LOS ANGELES — Because the football gods have a dark sense of humor, they decided to release Los Angeles Rams fans from two years of shielded eyes and agony while watching special teams all in one game.
Rookie kicker Joshua Karty hit a 37-yard game winning field goal with four seconds left in regulation, practice squad call-up receiver Xavier Smith’s 38-yard punt return a few moments earlier helped get Karty to the field goal try, and prior to that backup running back Ronnie Rivers converted a fake punt that eventually led to the Rams’ first touchdown of the day. Down 14-0 off of two “W-A-O” touchdown passes to Jauan Jennings (Wide A– Open) early in the first half, Matthew Stafford, running back Kyren Williams (who finished the day with two rushing touchdowns and a touchdown catch), No. 4 receiver Tutu Atwell and an irregular cast of characters — plus the special teams unit — mounted the biggest Rams’ second-half comeback since 2006 to beat the San Francisco 49ers 27-24.
Karty, who was drafted by the Rams in the sixth round in April, later told me in the locker room that he had not actually kicked much all week. Karty was held out of practice while dealing with a groin injury, and the only time he got on the field this week was during warmups on Friday. It was about as cold — and cold-blooded — a kick possible.
“There’s a lot of trust from the coaching staff,” said the even-keeled, soft-spoken Karty, “there’s a lot of trust that I had to have in myself too. I’ll be honest, it’s not exactly a confidence-booster without having a whole week of prep (and) without getting the rhythm and timing you normally do. I had to trust myself, and the coaches had to have faith in me too.”
(Don’t talk about how Karty has not missed a field goal yet this season, by the way. Don’t mention it — a helpful tip from long snapper Alex Ward though Karty says he is not superstitious, only “a little ‘stitious.’ “)
“Holy s—,” said a breathless Sean McVay at the lectern postgame. Couldn’t have said it better myself, but I’ll add what he won’t: This was one of the most masterful games I have seen McVay coach.
Consider the following: The Rams are without star receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. They are playing their third left guard, Logan Bruss, who didn’t even make the 53-man roster the first two years of his NFL career, and a rookie center. McVay, who may as well have “11 personnel” tattooed across his forehead, overhauled his offense’s identity from last Monday-Friday to feature heavier 12 personnel sets — despite only having two healthy tight ends, both Colby Parkinson and Hunter Long badly needed in this effort — and no extra tackles to fill in in case one of them got banged up. Of his healthy receivers, McVay moved rookie Jordan Whittington into a fully hybrid role, using him as a tight end/fullback particularly in the run surface where Whittington ran escort and sifting motions to help create physical movement and space — including on Williams’ second touchdown (first rushing). When the Rams did shift back into 11 personnel, they mixed in lots of layered concepts between ultra-fast Atwell, who had perhaps his most effective game as a Ram, and veterans Demarcus Robinson and Tyler Johnson. They substituted and rotated skill players more than usual (because with a healthy Kupp and Nacua, McVay just can stay in 11 personnel the whole game — to be clear, there is nothing wrong with this and it’s very effective). Still, the Rams had not run a single snap of 12 personnel this season prior to Sunday.
“We knew coming into the week we were going to run a lot of 12. Hunter (Long) and I talked all week that we were going to have to prove that we should be running this,” Parkinson said. “We can run the ball really well when we had both of us out there, and I think we did that, and the offensive line played great and Kyren was doing his thing back there.”
Don’t look at Williams’ “yards per carry” average (3.7) to understand the real effectiveness of the 14 runs the Rams deployed out of 12 personnel. When in this alignment, their rushing EPA was 0.15 (this statistic importantly factors in situational variables on every play) and their success rate was 50 percent, which would rank top 3 among all NFL teams through the start of the season for overall success rate. The Rams, who started the season 0-2, have an average success rate of 44.3 percent and their average rushing EPA is -0.03 (all statistics via TruMedia).
.@Kyrenwilliams23 ARE. YOU. KIDDING ME?!
📺: @NFLonFOX | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/8VJMYoSzvO
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 22, 2024
Instead of McVay sticking to his system — his comfort zone — the Rams looked very different schematically Sunday (he even kept running the ball down two touchdowns). Further, the Rams had the foresight to install those 12 personnel looks in the earliest days of training camp, including Whittington’s role, before getting their “A” offense (with Kupp and Nacua) put in. Remember me, the overeager reporter, hinting strongly back then at the increased tight ends usage? Instead of starting from scratch during the first practice of the week (Wednesday), they were able to call back to concepts they had already tested and adjusted.
“I think that’s going to be something that we’re going to continuously have to do,” McVay said. “Because these circumstances are different than anything we’ve gone through. I think it’s a real credit to the coaches. … It’s a tremendous tribute to those assistant coaches, and then ultimately the players being able to step up and deliver in these moments. We’ll have to continuously do that.”
Stafford was as deadly in the closing minutes as his teammates know him to be. According to Next Gen Stats, the Rams had a 3.2 percent win probability with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter, before Stafford led the two scoring drives that tied, then won the game.
“You just keep playing,” Stafford said. “You don’t look at the scoreboard, you don’t worry about all of that. Just keep playing the next play, try to do the best you can on that next play. … Whatever the situation is in the game, up, down, tied, whatever, I try to be the same player. There’s no doubt that down in the fourth quarter with the ball in my hand, I got a little extra, you know, heartbeat going. But I’m excited about those opportunities. That’s what I want, I want to be in those moments. I feel like the guys on our team know that and hopefully they feed off of that.”
All of this was enough, barely, to patch over another deeply concerning afternoon for the Rams’ defense. The secondary was porous at times and didn’t seem to be communicating well early in the game. The first and second levels of the defense missed tackles and sacks. Brock Purdy could scramble for what felt like an eon, and McVay’s reaction to this postgame drew chuckles from a few fans that the Rams allowed to sit in his news conference.
“Yeah, you guys are laughing ‘with me’, it’s not funny is it?’ ” said McVay. Make no mistake from the buoyancy the win gave his overall mood, this type of overall defensive play will not stand in his building. That group, aside from veteran cornerback Darious Williams, is generally healthy. Yet they have looked unprepared and undersized especially early in the last two games.
Let’s not forget, Purdy was without his stars on offense, too. George Kittle was a late downgrade with a hamstring injury, and Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey are out. Jennings caught 11 of his 12 targets for 175 yards and three touchdowns, and the secondary had real issues passing responsibilities to each other or executing plays. The 49ers dominated the possession matchup early (with the help of three penalties on a single drive that led to first downs, two of which were extremely questionable calls) and had the ball for 11:41 to the Rams’ 3:19. Two late stops (one of which forced a 55-yard field goal try by 49ers kicker Jake Moody, which he missed) and a strip-sack by second-year outside linebacker Byron Young were bright spots, yet their play as a unit feels woefully incomplete right now.
But hey, the football gods showed their cards to all of us in Sunday’s win. They choose chaos, and these Rams aren’t going away easily.
“I’m not into ‘improbable, probable,’ ” Stafford said. “The NFL is an improbable business, I’ll tell you that much. You never know what is gonna happen week in and week out, you have to go out and earn it, prove it, and we did that today.”
(Top photo of Matthew Stafford: Ric Tapia / Getty Images)
