2012-2016- The Fisher Era

Preview: Three keys to a St. Louis Rams victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

COMMENTARY | On Sunday, December 23, the St. Louis Rams (6-7-1) will challenge the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-8) with their slight playoff hopes on the line. Here are three keys to the Rams defeating the Bucs on the road:

Establish the run

The Bucs enter this game with the top-ranked rush defense in the league (83.3 yards allowed per game). That’s going to be a problem for a St. Louis club that desperately needs to establish the running game to keep the pressure off quarterback Sam Bradford. The Rams offense is only 17th in the NFL with 110.4 yards rushing per game, which is a surprise considering how the team is built around the ground game.

Running back Steven Jackson must break loose early and often if the Rams are going to have a chance to beat the Bucs. The Tampa Bay offense has a lot of weapons, and it’s important for St. Louis to keep that unit off the field by controlling the football and wearing down the Buccaneers defense.

Minimize the penalties

The Rams don’t have the talent and depth to overcome mistakes, although they’ve come close in a couple of games. The team registered eight penalties in last Sunday’s 36-22 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Many of those penalties were false starts that never should happen in a home game. What’s worse is that these penalties have been a consistent problem with the team since the season began. That’s a testament to the team’s youth and immaturity. However, at this point in the year, the Rams should have this figured out. If St. Louis can keep its penalties down, then the Rams will win this game.

Pressure Josh Freeman

The Bucs are struggling because their starting quarterback Josh Freeman has been awful in the past three weeks. For example, Freeman was 26 of 47 for 279 yards and four interceptions in last week’s 41-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints. The Rams need to take advantage of this slump and pressure Freeman as much as possible. St. Louis did a masterful job forcing opposing quarterbacks to make poor decisions with the football during its recent three-game winning streak. By pressuring Freeman, the Rams should be able to duplicate that feat.

Prediction: Rams 24 Buccaneers 17

I like the Rams’ chances in this game. Head coach Jeff Fisher has done an excellent job motivating this team after some of its worst losses this season, and I believe the same thing will happen here. The Rams’ defensive line will get to Freeman early in this game, and the improving St. Louis offense will do just enough to pull out the team’s seventh victory of the season.

Derek Ciapala has been following the Rams since childhood. He has been published on Yahoo! Sports, GatewayMMA.com and multiple other websites. You can check him out on Facebook orTwitter @dciapala.

Sources: Pro-Football-Reference.com

(Originally published on Yahoo! Sports)

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