Pick Six Podcast: What's wrong with the Patriots and Rams as NFL playoffs draw near?

Brady Quinn joins Will Brinson to discuss playoff contenders and what could be troubling some of them

A few weeks ago, you probably would have had a hard time convincing anyone that the Los Angeles Rams weren't Super Bowl contenders, let alone the class of the NFC.

As we approach Week 16, however, Sean McVay's West Coast machine has all but ground to a halt.

Three weeks removed from their circus act of a 54-51 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on "Monday Night Football," the Rams have lost two straight and are in danger of surrendering a first-round bye in the playoffs, first scoring just six points against the Chicago Bears and then getting bullied by the backup-ridden Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

They're not the only contender that's struggled to keep its foot on the gas in December. Across the league, the New England Patriots now need some help to secure their own playoff bye after an ugly finish against the Pittsburgh Steelers, which followed an even uglier finish against the Miami Dolphins a week before. But in Los Angeles, the concerns are all over the place -- including up front, where CBS Sports' Brady Quinn thinks the Rams offensive line deserves some blame.

"When they don't play well, all of a sudden Jared Goff gets exposed," Quinn told Will Brinson on Tuesday's edition of the Pick Six Podcast. "Their offensive line is going to have to play better."

Quinn continued by suggesting that Rams' revamped line was probably just as big of a reason for Goff's emergence in 2017 as McVay's arrival as head coach. And now that the unit is struggling to hold up in pass protection (see: Sunday night), Goff is on his coldest stretch of the season.

"It's almost like he's reverting a little bit back to that," Quinn said of Goff's rookie-year skittishness in the pocket.

(Stream Rams-Cardinals and all of Saturday's and Sunday's games on fuboTV, try it for free, and stream the CBS games on CBS All Access.) 

Listen to the entire breakdown of the Rams, the Patriots, the Chicago Bears and the rest of the NFL playoff picture, including what Quinn and Brinson think L.A. and New England need to do to turn things around, on the podcast: