Are Rams or Cowboys more likely to shake slump?
Mike Florio and Peter King discuss which team between the Rams and Cowboys is more likely to turn their season around and make a long run in the NFL playoffs.
Video Transcript
MIKE FLORIO: Time now for some PFT on Yahoo Sports, Peter King, Mike Florio, all the big stories in the National Football League, and we have the biggest season ever, with 17 games, Peter. And something that occurred to me earlier today-- with that many games, you can have good teams go bad and then go good again, bad teams go good and go bad again, it's just a roller coaster. And right now, for the Rams and the Cowboys, the roller coaster is in a down cycle. The Cowboys have lost three of four, the Rams have lost three in a row. Which of those two teams is more likely to turn it around and make a playoff run deep into January?
PETER KING: Mike, I really want to say the Rams, but I also am pragmatic in looking at the two schedules that the teams play down the stretch, and the Cowboys have it a lot easier. What I want to say about the Cowboys is it's always something with them. You can never have smooth sailing on that team.
And now you look at this week, Mike McCarthy-- this is more serious than football, he's on the COVID list and he's not going to coach on Thursday night. So I don't mean to lump that in with all of football stuff, but Zeke Elliott is not playing and has never played deserving of the money that he got in his contract. There are just all these little things with Dallas that really worry me about Dallas.
On the other hand, with the Rams losing three in a row, two in semi routes, and then on Sunday in Green Bay where it sure felt a lot worse than whatever it was, an 8-point-loss, I think the most worrisome thing right now about the Rams-- and again, I think every week you look at them and you say, this is an explosive offense. The elimination of Robert Woods for the year should not make this a helpless, futile team, and that is too often what it's looked like in the last three weeks.
And look, anybody can go to Green Bay and lose, the Packers are the best team in football. But the two games before that, against Tennessee and San Francisco, they got handled in those two games. I'm worried about both these teams. I can't honestly sit here and say that either of them is going to make the long run. Pressed to the wall, I would probably say the Rams, but I don't have a lot of faith in them.
MIKE FLORIO: Yeah, I agree with you, as well, Peter, they've got to turn it around. But it seems like the harder they try, the deeper the hole gets, three straight losses. They haven't won a game since they went all in for Von Miller and made a big deal about that, even though he didn't play in that game against Tennessee, that was the first game after the trade. And then they pick up OBJ, and he had a garbage time touchdown. That game really was a blowout, and they got 11 points late to make it look like not a blowout, but they were outclassed.
And a point that coach Dungy made on Sunday as we were going over the games and getting ready for the day-- that was the game on the calendar that was critical to the Rams, to go back to Green Bay, the place where their season ended a year ago, with a new quarterback, with Von Miller, with Odell Beckham. And to have an even worse showing than they had in the playoffs-- and now, if they play them again in January, what are they going to have to do? They're going have to go back in the dead of winter and try to do it again, and no one's going to believe that they're going to be able to pull it off in mid to late January if they couldn't pull it off in late November.
PETER KING: Look, here's the other thing about the Rams-- so they've got to play Arizona, they've got to play Minnesota, Baltimore, and San Francisco to end the season. And look, Minnesota's almost it's own punch line. But any given Sunday, they can beat anybody by double digits, because their offense is explosive.
Then after that, Baltimore is going to be playing for something in the second to last week. And then San Francisco might be playing to unseat the Rams from the fifth seed, so the Rams are in trouble. I don't know if it's big trouble about making the playoffs, but they're in trouble.
MIKE FLORIO: And we'll see what they can do. They get the Jaguars this week. Now, if they would lose to Jacksonville, then they are in huge trouble. This is their chance to turn it around.
Thanks for some of your time. As always, we'll see you again real soon.