Week 9 Predictions: Rams @ Vikings

[Just Me]

Whoa! I wish you hadn't done that. You might have well have mentioned that Gary Anderson hasn't missed a kick all season.

[Bill Carson]

Some hard hitting analysis on the Vikings/Rams from a Giants fan:

Carl from AquaTeen's Stone Cold Lock of the Century..Of the Week!

[frosted]

Sadly, I don't like our chances here .. I have a feeling that being without Kendricks and Floyd is going to hurt us badly. The fact that this game is in Minneapolis could help tilt the scales back in our favor a bit, but...I think the Rams win this 23-17.

Season picks: 5-2

[Pepper2Moss]

God I hope the Vikes beat their ####. Nothing against the Rams, I like their franchise as a whole. I'm just so sick of hearing all this talk about how the Vikings shouldn't be 5-2 & they haven't beaten anyone.

[John_Viveiros]

There could be three Rams defensive linemen missing for the game, including Chris Long for sure, and Quinn is questionable. That would tilt things in our favor.

[DK Sweets]

There could be three Rams defensive linemen missing for the game, including Chris Long for sure, and Quinn is questionable. That would tilt things in our favor.

That would be incredibly fortunate for us. Obviously I never root for injuries, but it would bode wll for our chances of a win if we were playing a roughly the same level of strength of starters.

[Just Me]

So I have a question: Since the Rams are 4-3 , and if we beat them they'll be 4-4, does that mean we will (or will not) have beaten a team with a winning record?

[84BreaksAnkles]

This is pivotal.. Will we both be 5-3? or will we be 6-2 and they 4-4...
CRUCIAL *sorry DK

[Skoltastic_Voyage]

So I have a question: Since the Rams are 4-3 , and if we beat them they'll be 4-4, does that mean we will (or will not) have beaten a team with a winning record?

That's the thing I hate about mid season, nobody has beaten many/any teams with winning records because they all lost against the winning teams, for the most part. So stupid. When we lost to SF they were undefeated!!! Man what a crummy game though. Anyhow I would count it for now yet somehow if they end up with less than 8-8 I'm sure they'll count it as a losing team in the end.

[Purple bruise]

That's the thing I hate about mid season, nobody has beaten many/any teams with winning records because they all lost against the winning teams, for the most part. So stupid. When we lost to SF they were undefeated!!! Man what a crummy game though. Anyhow I would count it for now yet somehow if they end up with less than 8-8 I'm sure they'll count it as a losing team in the end.

In the big picture, what does it matter what records the Vikings opponents have They lost to the 49ers early on and now look to be much improved.
Had a play or two turned out differently, then the outcome of the Denver game would/could have changed. There are upsets every single week in the NFL and so, in my opinion, it does not really matter at all what the records are.
Like most long time "suffering" Viking fans, I am waiting/expecting the other shoe to fall. In essence I could see them losing to both the Lamns and Raiders BUT this team seems to be different and I still hold out hope that they have turned the corner and will leave the past in the past

[Just Me]

In the big picture, what does it matter what records the Vikings opponents have

Not a thing. (Hence my "Razz" )

[Skoltastic_Voyage]

In the big picture, what does it matter what records the Vikings opponents have They lost to the 49ers early on and now look to be much improved.
Had a play or two turned out differently, then the outcome of the Denver game would/could have changed. There are upsets every single week in the NFL and so, in my opinion, it does not really matter at all what the records are.
Like most long time "suffering" Viking fans, I am waiting/expecting the other shoe to fall. In essence I could see them losing to both the Lamns and Raiders BUT this team seems to be different and I still hold out hope that they have turned the corner and will leave the past in the past

That was kinda my point. That records change throughout the season. Meaning when SF beat us they were undefeated, or some of the teams we already beat may have winning season in the end. At mid way point it's silly to say all they have played is trash because the other teams records aren't great, well, we did win that match and with a small sampling that's already a -1!

Yeah I kinda throw the SF out when thinking about what we can do this year, doesn't mean I don't want to vomit thinking about it.
edit:doh!

[Raptorman]

We hold Todd Gurley under 100 yards and the Vikings win this game. I believe that the Vikings will do that, and Harrison Smith gets an interception to end the game.
Vikings 14
Rams 10

I don't think the Rams can win with Gurley under 100. They don't have the weapons. Think about this. Their two best rushers are Gurley and Austin, a WR. What's that tell you?

[RamzFanz]

Okay thanks for the "exceptions" that you thought up but I will stick with my statement that good teams do not rely on trick play to win games. As always, thanks for your 2 cents.

Don't hate the Rams for their creativity and success at making things happen other teams can't.

[RamzFanz]

We hold Todd Gurley under 100 yards and the Vikings win this game. I believe that the Vikings will do that, and Harrison Smith gets an interception to end the game.
Vikings 14
Rams 10

I've seen this said but I haven't seen how that's going to happen. Better run defenses haven't come close. Then consider that Tavon Austin rushes at 8.3 YPC.

Rams are similar to the vikings on paper, albeit against a stronger schedule. Even if we ignore the strength of schedule, once Gurley started it added a balance, or a tilt to the run more like it, that the Rams didn't have early on when a lot of those stats were racked up.

What I'm saying is pre and post Gurley are different in many ways because teams now have to respect the run.

As of a week ago, the Rams had the most dropped balls. This is an oddity because it's not the norm for this crew of WR. The worst of it is a lot of these drops were point and drive killers. Foles is better than many think. If the WRs stop dropping his good passes, this is a different offense.

Another consideration is that we are approaching the halfway point and that's when new o-lines tend to start playing better. We hope it will be soon because Foles was also the most pressured QB a week ago. No doubt about it, the o-line has not produced, but also no doubt about it, they haven't even come close to what they should be able to do. Especially in the run. At their size and with their histories, they should be road graders. They were chosen just for that purpose.

Keep in mind we have a new OC and scheme and QB. This is almost always a disruption early in a season that can iron out over time. The WR we were counting on most to draw attention away from Austin, Quick, has been much slower to recover from his massive injuries last season and adapt to the new scheme than we expected. At any point he could return to his breakout production of last season.

So, I have to believe the Rams should be favored. The passing game looks poor, but a lot of that can change quickly because the talent is there. Gurley has changed the balance. The Rams, in the same schedule as the Vikings are probably tied or ahead in the w/l.

24-20 Rams.