Inside the Numbers - Rams @ WFT

It's two teams heading in opposite directions with a lot of past connections returning home.

Sean McVay and the 3-1 Los Angeles Rams visit Ron Rivera and the 1-3 Washington Football Team on Sunday at 1 ET.

Time to settle the score.#LAvsWAS | @Gatorade pic.twitter.com/0gcL8plk7D
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) October 9, 2020

That might be just a tad bit too much but whatever.

The Washington franchise is now two games under .500 in their controversial 89-year history at 604-606-28.

Washington is 26-13-1 all-time against the Rams organization including their multiple stops in Southern California, St. Louis and even Cleveland.

The burgundy and gold won the last meeting, 27-20 in 2017, Sean McVay's second game as head coach of Los Angeles. Boy have times changed.

Since leaving for the west coast after the 2016 season, the Washington franchise is a robust 18-34 while the Rams under McVay's leadership and in a much more structurally sound organization are 36-16.

1. Just Run Baby!

Antonio Gibson has rushed for touchdowns in three consecutive games, the first time a Washington rookie has done that since the last three weeks of 2012. That was Alfred Morris.

Gibson is a thousand times more talented.

The Rams give up 4.99 yards per rushing attempt on the ground, 27th in the NFL. The league average is 4.36 per ground attempt.

Washington has been able to control the ground game in the last two meetings between the organizations. Both in 2015 and 2017.

In that last matchup, Washington held the ball for 36:19 and ran for 229 yards and 5.9 yards per rushing attempt.

In 2015, Washington grinded out 182 yards on the ground and 4.9 per rush attempt on 37 tries. Throw in 37:44 time of possession and away you go.

You might be asking why this is relevant? Because the great Aaron Donald played in both matchups as did Michael Brockers and while both teams are different, one thing that can be said about the Rams defense and that's this - they're usually very susceptible to a strong run attack with counters, traps, outside zone and more mixed in.

Scott Turner would be very smart to protect Kyle Allen as much as possible by having a heavy dose of Antonio Gibson but also Peyton Barber in this contest.

Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Washington Football Team" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621

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