It’s going to be a yardstick Sunday for Los Angeles NFL groups.
The Rams play host to the Buffalo Payments on Sunday afternoon, adopted by the Chargers at Kansas Metropolis that night time.
These are litmus checks, an opportunity for the Rams and Chargers to see how they measure up in opposition to two of one of the best groups within the league.
The Payments have already got clinched the AFC East — an astounding feat, contemplating there are 5 video games to play — and the Chiefs have the NFL’s finest document at 11-1, their solely loss coming to Buffalo.
Whereas Detroit and Philadelphia are the dominant groups within the NFC, it’s extraordinarily possible that both Kansas Metropolis or Buffalo will wind up with the AFC’s prime seed. Pittsburgh has an out of doors likelihood in that race, however the Steelers’ remaining schedule isn’t as favorable.
These are yardstick video games as a result of the Rams and Chargers can measurement up their possibilities in opposition to top-shelf competitors — and since shedding would really feel to them like a ruler rapping throughout the knuckles.
Nonetheless, each L.A. groups have motive for optimism heading into these video games.
This may very well be a lure recreation for Buffalo, having locked up the division so early, and with a potential Tremendous Bowl matchup in opposition to Detroit coming the next week. The Payments additionally should carry out that delicate balancing act of protecting gamers wholesome whereas not shedding momentum.
The Payments are sturdy in all places, besides in terms of stopping the run and on particular groups. The Rams have seemed nice or flat on offense, relying on the week, however they need to be capable to acquire yards on the bottom with Kyren Williams, though his defending the soccer has been a little bit of a difficulty these days.
The final time the Rams confronted quarterback Josh Allen and the Payments was the Kickoff Opener in 2022, when the defending Tremendous Bowl champions have been throttled at house by Buffalo, 31-10.
This season, Allen is within the Most Priceless Participant dialog. Final week, he turned the membership’s all-time landing chief with 245 — that’s passing, speeding and receiving — surpassing Corridor of Famer Jim Kelly.
“It’s a little surprising that we’re 10-2,” stated Kelly, who nonetheless retains shut tabs on his outdated staff. “If you’d have asked me about two months ago at the beginning of the season you saw the injuries to the receivers, we got rid of [receiver Stefon] Diggs, just a lot of things were happening. All of a sudden it was that old cliché, the next man up. That’s something we’ve hit on every cylinder. Whoever has stepped in there has done very well.”
The Rams have alternated wins and losses the final 5 weeks and are coming off a victory at New Orleans through which they got here alive with three touchdowns within the second half after being shut out within the first. They’re nonetheless defining themselves as a staff, and are lucky to be in a division through which all 4 groups have struggled.
There isn’t a division extra intently knotted than the NFC West, with two video games separating first-place Seattle (7-5) and last-place San Francisco (5-7), and book-ending Arizona and the Rams at 6-6.
Buffalo’s seven-game profitable streak is finest within the AFC, and the Payments have received 5 AFC East titles in a row.
“It’s a good feeling, and this one feels a little bit different, this early in the season, we’ve still got five games left,” Allen advised reporters of clinching the division but once more. “But at the same time, we’re chasing the one seed, we understand that, we know that, and we’ve got to keep getting better each and every week.”
In the meantime, Kansas Metropolis has had loads of nervous moments over the last month, with the final three wins by the Chiefs coming by a mixed seven factors. These weren’t victories over significantly formidable opponents — 16-14 over Denver, 30-27 over Carolina, and 19-17 over Las Vegas.
The Chiefs have 11 wins, however 9 of these have been by seven factors or fewer. That features a 17-10 victory on the Chargers in Week 4. In that recreation, quarterback Justin Herbert was taking part in on a young ankle and the Chargers have been lacking each beginning offensive tackles and star security Derwin James Jr.
Since, the Chargers have received six of eight and are at the moment the fifth seed within the AFC, placing them squarely within the playoff image. They’re coming off a powerful defensive efficiency in a win at Atlanta.
The Chargers’ Philip Rivers (17) seems to be into the stands at Arrowhead Stadium, a hallowed place for the quarterback, in 2019. This was his final recreation as a Charger.
(Getty Photographs)
The Chargers have gone 3-4 at Arrowhead Stadium since relocating to L.A. in 2017.
“Playing Kansas City is awesome, especially late in the year,” stated quarterback Philip Rivers, who had a lot of memorable video games there throughout his 17-year profession, together with his final recreation as a Charger. “Certainly there are a lot of great venues, but it’s one of the few old-school-type places left. … It has an old but special feel to it.
“There’s just something about the tradition about some of these places. Some teams are always trying to try new things to build traditions and it’s kind of trendy. There’s nothing trendy about going to Arrowhead and playing the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s as traditional as it comes, from the logo, to the ‘home of the Chiefs’ that they do at the end of the anthem.
“It takes me back to ‘Tecmo Bowl’ when I was a little kid. It is the NFL. We’re playing at Arrowhead. This is big time.”
And, whether or not it’s the Chargers or the Rams, we’ll know much more about their trajectory after this weekend.
