Playoffs bring excitement for the Rams

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The NFL playoff formula is a simple one. If you win you get to move on to the next round. If you lose, you go back to the couch and watch everyone else play. Ronnie Rivers is excited to be playing in his first playoff game when the Los Angeles Rams play the Detroit Lions. 

It’s a new experience for the second-year running back. Rivers was not able to take part in the postseason last year because the Rams had it rough, going 5-12 during the regular season. It’s a much different tale this season. 

The Rams won seven of their last eight games of the regular season to finish with a 10-7 record and a No. 6 seed in the NFC playoffs. The Rams’ run game, which includes Rivers and Kyren Williams, has had a big say in the team’s success after the team’s bye week in Week 10.   

Rivers is grateful for the opportunity to be part of a playoff team. 

“It’s been a blessing, really,” Rivers said after a team practice. “It’s my second year, so we didn’t make the playoffs last year. But to finally make the playoffs, it’s a good feeling. Definitely.” 

Rivers said the key to the Rams’ late-season run could be attributed to the team jelling at the right time. 

“Just playing more complete games,” Rivers said. “I think making less errors, less mistakes,  and really playing as a team. Really after that bye week, we kind of started to get the ball rolling a little bit.” 

The downhill running of Williams has been instrumental in the Rams flipping losses into victories. In four of the six games he played since returning from an ankle injury, Williams rushed for 100 yards or more. Williams, who rushed 1,144 yards, is the first running back to run for over 1,000 yards in a season since Todd Gurley did it in 2018.   

Rivers talks admiringly of his backfield mate and what he has meant to the team’s surge. 

“He’s been a big part of the offense,” Rivers quipped. “He’s been doing a great job making plays, running the ball real well, protecting the ball real well, and just doing his job at a high level.”

The one sure thing about the Wild Card playoff game between the Rams and the Lions is that one team will win. The other will be at home for the rest of the postseason. 

The Rams had to watch the postseason last year after falling flat in the regular season. Just the year before, the Rams and head coach Sean McVay were celebrating being on top of the NFL universe after beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. 

With their backs against the wall after posting a 3-6 mark more than halfway into the 2023 season, the Rams went on a run. That run ensured that Los Angeles made the postseason for the second time in three years since the arrival of quarterback Matthew Stafford. 

The task ahead of the Rams is a different path than the playoff run they took in 2021. Instead of playing in the warm confines of SoFi Stadium, the Rams will be doing all of their business on the road, starting this Sunday against Jared Goff and the Lions.

That’s neither here nor there for defensive back Cobie Durant. Like Rivers, Durant, a second-year cornerback from South Carolina State, also relishes getting the opportunity to play in the postseason. 

“It means a lot since we came off the season that we had last year,” Durant said. “Then we didn’t get to where we wanted to be last year. But now we’re in with a younger team that was underestimated at the beginning of the year…It’s a blessing to have this opportunity to go out there.” 

Durant said the driving force in the team’s turnaround from last season has been motivation. 

“We were just really more motivated this year and we’re a younger team and they didn’t expect us to do nothing,” Durant said. “So that was just the motivation, coming in every day and like attack practice like it’s game day. The games are easy. We got some losses, but nobody expected us to be in the playoffs.”