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As rookies report Nicholas Scott Los Angeles Rams Jerseys ,main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteTurf Show Timesa Los Angeles Rams communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpSectionsLibraryMastheadCommunity GuidelinesNFL OddsStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteSections 2019 offseason2019 free agency2019 NFL DraftFull ArchiveLibrary 2019 NFL calendar2019 Rams regular season sched2019 Rams preseason schedMasthead Community Guidelines NFL Odds StubHub ✕Filed under:2019 Los Angeles Rams OffseasonThe Los Angeles Rams have questions to answer moving forwardNew,43commentsAs rookies report, several questions loom for the Rams. CDTShareTweetShareShareThe Los Angeles Rams have questions to answer moving forwardPhoto by Harry How/Getty ImagesComing off a Super Bowl loss that looked nothing like any of the Los Angeles Rams’ other games last season, Rams fans’ offseason disposition is in a somewhat curious and unfamiliar state. By most measures, last season was a triumph. Just two years removed from Jeff Fisher’s 4-12 curtain call, the Rams became a bonafide heavyweight as well as a conference champion for the first time since 2001. Yet, it’s human nature to focus on what can be fixed to make sure that the final step will be successful next time. With that being said, here are couple questions that Rams fans can obsess over while looking forward to September. How will QB Jared Goff and Head Coach Sean McVay respond to their late season and Super Bowl struggles?This is the scariest question to many. Following the bye week, last season’s offense had a far more difficult time developing rhythm. Games against the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, and Philadelphia Eagles were all cause for concern before the Rams shifted to a bruising ground attack behind late season backfield addition C.J. Anderson. The Rams finished the season with a couple victories followed by two impressive playoff showings against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. However Los Angeles Rams Jerseys Stitched , concerns were brought back to life when the Rams offense looked (and was) baffled by a New England Patriots defensive look that at times resembled what the Rams had seen in Chicago and Detroit earlier in the season.So there’s clearly a blueprint out on how to riddle the generally explosive Rams offense. With the exception of a very impressive NFC Championship showing, in games when the ground game has been slowed, Jared Goff often hasn’t been able to drag his team to victory. What steps can be taken to keep the the chains moving when defenses aren’t biting on the play action? We won’t truly know if the Rams offense has taken another step forward until they face defensive juggernauts like the Bears and Baltimore Ravens in Weeks 11 and 12, but there are a couple reasons for hope. Goff has shown a commitment to improve in each of his three seasons, and so far he has. If McVay can pinpoint the chinks in Goff’s armor that got him filleted in the Super Bowl — and McVay has surely already done that — then Goff and McVay can spend the entire offseason working on those reads. Will it be enough? Check back in Week 11. NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Coach Sean Payton the New Orleans Saints are anything but risk averse.After all, Payton’s Saints won a Super Bowl with the help of a surprise onside kick nine years ago, and now New Orleans is one home victory away from its first Super Bowl since then — thanks to a pair of aggressive and pivotal fourth-down play calls when the Saints were trying to come back from a two-touchdown deficit.“We needed to shift momentum and we were able to, fortunately, and take advantage of it,” said Payton, who’s bound to carry that approach into the NFC title game against the Los Angeles Rams next weekend.Facing fourth-and-short on their own 30 Nicholas Scott Jersey nfl draft , Payton called for a fake punt on which third-string quarterback and special teams virtuoso Taysom Hill took a direct snap as the up back.So when the Saints faced another fourth down on the Eagles 2 later that same drive, it only seemed fitting that they dialed up a touchdown pass from Drew Brees to rookie receiver Keith Kirkwood instead of settling for a field goal.That marked the beginning of 20 unanswered points scored by New Orleans in a 20-14 triumph in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs on Sunday.“It’s that play-to-win mentality,” Brees said. “I’ve been with Sean long enough now to say that he’s always been like that. From ’06 until now, I think it’s something that he knows the offense and the team feeds off of.“When you get that in guys’ minds that we are going to be aggressive, we are going to play to win, it allows guys to relax and cut loose,” Brees added.Payton’s gambles often occur with Hill on the field, perhaps because they seem to think alike. Hill had the option to check out of the fake and let the snap sail to punter Thomas Morstead if the defensive alignment looked unfavorable. But Hill was in no mind to wait for a better opportunity. He had seemingly nowhere to go when he got the ball, and powered through anyway.“At the end of the day I’m going to error on being aggressive. I’m going to error on taking the opportunity to create some momentum and have a game-changing play for sure,” Hill said. “It’s all about taking calculated risks. It’s finding that balance and that was a look that I felt like we could get it. That was a look that the coaches felt like we could get it, and I think at the end of the day it shows how much trust coach has in us.”Eagles coach Doug Pederson said the Saints’ risk-reward propositions had less to do with the element of surprise than simply New Orleans ability to call a good play situationally and execute.“You kind of expect it in that situation Big And Tall Nicholas Scott Jersey ,” Pederson said. “You’ve just got to be prepared for that. We had our defense stay on the field. It was a great play by them.”Some other story lines surrounding the Saints’ first divisional round playoff victory since their last Super Bowl title in the 2009-10 season:LOST LEADER: The Saints stopped short of confirming that top defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins would miss the rest of the postseason with a low leg injury in the area of his Achilles, but when he punched the turf before being carted off the field, it looked serious. Afterward, Payton and players insinuated that Rankins’ injury was season-ending.“It’s gut wrenching,” Payton said. “He’s played so well for us.”Rankins was a first-round draft choice in 2016 and his eight sacks this season ranked second on the team .“To see him go down really hurt,” fellow Saints defensive lineman Tyeler Davison said. “But I think it’s going to give us some fuel as well to play for him and pull this thing out for him.”ALSHON’S ABBERATION: Normally reliable Eagles receiver Alshon Jeffery might have been the least likely candidate to have an accurate Nick Foles pass bounce off his hands and into the waiting arms of cornerback Marshon Lattimore in the final minutes, sealing the result right when Philadelphia was threatening to take a lead in the final minutes.Jeffery dropped to the turf, face down, after the turnover, but the Eagles tried to console him. Before that fateful play, Jeffery had five catches for a team-high 63 yards.“He’s so down From China Nicholas Scott Jersey , but for me it’s about staying positive,” Pederson said. “He’s made many, many big catches for us throughout the season…I told him to keep his head up and don’t let one play define him.”GROUND GAINS: The Saints outgained the Eagles 137-49 on the ground, with the elusive Alvin Kamara rushing for 71 yards, including a 12-yard, first-down run that let the Saints run out the clock. The hard-charging Mark Ingram added 53 yards. The running back tandem also combined for six catches for 44 yards.WORN DOWN: If it wasn’t tough enough for the Eagles to have three defensive starters — end Michael Bennett, tackle Fletcher Cox and cornerback Rasul Douglas — leave the game intermittently with minor injuries, Philadelphia’s defense also spent far more time on the field than the Eagles would have liked. During the last three quarters, the Saints possessed the ball for more than 32 minutes and had one 92-yard drive that took 18 plays — or more than 20 plays when counting plays wiped out by penalties.Brees pointed to that possession as “the turning point in the game.”