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Coming into an NFC conference championship against one of your biggest rivals is always going to be daunting. If you mix that with the fact that the Los Angeles Rams have lost seven straight games to the San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco's supposed “home field advantage” over the Rams in Los Angeles, it makes the prospects of Sunday's game downright terrifying.
For the Rams to come out on top, they will need huge games from one of their biggest stars. For most of the year that has been Cooper Kupp, as he was the NFL's leader in receiving yards, catches, and receiving touchdowns. That would make him the most important player in this game for the Rams and thus would be the X-factor….right?
For more insight on the Rams' NFC Championship matchup against the 49ers, listen below:
Well, it's not that simple. Yes, Kupp is crucial to what the Rams do as an offense, but an X-factor is something that the other team does not see coming. For that reason, the player who is the X-factor for the RAms in their game against the 49ers on Sunday is…
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Rams X-Factor vs. 49ers in 2022 NFC Championship game
Cam Akers
After losing two fumbles last week to the Tampa Buccaneers in a span of just six carries, Akers is in the doghouse when it comes to most Rams fans, but coach McVay likely has other ideas. His sheer amount of touches since coming back from his torn Achilles tendon injury that took place in July (seriously), has been enough to completely overtake Sony Michel on almost all of the snaps.
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Here are the odds for the Rams' game against the 49ers, courtesy of FanDuel:
Michel may bring consistency to the Rams in the sense that he hardly fumbles and he rarely gets lost yards. The problem is that he doesn't really make the extra move or two that is needed to pick up a couple of extra yards here and there. Even though Akers struggled to just 2.0 yards per carry on Sunday to go with his two fumbles, it was clear to anyone watching the game that Akers was actually getting more yards than what was blocked for him on almost every run.
The 49ers have been playing similarly as well as the Buccaneers when it comes to running defense, but no one is all the way to Tampa Bay's class. That means easier lanes for Akers to run through as he tries to make up for his fumbles from last weekend. One thing that Rams fans can take solace in is that Akers is not known to be a fumbler, with just one career fumble lost before last week in 17 games played.
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If Akers can get 4.0 yards per carry and the Rams run the ball 20+ times they are going to win this football game. If they fail to establish the run and start to get into too many known passing situations, then it could get ugly really fast for Los Angeles. Talk about an X-factor.
