Rams now the doormat as Raiders look to flip script in Vegas

At this point, calling Sunday a must-win game for the Rams feels almost redundant.Every week brings another chance to rescue their season.Every loss makes the next game more urgent.

Every injury makes you wonder who will be available to do the rescuing.But there is another way to look at their visit to Allegiant Stadium, one that says as much about the team waiting for them as the battered group trying to hold itself together.This is a game the Raiders should win.They have earned the right for us to say that.Earned the expectations that come with it, too.Which makes whatever magic trick Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford are preparing all the more intriguing.And dangerous.In a city that has given us David Copperfield, Penn & Teller and countless other masters of deception, the Rams arrive needing a Houdini act to escape with a victory.The Raiders’ responsibility is to make sure nobody slips out of the handcuffs.That represents a meaningful change for a franchise that spent too many years serving as somebody else’s opportunity to get right.

The Raiders were the soft landing.The manageable assignment.Now the Rams are 2-4 and wobbling, their depth chart resembling a MASH unit, and the Raiders should be expected to take advantage.Consider what McVay and Stafford are working around.Davante Adams is on injured reserve.

So is nose tackle Poona Ford, sidelined by a triceps injury.Defensive lineman Kobie Turner is out for multiple weeks.

Pass rusher Myles Garrett remains on injured reserve with a knee injury.Cornerback Trent McDuffie missed consecutive practices with a groin injury.Linebacker Nate Landman is in concussion protocol.Then Puka Nacua left Thursday’s practice with a calf injury.That does not automatically rule him out Sunday.

But potentially losing him, or having him at less than full strength, further complicates life for an offense already missing Adams.How in the hell are the Rams supposed to navigate all that?There is a reason the answer cannot si...