Los Angeles Rams: Aggression will lead to victory over KC

The Los Angeles Rams will host the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football in what could be the game of the year. LA should have one mindset in this game: play aggressive.

The 9-1 Los Angeles Rams have another highly anticipated matchup, this time against the 9-1 Kansas City Chiefs. This comes two weeks after the Rams lost their undefeated season at the hands of the New Orleans Saints, which was also a fantastic game.

The Rams have another tough challenge on their hands but have the benefit of being the home team in this contest. You could argue that if the game was played at the Coliseum, the Rams would have beaten the New Orleans Saints.

This game was not supposed to be at the Coliseum, either, as it was originally intended to be this year’s edition of the Mexico City Game. However, Estadio Azteca in Mexico City was left in such poor condition following a concert that the game was moved to LA with player’s safety in mind.

This a huge thing for the Los Angeles Rams, who were considered the home team in the matchup. Los Angeles now does not have to play with elevation that is nearly 1,400 feet higher than the elevation in Broncos Stadium at Mile High.

While both teams had to play with the elevation, the natural advantage went to the Chiefs. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is nearly 900 feet in elevation while the Coliseum is under 200 feet in elevation.

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With the added bonus of having a home crowd behind them, the Los Angeles Rams now have to take manners into their own hands and play this game at a very aggressive pace. We saw this against the Saints in which the Rams faked a field goal and we should see a similar strategy against Kansas City.

While the fake field goal did not work for the Rams (although it seemed like a first down was reached), that same mindset is what will be the difference on Monday.

Andy Reid is a great coach and will go down as one of the greatest NFL coaches of all-time. However, he still struggles with clock management late in games and has a long history of managing big games in a poor manner.

That is why the Chiefs have had virtually no playoff success under Reid and why the team typically fizzles out late in the season.

While I do not think the Chiefs will fizzle out this year, forcing Reid to make decisions late in the game with the game on the balance is the position the Rams want to be in. The team needs to set the precedent early that they will go for it on fourth and short and will come out of the gate with a knockout punch that staggers the Chiefs.

Falling behind to the Chiefs is a deathwish and the Rams defense has not been great over the last several weeks. If Kansas City jumps out to a two-possession lead like the Saints, I don’t think the Rams defense will be able to hold them for the offense to overcome the deficit.

Instead, the Rams need to come out firing early and need to jump out to an early lead of their own. Scoring on the first drive and then bringing the pressure to Patrick Mahomes and forcing a stop would be huge.

If the Rams were to hold the Chiefs’ first drive and score on their first two, I like LA’s chances of winning. All of a sudden the Chiefs would be down two scores to a dominant team and that is when the inexperience of a second-year quarterback comes out.

Plus, it helps to play aggressive when the Chiefs have Tyreek Hill back there returning punts and kickoffs. Hill is the most dangerous return man in football and will make Sean McVay think twice before punting the ball away on a fourth and three.

This has all the makings of being a slugfest and the Los Angeles Rams must come out and deliver the first initial blow. If that can be done, and the aggression continues, LA can win this game rather convincingly.