INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Seasons change, rosters change, coaching staffs change and even quarterbacks change.
If you’re Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams, one thing remains a hard truth: Vic Fangio is the Grim Reaper (the scheme reaper?). His ascending Philadelphia Eagles defense mostly handled the Rams’ offense with ease, a throwback to a painful memory in McVay’s mind when Fangio set the blueprint for the defense that could stifle the high-flying Rams of 2018.
OK, OK, more than one thing remains a hard truth. Let’s not obstruct the lede, here — the Rams certainly couldn’t. Star running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 255 yards and two touchdowns in the Eagles’ 37-20 win, including respective 70- and 72-yard TDs (the former was the first play of the third quarter). It was a career night for Barkley, who added an additional four catches for 47 yards, including a catch-and-run screen on a third-and-10 that essentially summarized the Rams’ defensive performance.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts scrambled 18 yards for a first down on third-and-10 in the third quarter, but both the Eagles and the Rams incurred penalties which off-set. So Hurts tossed the short pass to Barkley on the resulting third-and-10, and he picked it up easily and then some — the Eagles’ offense essentially converting back-to-back third-and-long plays, before scoring a touchdown to go up 27-14.
At different points in the second half, an overwhelmingly pro-Eagles crowd (on a night the Rams celebrated their Legends community at SoFi Stadium at halftime) chanted “M-V-P” at Barkley, and the celebration of his play and a team clearly destined for the playoffs — in control of the game since the second quarter — stayed loud and sustained.
OK, fine, another hard truth: A head coach may go out and get the quarterback who can out-diagnose these wily, career-altering defensive coordinators of his past, but if that quarterback isn’t protected it doesn’t matter.
McVay has had his chance to exorcise a few demons in prime time this season, facing the two coaches who have most famously had his number for the first time with Matthew Stafford. One glaring difference between a 30-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings, and this woodshed session against Philadelphia? Stafford wasn’t sacked by Brian Flores’ defense in Week 8, and he was only hit twice.
Sunday night, Fangio’s assertive Eagles front often only had to rush four and won its isolated assignments extremely fast.
“It was a tough night,” McVay said postgame, “… We knew that they had some guys that were pretty damn good. But we’ve got to be able to consistently do a better job and give (Stafford) a little bit more time. It wasn’t one person in particular. … But there were some really quick beats and we have got to be able to look at that and see where we can be better.”
Philadelphia sacked Stafford five times and hit him 11 times.
“Just winning some one-on-ones, that’s what it seemed like,” McVay said. “They did a couple of things where they just stemmed to some different looks where they’re covering everybody and you can elicit some one-on-ones. But (it) wasn’t anything different than what we had seen, they were just able to win some of those matchups.”
When the Rams double-teamed second-year interior defensive lineman Jalen Carter, other players (such as Brandon Graham and Milton Williams) won their corresponding one-on-ones. Graham hounded the right side at times, which featured backup Warren McClendon at right tackle. On a third-and-9 in the second quarter, Graham easily swiped McClendon aside to sack Stafford.
Brandon Graham just moved into 3rd place on the Eagles’ all-time sacks list (76.5) 😤@brandongraham55 | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/TDg5bI0NC3
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 25, 2024
“They kind of know you have to (give him extra attention),” said right guard Kevin Dotson, “so they have game plans to try to disrupt the back side of him (meaning the opposite side of where he is getting blocked). Wherever he’s not at. So, just a lot of … they set a lot of games that you’ve got to be able to get quick stuff off. And we just weren’t able to do that. That’s the game plan, to get (the ball) out fast, get it to our playmakers and do what we can. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out perfectly.”
The Rams dug themselves into a hole early in the game. A promising opening drive was fumbled away by running back Kyren Williams, his fourth of the season. McVay noted that the lost fumble “really hurt us, obviously” and then later said “that’s something that we have to be better at, for sure,” a comment that is about as close as he gets to public criticism.
“The ball, that’s the most important thing (and I) have to take care of it no matter what the situation is,” Williams said in the locker room postgame.
Still, the game didn’t yet feel out of reach. Stafford and the Rams executed a well-planned touchdown drive deep into the first quarter, punctuated by a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Williams, that featured a blend of run and pass plays that clearly aimed (via blocking structures and pre- and at-snap misdirection) to get the Eagles’ defensive linemen and linebackers flowing in the wrong direction.
But they adjusted quickly, getting linebackers and defensive backs into blocking layers and stifling Stafford and the Rams through the second quarter to the point where they netted minus-6 yards out of four consecutive possessions.
When Barkley ripped open a 70-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the third quarter, the game already felt over.
“We were running a little pressure, (and) one of our guys got out of the gap backside,” said defensive tackle and captain Kobie Turner. “He was supposed to be B-gap, went to the C-gap and he hit it through the B-gap. Once you give (Barkley) space to run, and now he’s up on the second level, he can make guys miss and he has the speed to break away.
“That’s on us, again, as a defensive front — not staying true to what we do.”
Kobie Turner said DL was not gap sound and that the yardage they allowed tonight “was embarrassing”.
“We got a lot of work to do. But again, it comes down to us really trusting what we have. …All of the big runs, that’s on us not being in our gap.”
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) November 25, 2024
The Rams’ defense didn’t just struggle to contain Barkley. Between his effectiveness against their second and third levels, receiver A.J. Brown’s ability to make defenders miss to create big plays and Hurts’ success when escaping pressure and getting the ball downfield — it seemed all game that the Eagles could make explosive play after explosive play. Brown finished with 109 yards and a touchdown on six catches, averaging more than 18 yards per catch. The Eagles totaled 481 yards of offense to the Rams’ 290.
The NFC West is still relatively open after San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals losses earlier Sunday. But honestly, if the Rams’ coaches and players even take more than a second to think about that point (though they were asked about it postgame) they’re missing the plot. There are more pressing matters to address.
This simply is a team that can’t currently hang with the big, physical, tough-dude teams. That touchdown in the first quarter was all well and good for them, but it’s only the second first-quarter touchdown they’ve scored all season. A team that got pushed around as its quarterback was hassled, that couldn’t stick to its technique on defense got run over in its own house — as that house got run over by fans in green jerseys.
“You get yourself up off the mat, you look at the things that (we) can control, you look at the things that we can correct,” McVay said. “You just go back to work. I don’t know any other way to go about it, other than to say ‘tonight it didn’t go down for us.’ And there’s a lot of reasons for it. You do give Philadelphia the credit they deserve. But we’re gonna come back swinging, I know that much.”
(Photo of Brandon Graham and Matthew Stafford: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
