16. San Francisco 49ers (+3)
There are so many complimentary things that I could say about the coaching staff’s ability to make something out of nothing on either side of the ball due to the injuries that this team is dealing with.
Instead, I just want to pick out one person whose comeback has been awesome to see. That is Kerry Hyder.
Hyder is 29 years old and you might know his name from his one great season in the NFL, back in 2016 when he had 8 sacks for the Lions. From the end of that season until the beginning of 2020, Hyder played in 23 games and had just 2 sacks.
In 11 games with the 49ers this season, he has 7.5 sacks. That is nearly nine times the production per snap as other DCs were getting from Hyder and it all has to do with that defensive staff understanding what they had and how to use him. Great job by this coaching staff that needs more national praise.
15. L.A. Rams (-1)
The Rams are a quarterback away. For years I think we have all known exactly what the Rams are, but there were so many flashes created by other players making explosive plays and a Head Coach who knew how to manufacture big plays, that no one could stand up and say that Jared Goff was just not that good.
Is he bad? Sometimes. Is he good? Rarely. That middle ground is nothing to write home about and without a great running game or explosive element to this offense, it falls on Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods to nickel and dime their way down the field and score.
When that doesn’t happen this team can’t threaten you at all on offense and that is a real shame because they are wasting Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey on the defensive side.