STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
NFL Team Report - Los Angeles Rams
FRIDAY INJURY REPORTPHILADELPHIA EAGLES --OUT: LB Jordan Hicks (calf), DT Timmy Jernigan (back), CB Sidney Jones (hamstring), G Isaac Seumalo (pectoral) --DOUBTFUL: QB Carson Wentz (back) --QUESTIONABLE: DE Michael Bennett (foot), S Avonte Maddox (ankle, knee), WR Shelton Gibson (wrist)LOS ANGELES RAMS No players listedPLAYER NOTES --QB Jared Goff (3,934) needs 56 passing yards to move into fifth place in franchise history in single season passing yards. --RB Todd Gurley II needs one rushing touchdown to match the second-most rushing touchdowns in a season in Rams history. Gurley needs one touchdown to match Eric Dickerson (20, 1993) for the third-most touchdowns in a single season. Marshall Faulk scored 21 touchdowns in 2000 and Faulk also holds the franchise record for single-season touchdowns with 26 in 2000. --WR Brandin Cooks needs nine receiving yards to reach 5,000 for his career. PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: RB Todd Gurley II had a touchdown streak of 13 straight regular-season games from 2017 Week 14 game against the Philadelphia Eagles to Week 10 of the 2018 regular season. Gurley's streak is a franchise record for the longest consecutive regular-season game stretch with a touchdown. In the team's Week 9 loss at New Orleans, Gurley passed Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, who previously held the Rams franchise record for consecutive regular-season games with a touchdown, when he went 11 straight games played with a touchdown spanning the 1950-51 seasons. GAME PLAN: The Rams offensive line has to get back on track, first and foremost, after playing their worst game of the season on Sunday in a 15-6 loss to the Bears. Getting back home and playing at the Coliseum should help matters, and if the line can get back to playing at the level it has most of the season that will mean Jared Goff playing better, Todd Gurley II running more effectively and the Rams offense scoring points. Defensively, the Rams have played much better the last few weeks and with Carson Wentz possibly not playing, they should be in position to get after backup Nick Foles and create some favorable situations for the offense.MATCHUPS TO WATCH --Rams DT Aaron Donald leads the NFL through Week 14 of the 2018 season in sacks (16.5). Donald posted a career-best 4.0 sacks in Week 7 against the San Francisco 49ers. L.A. is 16-0 since Sean McVay and Wade Phillips arrived in 2017 when Donald records a sack. Donald had three straight games with multiple sacks from Weeks 10-13 and has posted six multi-sack games on the season and he will be a handful vs. Eagles LT Jason Peters, who is will playing well in his 15th season out of Arkansas. --Rams CB Aqib Talib has made a career of taking the ball away. Talib ranks second among all active players in interceptions (34), which is first among active cornerbacks. The Kansas State product leads all active players in career pick-sixes (10), which ranks fourth all-time. Talib is one of seven defenders that has ever recorded two or more pick-sixes in three different seasons (2011, 2014, 2015). Talib trails former defensive back Rod Woodson for the all-time pick-six record (12). With his next interception returned for a touchdown, Talib will move into a three-way tie for second place with former DBs Darren Sharper and Charles Woodson (11) He'll be matched up vs. Eagles WR Alshon Jeffery, who has 49 catches for 542 yards and five touchdowns.
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