INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It’s about a half-mile walk around the curved ground floor of SoFi Stadium to get from the postgame news conferences and locker room to the elevator that leads back up to the press box.
Somewhere along that walk on Sunday night, after the Los Angeles Rams beat the Las Vegas Raiders 20-15, their second win of the season, amid the frenzy of the golf carts whizzing by and buses loaded with equipment and production crews packed up their gear, I was struck by one clear thought: I don’t actually know what this team believes it is on offense.
I can’t discern an identity, nor a player or ethos or general strength around which it is built. It was, at one time, Cooper Kupp — who will return Thursday night against Minnesota from an ankle injury. Yet it’s illogical for that to ever fully be the case again because Kupp has not had a healthy or full season in the three years since sacrificing his body to the extreme for a Super Bowl victory and triple crown. It’s not Kupp’s fault he has struggled with injuries, and when he’s healthy his impact is undeniable. Yet the Rams are in two worlds at once, one where their offense flows through him and second-year player Puka Nacua, and another where they do whatever else they can to adjust without Nacua and Kupp on the field, and whatever that is feels like a placeholder.
Opposing teams quite obviously see the line being walked between those worlds and the vultures could start circling — the Rams have gotten trade inquiries over the last several days about Kupp, a league source said, and not the jokey kind they used to always get about Aaron Donald.
The offensive identity is not Nacua right now either, because he’s injured. It’s certainly not the physical, body-moving rushing attack of 2023 although star running back Kyren Williams, who has scored in each of the Rams’ games this season, and continued his streak with two touchdowns on Sunday. It’s not McVay, who is normally the brand and face of this organization but who shifted into pure problem-solving mode as early as Week 1 as injuries compounded at receiver and along the offensive line (the Rams are currently playing a rookie center and Sunday started their fourth left guard of the season in undrafted free-agent rookie Justin Dedich). McVay coached one of the best games of his life a few weeks ago in the Rams’ only other win (against San Francisco) but the offense has otherwise felt disjointed and vacillates between frantic and sluggish with little stability in between. Every week McVay is at the lectern talking about execution errors, coaching errors and more.
“There’s things that we do throughout the course of the week, and you expect it to be able to translate, and unfortunately there’s just some lapses in (our) ability to be able to translate some of the practice stuff to the game-day execution,” McVay said Sunday. “It’s a fair question. Ultimately, we’re all in this together. We have to do a better job. I’m not going to make any excuses about that.”
It’s not even veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, at least not right now, because Stafford is getting beaten to a pulp — he has been hit more than 50 times in six games and sacked 18 times. Still, the player capable of lifting all others around him, we know this because we have seen it, has struggled of late to connect with his receivers, to move the ball on full fields one game and in the red zone the next, and has thrown costly interceptions in back-to-back games. Sunday, he and his receivers missed a few open opportunities downfield (one pass attempt to Tyler Johnson sailed because pressure got to Stafford too quickly) and Stafford was then relegated mostly to short throws to try to mitigate pressure.
“I left some plays out there for sure,” said Stafford postgame. He finished 14-of-23 for 154 yards, an interception and a 62.6 passer rating. “For the most part, just doing anything I can to help us win. Today that wasn’t launching it over the top and doing a bunch of play actions and throwing it down the field, it was trying to manage what we were getting up front. …
“It felt like they’re an aggressive defense, you know, I’ve got a lot of respect for their defensive coordinator (Patrick Graham). He’s done it for a while, he’s always really well thought-out. We had some opportunities early to turn some of those shorter ones into bigger gains, didn’t happen. Guys made some nice tackles in the secondary. One of those early third downs I got hit right as I threw it, trying to throw one to Tyler. They busted (the coverage) on that, didn’t have anybody on him and I felt it just a little bit too late (and) they did a nice job getting home. … They were definitely playing an aggressive style defense today so I was trying to counteract it by getting the ball in space to our guys and letting them do their thing.”
The Rams’ offense didn’t score a touchdown in the first quarter for a sixth consecutive game and started 1-for-7 on third down (plus 0-for-1 on fourth down).
