The Los Angeles Rams will host the NFC North Minnesota Vikings in the opening round of the NFL Playoffs at Sofi Stadium. The Rams finished off the season with a 10-7 record, while the Vikings come into the matchup with a 14-3 record. Both teams have had great seasons, and they played each other back in Week 8 of the season, with the Rams coming out on top.
Now that it is playoff time, the stakes just keep getting higher and higher.
The Rams decided to rest most of their starters in the last week of the regular season. The Rams picked rest over securing the No. 3 seed in the NFC. The team enters the playoffs as the No. 4 seed after losing in the final week. But the Rams needed the rest.
The Rams got off to a slow start and their bye week came early in the season. They went on a long winning streak to get win the division and every game down the stretch felt like a playoff game. Running back Kyren Williams was a workhorse for the team. Getting Williams to rest before the playoffs was a must for the team.
"He's the kind of guy that is smart enough to know how important he is," said Rams head coach Sean McVay.
"It's such a physical game. You look at it and you feel bad for Blake [Corum] yesterday that he ended up getting the forearm fracture. Those are things that we've talked about in terms of just being available and what are the habits that he'd implement. I also think some of the things that he went through as a rookie and even last year having to miss... put on temporary ‘IR’ [injured reserve] with the ankle injury made him stronger.
"This guy is resilient and I think he understands that all these possible setbacks are just setups for comebacks and he's done an excellent job," McVay continued.
"That can be expressed and illustrated in a variety of ways but the answer is, yes. We've talked about it, but the intrinsic motivation that he has, he kind of took that upon himself to implement the appropriate habits and different things to be available. I give him a ton of credit. Also, his ability to be able to lean on [Vice President of Sports Health and Performance] Reggie [Scott] and his group and [Running Backs Coach] Ron Gould."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Will Extended Rest Pay Off For Rams' Star Kyren Williams?.