Los Angeles Rams are not the true underdogs in the NFC Championship

The Los Angeles Rams are heading into New Orleans on Sunday to take on the New Orleans Saints for a chance to go to Super Bowl LIII.

The Los Angeles Rams did what they had to do in the NFC Divisional Round and took care of the Dallas Cowboys in a rather convincing fashion. While the Cowboys made it a close game late, the Rams were the convincingly better team all night.

Now the Rams are heading back to the Superdome for a rematch from the regular season against the New Orleans Saints. The Saints got the best of the first matchup and took away the Rams’ perfect record.

That head-to-head loss is the reason that the Rams were not the first seed in the NFC as it gave the Saints the tiebreaker in the standings.

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The Rams are underdogs heading into this game and rightfully so. Los Angeles is the lower seed, is the road team and has not been as dominant as the beginning of the year. Although they are underdogs, they are still only getting around 3 1/2 points.

That is typical for a road team in the playoffs but when examining the two sides it is clear that the Los Angeles Rams are not the true underdogs in this game.

First and foremost, it has been quite some time since we have seen an impressive game out of the Saints. The Saints ended the year in rather lackluster fashion and had a gifted win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Aside from that, the Saints played the dead Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers after their loss to the Cowboys.

The Rams certainly were not great at the end of the year, either, but this is not the Saints team that is firing on all cylinders and appears to be unbeatable.

New Orleans arguably should have lost last week if it were not for a few big things going their way. It started with a Drew Brees fumble that should have been recovered by the Eagles but wasn’t. While that resulted in a punt, it would have already put the Eagles in field goal range to make it a three-score game.

Instead, Nick Foles threw a pick and it gave the Saints the momentum they needed. That is when New Orleans should have blown Philadelphia out and they just didn’t. The Eagles hung around for long enough to get a game-winning drive into Saints territory before Alshon Jeffrey let a ball go right through his hands.

While it was only a minimal gain, a catch there would have kept the drive alive and could have led to the exact same thing that played out in Chicago a week prior.

Personnel wise the Rams have the advantage as well. Michael Thomas really burned the Rams in the regular season but will be game planned for much more efficiently this go around. It won’t just be up to Marcus Peters to contain him as he will likely get covered more by Aqib Talib with help from LaMarcus Joyner.

He will still have a big game for sure but not the record-setting game he had in the regular season. The rest of the Saints’ receiving core is dreadful, so containing Thomas is the first step.

And the Rams did a great job of limiting Ezekiel Elliott last week, who is a better back than both Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. It is no easy feat but the Rams have shown that they can limit these elite backs.

Then it boils down to getting pressure on Drew Brees. Brees was never really pressured in that first matchup and has had a great pocket all year to throw in. When he hasn’t he has looked particularly average.

Aaron Donald is going to have a huge game in this one and is going to impact the entire Saints offense.

Most importantly, the Saints not only taught the league how to beat the Rams but taught the Rams how they can be beaten. The same mistakes that were present in the first game will not be present in this one.

If Jared Goff does not throw that interception at the end of the first half to give the Saints another score then the Rams very well could have won that game. Then the narrative would have been completely different.

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These are two great teams and truly are the two best teams in the NFC and arguably in the NFL. However, come Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams will prove why they are the superior team.

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