“It’s really just executing like it always is, right?” said Stafford, “doesn’t matter what time of the game it is. To score points and move the ball in this league, you’ve got to execute.”
They hope they’ll get healthy enough to put together a streak that will dig them out of this 2-4 hole. Astoundingly, the NFC West is still pretty open. That will start with Kupp’s timely return Thursday, and then Nacua, starting left guard Steve Avila into November, then possibly starting center/guard Jonah Jackson. But let’s be honest here: “Wait for certain players to get healthy” in itself is not a sound or sustainable strategy for any NFL team and particularly not these Rams who have previously been so accustomed to a reputation as innovators who kept company with other bona fide playoff contenders.
It’s not all moving in a negative trajectory, and the organization can find solace in that plus the win. A relatively young, inexperienced defense came to life in a big way against a bad Raiders offense (and that’s OK because good teams keep bad teams bad). Third-year cornerback Cobie Durant headlined a defensive backs unit that forced four turnovers. Durant had a crucial pass breakup on third down on a ball intended for rookie star tight end Brock Bowers in the end zone, which killed the drive and held Las Vegas to its first of five field goals (the Rams allowed no touchdowns). He strip-sacked quarterback Gardner Minshew in the second quarter and the ball was recovered by safety Kam Curl, who ran it back for a touchdown. Durant also intercepted Minshew in the second quarter.
Cobie Durant is a delightful person. Postgame, he said sometimes theres a check out of him blitzing out of the alignment he did. Today he got to do it and he was so dang excited he thinks that’s why he cramped up. Also, on Jaylen McCollough’s INTs… “Man, he’s livin’ right.”
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 21, 2024
The Rams made significant changes to their secondary in Week 5 against Green Bay. Veteran cornerback Tre’Davious White has been a healthy scratch after a tough start (White wasn’t supposed to be playing as many snaps coming off an Achilles repair so early in the season, McVay indicated last week, but injuries and a lack of an alternate plan forced the Rams’ hand). Veteran cornerback Darious Williams is back and playing well on the outside, sometimes opposite Durant and sometimes opposite veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon (who also had a crucial pass breakup as the Raiders attempted a comeback). Undrafted free-agent rookie safety Jaylen McCollough grabbed his second and third interceptions in just two games as a player who now comes in for sub packages instead of rookie third-round draft pick Kam Kinchens.
Importantly, coaches also moved captain Quentin Lake from the roving position as a “star”/slot defender to pure deep safety to get a better line of communication across the back section of the defense, and to free up Curl to move to and from the line of scrimmage where he has made several key plays over the last two games. At least twice when backed against the red zone or goal line Sunday, Lake and Curl’s adjustments between each other and then the ripple effect on other defensive backs led to stops or splash plays. Meanwhile, the pressure the defensive line and outside linebackers have gotten so early in the year is extremely promising. Rookie outside linebacker Jared Verse leads all first-year defenders in pressures with 29 after a nine-pressure game, while rookie teammate Braden Fiske is second with 17 according to Next Gen Stats.
What a freaking sequence between the safeties Kam Curl and Quentin Lake on the second and third downs.
Curl contorted and stretched mid-jump to bat away a pass and Lake wrapped up Bowers on the short catch-and-run.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 20, 2024
“I think we’re starting to find our identity, putting guys in the right spots and being able to take advantage of their skill sets,” McVay said. “We got healthier … we’ve scored two touchdowns in the last two games, we’ve forced some turnovers, been able to really apply a lot of pressure. I’m really pleased with the trajectory of where our defense is going right now.”
That’s great! And, when given a short field after both defensive takeaways the Rams scored touchdowns. That’s also great!
Not so great? The nine other possessions (minus kneel-downs at the end) featured an interception, a turnover on downs and a missed field goal. The remaining six were punts. Who are these guys?
(Top photo, from left: Cobie Durant, Quentin Lake, Kam Curl: Joe Scarnici / Getty Images)
