The Rams play their fourth primetime game in five weeks with their Week 5 matchup against the Bills on Monday Night Football. Kickoff from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. PT on ESPN and ABC.
Ahead of the contest, here are 3 Keys to Winning for the Rams, presented by The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (CallJacob.com).
1) Don't give Josh Allen time to think
Bills quarterback Josh Allen is one of the best quarterbacks when it come to creating off-schedule. He can extent plays with his legs by fleeing the pocket and either throwing on the run or running down field for large gains.
Outside linebacker Byron Young said on Monday "even if he just gets time to think about running, that's when you got problems" when talking about Allen. By dialing up the pass rush and containing Allen when he tries to run, the Rams can eliminate a major aspect of the Bills offense and allow the defense to focus on other areas. There's enough to worry about in terms of the Bills offense with Allen's ability to throw inside the pocket and run with running back James Cook, letting Allen roam free would simply make life more difficult.
2) Get off the field on critical downs
In the Rams' win over the Eagles, Los Angeles' defense put up a historic performance by holding Philadelphia to 0-for-12 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth down. All week following the game, defensive players talked about how the motivation was giving quarterback Matthew Stafford every chance possible to get going — and he finally did on the final two drives to seal the victory.
In a game where the defense is up against Allen and a stacked Bills offense, repeating or simply coming close to the performance on critical downs from last week would be huge to giving Stafford as many chances as possible. Much of that happened on first and second down by keeping the Eagles behind the sticks, but with the Bills' offense ranked second in the NFL in third-down conversion percentage (53.3%) while averaging tied for third in yards per play (6.5), the Rams' defense is going to have to also stay ahead of the chains to maintain its clip from last week.
3) Offense plays at its best when its best is required
The last two games, the Rams offense has struggled to play a full four quarters of high efficiency football. In the first half against the Broncos, although the Rams struggled to convert red zone trips into touchdowns, they had a 16-0 lead at halftime. Los Angeles came alive again in the fourth quarter to make the game come down to the final play, but ultimately fell short. Then last week against the Eagles, the Rams offense didn't get going until the final two drives of the game, both resulting in a touchdown and ultimately a win for Los Angeles.
The Bills offense has given little room for error for opposing offenses, aside from a five-turnover day against the Chargers in a game where the Bills still won. The Rams proved that they don't necessarily need to play a full four quarters of high efficiency offense to win games, but the offense may not have the luxury of playing its best ball for only a portion of the game against Buffalo. The Rams will find success so long as the offense plays at its best when its best is required. Whether its only one quarter or all four, they simply have to keep pace.
