Rams vs. Bills: St. Louis' Biggest Winners and Losers from Week 14

The Rams vs. Bills Week 14 matchup presented an opportunity for the St. Louis Rams to remedy one of their most confounding conundrums of the season: their inability (with one exception) to win games outside of their own division.

The Rams are 4-0-1 in the NFC West, an incredible record considering the quality competition now present in the division.

Before Sunday's game in Buffalo they were 0-3 against the AFC East, including an embarrassing debacle against the New England Patriots in London and games against the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets that the Rams should have won, but let slip away.

In another hard fought, scrappy, ground-and-pound-style game, the Rams did enough to vanquish their demons against the AFC East and emerge victorious over the Bills by a score of 15-12.

Let's take a look at the players who aided the Rams' winning effort and those whose poor play almost kept it from happening.

Winner: Brandon Gibson

With Danny Amendola out for a second consecutive week, the Rams needed someone to step up. Last week it was Chris Givens; this week Brandon Gibson led the team in every receiving category. He had six receptions on nine targets for an even 100 yards and one touchdown.

That is not to say he had a perfect game. His dropped pass in the fourth quarter could have been detrimental to the Rams' chances and he wasn't always on the same page with quarterback Sam Bradford.

Still, he made the catches when they mattered most and scored the winning touchdown with just :48 left in the game.

Perhaps this will inspire more consistency from him in the coming games.

Loser: Sam Bradford

The Buffalo Bills came into their Week 14 matchup against the Rams with the NFL's 13th ranked pass defense. Not great, not bad.

Against this slightly better than mediocre defense, Sam Bradford could only rally for a stat line of 19-of-39 attempts for 209 yards with one touchdown and one interception, earning a totally pedestrian quarterback rating of 62.9.

Not all of the blame for the passing game's ineffectiveness lies with Bradford—receivers dropped balls and couldn't get open against man coverage on third downs for most of the game—but he did miss enough throws to cause concern. Even some the 48.7 percent of the passes he completed were either over or underthrown.

Next week's game against the Viking's 14th-ranked pass defense will give Bradford a chance to prove he can perform better against a similarly skilled defensive unit.

It wouldn't hurt to get Danny Amendola back, either.

Winner: Rodger Saffold

They say that offensive linemen are tough, and Rodger Saffold proved it.

After going down at the end of the third quarter because a defensive player rolled onto his legs and then coming back into the game, he went down again in the fourth quarter only to return again.

That kind of effort does more than help the Rams beat the Bills.

It shows his teammates what dedication and toughness are all about.

It is inspiring.

It is the kind of thing that can elevate a team, a real Willis Reed moment; and though the stakes were not as high, that might make it mean even more to some.

If we see any players toughing out injuries in the coming weeks it may be because of the example set by Rodger Saffold Sunday against the Bills.

Loser: Rodger Saffold

That he was injured again, and twice in one game, does not bode well for his ability to stay healthy in the future.

With two knees that are bad enough to require braces that look capable of supporting a bridge and a recent neck injury that scared the dickens out of anyone who saw it, Rodger Saffold—despite his unquestionable toughness—may be proving that he is not a very durable NFL player.

At this point it would be irresponsible for the Rams to not draft an offensive tackle in the first round of the draft and another in a later round or bring in a capable backup through free agency.

Winner: Michael Brockers

The knock on Michael Brockers in his rookie season has been his failure to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks during passing plays.

He may have heard us.

Brockers was able to get a good push through the middle of the Bills' offensive line for most of the game. He even registered 1.5 sacks, not bad at all for a strictly run-stuffing defensive tackle.

Granted, he was going up against a rookie center making his first ever NFL start in David Snow, but even so, Brockers' best pass-rushing game of the season may portend more of the same in the future.

Loser: Chris Givens

After a breakout game last week, Chris Givens disappointed in Week 14.

Once again he was Sam Bradford's preferred option as he was targeted a team-high 10 times, but he was only able to bring in three of those throws. Some of the blame belongs to Bradford for his occasional inaccuracy but most of it lies with Givens.

Though he had one highlight-reel catch in the second quarter, he also was routinely unable to beat the press in man coverage on third down and had a costly bobbled drop that cost the Rams a first down early in the game.

He is still a rookie, so a little inconsistency is forgivable—heck, Brian Quick is still spending most of the game on the bench—but to see him put together a string of good games over the Rams' last three contests of the season would portend well for his being able to be a consistently impacting player next year.

Winner: Rams' Offensive Line

Sam Bradford didn't have a whole lot of time to throw on many of his dropbacks and he was chased out of the pocket on numerous occasions, but the Rams O-line only surrendered one sack to the much improved Buffalo Bills defense.

After some early success, Mario Williams was all but eliminated from relevancy by Rams' right tackle Barry Richardson—with periodic help from a second blocker who would "chip" Williams on his way by.

If Rodger Saffold's injuries will not keep him out of action in the coming weeks, the Rams' newly reunited starting offensive linemen will only get better with time.

Winner: Rams' Coaching Staff

While only love and war allow for the suspension of all sense of decency, there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of some inexperienced offensive linemen in a football game, and that's exactly what the Rams did.

The Rams coaching staff used a wide array of stunts to confuse the Bills' rookie center David Snow and right tackle Sam Young, both of whom were making their first NFL starts.

The result was that Bills' quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was never comfortable, often throwing off his back foot or running for his life when he wasn't suffering through one of his five sacks.

The Rams coaching staff also did very well with their offensive adjustments in the second half.

Having proven unable to beat man coverage on third down in the first half, the Rams' coaches sent the receivers on different, shorter routes on third down in the second half with two touchdown drives coming as a result.

That Jeff Fisher and the rest of the Rams coaches have taken the youngest team in the NFL with a seriously suspect wide receiver group to a 6-6-1 record in only their first season makes it impossible to believe that years of successful football are not in store for the St. Louis Rams and their fans.