A fatal mistake by the Rams that will destroy Super Bowl hopes in the NFC playoffs

The The Los Angeles Rams face an uphill battle against the Carolina Panthers. But they should have advantage if Davante Adams playsas expected. However, like every NFL team, the Rams have a fatal flaw and it could destroy their Super Bowl hopes in the NFC playoffs.

The Rams, who are 12-5, are 10-point favorites against the Panthers, who enter at 8-9. When these teams met in the regular season, the Panthers pulled out a surprising 31-28 victory.

Will the Panthers be able to exploit the Rams’ weakness?

If you look at the Rams offense, it’s top notch. They can score with any team in the NFL. That’s especially true when Matthew Stafford hums. And the Rams defense, while struggling at times, may be good enough to help win the playoffs.

So what’s not to like? That’s it the other side of the ball: special teams, according to NFL.com.

“The big problem is the dysfunctional special teams, which seem to have at least one drop per week,” Kavin Patra wrote. “The coordinator change helped for a week. But even in a huge win over the Cardinals, the Rams’ special teams unit allowed a fake punt.

“Three of the Rams’ five losses came because of key special teams failures (blocked FG vs. Eagles; missed FG and PAT vs. 49ers; missed FG vs. Seahawks). There were many more in the games they won. LA allowed a league-high 16.0 punt returns a game, and the punt return average was midd.

Even the shooter was brought under scrutiny. Harrison Mavis made 12 of his 13 field goals. He also hit all 39 of his extra point attempts. However, as is often the case in the NFL, that one miss was a big one.

“(Harrison Mavis) missed a big loss in a crucial loss to the Seahawks,” Patra wrote. “The 23-year-old’s range has not been tested, with just one attempt of more than 50 yards (52-yarder). With points at a premium in the postseason, the Rams’ special teams unit could be the facet that keeps them from going to Santa Clara.”

Rams coach Sean McVay said the special teams have to step up at the right timeaccording to latimes.com.

“There are some things we have to be better at in critical moments,” McVay said. “It was exactly what we thought was best for the collective. It’s the simplest.”

One good thing about special teams being the Rams’ weakness is that they can minimize it. If they take care of business on offense and score touchdowns, they won’t have to rely on field goals. They also won’t have to punt or play punt coverage. And on kickoffs, they could use a touch strategy and not worry about being covered.

The Rams aren’t in a bad position for the playoffs

They get the Panthers in the Wild Card round. And if they win, they’ll get another crack at Seattle — if all the higher seeds win. Plus, McVay said he likes to get Saturday’s game against the Panthers, according to theramsvire.com.

“I like it. It’s not as fast as Thursday, but it’s similar to what we did last week,” McVay said. “We’re going to be smart about the recovery process, but I like that. I’d rather that than play where we’ve had a couple of seasons where we’ve played like last year, and even into the 2021 season, where we’re playing that Monday night game that’s usually a four-on-five game.”

“It happens to be a four-on-five AFC game this week. I’d rather play Saturday for the reasons you say. I don’t have too much time to think about things. Let’s make a great plan for our players. Let’s have a good week to prepare. (And) let’s go to Carolina and get to work.”