Because of an Ahkello Witherspoon interception ultimately zone with lower than a minute to play, the Los Angeles Rams had been capable of maintain off the Arizona Cardinals to safe a 13-9 win and transfer one step nearer to the NFC West crown.
It’s the Rams’ fifth win in a row, and it actually got here all the way down to a matter of inches — and a fluke, fortunate bounce — as Witherspoon was capable of safe the ball after Cardinals tight finish Trey McBride was unable to haul in what appeared to be a possible game-winning landing.
It doesn’t get a lot nearer than that.
It’s a large win for the Rams as a result of it now places them in wait-and-see mode for Sunday on whether or not or not they will clinch the division this week primarily based on the energy of victory tiebreaker.
For that to occur, the Rams want no less than 3.5 wins (no less than three wins and a tie) from the next six groups: Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Payments, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Commanders, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns.
The Bengals already received on Saturday, that means that now the Rams solely want two of the opposite 5 groups to win to ensure that them to clinch the division.
The Rams (10-6) maintain a one-game lead over the Seattle Seahawks (9-7) within the NFC West race, with the 2 groups taking part in one another in Week 18.
If the Seahawks had been to win that recreation, it will depart each groups tied at 10-7 within the general standings. However as a result of each groups can be tied within the head-to-head tiebreaker, in addition to having the identical division and convention information, the division would come all the way down to the energy of victory tiebreaker.
Given a few of the matchups that the Rams are relying on, there’s a excellent risk it will probably get wrapped up this weekend. They’d in all probability favor that so they might doubtlessly give a few of their veteran gamers — together with quarterback Matthew Stafford — every week off in what can be a meaningless Week 18 recreation going into the playoffs.
For now, they only have to sit down again and watch.