Kobie Turner calls them “get-back” games.
The Rams’ defensive end is talking about redemption, not regression. He doesn’t want to get back to where the team was when it lost by 17 to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12. He wants to get back at the Eagles for one that got away.
“We were able to get our get-back on Arizona when they came to SoFi,” Turner said of the Rams beating the Cardinals in Week 17 after getting blown out in Week 2. “Now we have Philadelphia lined up, and who knows what could be next? But the only thing on our minds is getting our get-back versus Philadelphia, and we know what that requires.”
In fact, we’re pretty much in for a get-back weekend with three of the four divisional games being rematches from earlier in the season.
Baltimore plays at Buffalo, and the Bills are looking to avenge a 35-10 loss to the Ravens in Week 4.
It’s Houston at Kansas City, and those teams just played a few weeks ago, with the top-seeded Chiefs winning 27-19.
The only divisional matchup that’s new is Washington at Detroit, and those teams haven’t faced each other since the second week in 2022 when Lions quarterback Jared Goff threw four touchdown passes in a 36-27 thriller won by the Lions. The Commanders quarterback that day? Carson Wentz, who is a decidedly different challenge than Washington super rookie Jayden Daniels.
It’s first things first for the Rams, who are singularly focused on upsetting the Eagles on Sunday, with Philadelphia favored by six points at home.
The Rams will be pulling for the Commanders on Saturday night, too, as a Washington victory would keep alive hopes of playing another NFC title game at SoFi Stadium, assuming it would be possible to play a game in Los Angeles at that point.
The Lions, who have never played in a Super Bowl, are favorites to make it to New Orleans and the NFL’s biggest stage. Oddsmakers have Detroit favored by a robust 9½ points this weekend. They are loaded on offense with so many different ways to score, and Goff already has Super Bowl experience, having gotten there as quarterback of the Rams.
Daniels has been spectacular for the Commanders, who have become more one-dimensional of late with their inability to establish a consistent ground game.
Washington has won five in a row, including beating Philadelphia, while the Lions have only lost two games — by four to Tampa Bay in Week 2, and by six to Buffalo in Week 15 — although both of those defeats came at home.
Baltimore blew out Buffalo when they met in the regular season, but the Bills were missing three key defensive players at the time. Unlike the first meeting, this game will take place in Buffalo, and likely in the snow.
The Bills started to make a bit of a comeback in the second half of that game, but in the third quarter they ran an ugly trick play that resulted in a big hit on quarterback Josh Allen and a turnover. That extinguished any hopes of rallying.
Lately, the Bills have been remarkably balanced on offense, and Allen — like Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson — is among the most dangerous weapons in the league. The early line has the visiting Ravens favored by 1½ points, the closest spread of the weekend.
Divisional weekend begins Saturday with the Texans at the Chiefs. When these teams met in Week 16, Kansas City had gotten Marquise “Hollywood” Brown back — he’s a versatile piece of their offense — and Houston lost receiver Tank Dell to a gruesome knee injury. This time, the Chiefs are favored by 7½ points, while the Texans are riding high after knocking off the Chargers in a home wild-card game.
For the Rams, the biggest challenge will be containing running back Saquon Barkley, who rushed for an Eagles-record 255 yards against them and accumulated an incredible 302 total yards.
Said Rams defensive tackle Braden Fiske: “That definitely left a bad taste in our mouths.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
