Rams at Jets: the big articles

Tyler Higbee’s emotional return propels Rams to eighth win in 10 games

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6013815/2024/12/22/rams-win-tyler-higbee-jets/

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Los Angeles Rams, who started the season 1-4, who rolled out the most random combinations at receiver and offensive line imaginable through that time due to early-season injuries, who had a tangible avenue toward blowing their offensive roster up ahead of the trade deadline …

… Have won eight of their last 10 games, including over the New York Jets on Sunday 19-9, and after the early-afternoon slate of games concluded are one of only two NFC West teams still eligible for the postseason.

In fact, the NFC West will come down to the Rams (9-6) and the Seattle Seahawks (who the Rams host in Week 18 at a to-be-determined time) after the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals were both eliminated from a playoff berth.

“I think it’s a credit to the players and the coaching staff,” head coach Sean McVay said after the game, his face flushed and voice hoarse from the 23-degree afternoon, made colder by knifing spurts of wind. “We always talk about resilience. … The guys just focus on what they can control (and) I think they’ve done a great job of being totally and completely present. They’ve just stayed the course (and) they’ve gotten better.”

Step by step. Week by week. Day by day.

That ethos, and in turn both Rams touchdowns in their own way, was embodied by veteran tight end Tyler Higbee. He made his return Sunday after nearly a year spent recovering from the ACL and MCL tears suffered in last year’s wild-card game, after Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph hit him low. Higbee had multiple surgeries after the injuries and said the daily rehabilitation process was both grueling and deeply lonely.

In the second quarter, running back Kyren Williams — who finished with 122 yards on 23 carries for his third 100-plus yards rushing in four games — saw his path to the end zone cleared in part by Higbee, whose blocking with receiver Puka Nacua opened Williams’ gap for a 2-yard touchdown.

“It makes a huge difference,” Williams said, “you can feel Higs. You can be able to know where he’s at. Honestly, just having him in the huddle again is great because he just brings that energy (that) people feed off of and enjoy.”

In the fourth quarter, tied at 9-9, the Rams capitalized off a strip-sack on Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers by safety Kam Curl, which rookie outside linebacker Jared Verse recovered.

“I got chipped, went inside and I had a whole ‘nother gap and I took that up and under,” Verse said. “All I see is a bunch of bodies. I see the sack already happened, I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, they probably got the fumble.’ As I’m falling, I see the ball! I’m like, ‘Oh s—. This is kinda cool.’ And I just fell right on top of it. One of those things, right place, right time.”

Three plays and 11 months after Higbee’s brutal injury, Matthew Stafford got the ball to him for an 11-yard touchdown. McVay and Stafford hinted that they called the specific play on purpose in the situation, with more than one option available against the look they got from the Jets defense.

“It was a play that we liked and it’s really a play that he has been really good at,” said McVay of the vintage-looking Higbee catch-and-rumble-and-reach through a couple of defenders and into the end zone. The leaping finish on the touchdown called for Higbee to plant that previously injured leg and get airborne.

“He jumped from like, the 6-yard line,” said inside linebacker Christian Rozeboom. “I was talking to him after, I was like, ‘You know how far you went through the air to score that?!’ It was awesome.”

As Higbee got to his feet and pointed up to the sky with both hands, his teammates rushed to him to celebrate and coaches had to corral players from the bench back to the sideline after a few rushed the field, all pumping one arm up and down like long-haul truckers pulling a horn — an ode to Higbee’s nickname, “Big Rig Higs.”

“I almost passed out,” Higbee said. “It was very humbling, just the love and support I got from these guys and this team and staff. It was special and very humbling.

“It’s hard to describe. I almost passed out just from being so hyped, (feeling) the love from everybody and coming off the field and looking at everyone on the sidelines hitting the ‘Big Rig’. It was very cool.”

The play is called “Lizard,” but nobody will explain why — neither Stafford nor receiver Cooper Kupp took the bait when I asked, instead smirking like a couple of guys who plan to use that one or a wrinkle off it later in the year.

“I’m not gonna get into it,” Stafford said, after a Cheshire Cat grin and a long pause.

“He has been the guy who has really made that play really good for our offense over the last handful of years, he’s had a few touchdowns on it,” McVay added.

Higbee reiterated a few times postgame that “he’s not much of a crier,” but his full eyes and slight catch in his throat every so often as he spoke threatened to give the truth away. He walked into the news conference room — via the ice-cold stadium tunnel — with bare feet and no outer jacket. “I’m warm up here,” he said, pointing to his heart. His wife made him a video montage to watch in the hours leading up to the game that featured photos of him throughout the recovery process.

