (along with TE Gerald Everett) is to shake up defenses with rarely seen plays that are 100% Sean McVay.
Houston will rack up yards with the running game
The Houston Texans have a possible one-two punch with RB Lamar Miller and rookie RB D’Onta Forman. I can see both of those guys giving the Rams defensive unit fits. The Texans will keep the game within reach throughout most of the game because of explosive plays, but look for the Rams D to stop them when it counts.
Pharoh Cooper will be the hero in overtime
Without overthinking it, lets just say I got a good feeling about Cooper’s ability to break a game wide open. I predict his score will decide the game
Robert Quinn will have his best game of the season
I’m going to will this into existence because I want to see him get back to his 2014 ways. Expect 2 sacks and a whole bunch of disruption from Quinn.
I hate to agitate the #toonegative crowd, but I just see this game as a frustrating/low scoring affair (well, for the Rams at least), with a heavy dose of field position battling and a dash of break-away plays. Things have been pretty easy for the Rams, and even though it looks like a cake-walk on paper, the Rams are going to have to take this fight all the way to overtime.
Rams win — 21-17.