“I did get a little emotional before the game,” he said. “I watched it probably four or five times this morning just to kind of get my mind right. I’m good at being where my feet are and don’t think anything is too big or make any moment too big, (so) I’m kind of happy that this first game back is over with just so it’s not necessarily about me. It’s about going and winning games. (But) it was special, all in all.”

By the pure measure of hours and minutes on a clock, Sunday’s game went fast even if both teams looked plodding and stuffy at times. The Rams went without a first-quarter touchdown for the 12th time this season, while the Jets played a ball-control offense on the other side in hopes of keeping the ball out of Stafford’s hands and gassing out the Rams’ young defense with 14- and 15-play drives. Once they had a lead, the Rams’ offense returned the favor.

“The first quarter, we got off the field and there were already five minutes left,” laughed Williams of how quickly the game went. “I was like, ‘dang,’ I guess that was their objective — keeping us off the field — because of how great of an offense we are.

“Coming out of the second half and being able to roll and do the things that we do, that’s what we do. We took it as it is and we made plays.”

Aside from the strip-sack and fumble recovery, two plays of major consequence were made by the Rams’ bookend veteran cornerbacks Darious Williams and Ahkello Witherspoon. Both broke up Rodgers passes on fourth down; Witherspoon’s prevented a touchdown in the third quarter and Williams’ helped ice the game in the fourth. Rookie receiver Jordan Whittington added his own splash play to completely stave off the Jets by leaping on a punt muffed by New York return specialist Xavier Gipson, up 10 points with 1:44 left.

If the running clock throughout most of Sunday’s game could be any indication or even (if we’re reaching Higbee-style) a tortured metaphor, the Rams seemed ready to get the hell out of the freezing Meadowlands as quickly as possible — and perhaps the Jets were and are ready to get the hell through a disastrous year. Los Angeles has a long flight back and a short week, with a Cardinals team that walloped them 41-10 in Week 2.

Then come the Seahawks, and then perhaps a postseason run. The Rams can’t afford to get ahead of themselves, though. They haven’t clinched a spot yet.

“Long flight, short week for us coming up,” said Stafford, who finished the game 14 of 19 for 110 yards, a touchdown and an interception. “(We) play a day early, so that’ll be a challenge for us physically.

“But I think guys understand what it takes to win at this time of the year. It’s playing solid football and playing complementary football. Just have to continue to try to do that, and then clean up the things that we can (and) where we had some mistakes.”

5 interesting stats from Rams’ win over Jets in Week 16: Stuffing the run and staying ahead of the sticks in the cold

Wyatt Miller

https://www.therams.com/news/5-interesting-stats-from-rams-win-over-jets-in-week-16-stuffing-the-run-and-staying-ahead-of-the-sticks-in-the-cold

The Rams, winners of four-straight games and five-straight road games, have proven they can win all sorts of matchups. From a home shootout with the Bills to the below-freezing battle with the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Los Angeles has found ways to win no matter the context or conditions. Now, the Rams are in control of their own playoff destiny at 9-6, holding the third seed in the NFC.

Against New York, the Rams pounded the rock, giving running back Kyren Williams more carries than quarterback Matthew Stafford had pass attempts. They also stuffed the run defensively and came up with three huge stops on fourth down.

Here are five interesting stats from the Rams’ 19-9 win over the Jets:

The Rams didn’t go backwards all game, taking zero sacks or tackles for loss for just the second time this season

The Rams’ offensive line has hit their stride at the right moment, as the health and continuity within that unit has catapulted this offense forward over the last few months. Head coach Sean McVay said postgame that “the offensive line did a great job being able to create removal,” and that led to success in both phases.

The Rams allowed pressure on just 26.3% of quarterback Matthew Stafford’s dropbacks, their third-lowest rate of the season. Williams, along with the tight ends, also had a hand in that success, as Williams earned a Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade of 80.5 yesterday.

Williams’ 95 rushing yards after contact (YAC) was the most of Week 16 (pre-MNF), via Next Gen Stats

Williams’ season-high 122 rushing yards carried the Rams to victory on Sunday, and he took defenders with him all day long. Williams averaged 4.1 yards after contact per attempt, his fourth-highest mark of the season, to go along with his 95 total YAC.

Sunday was one of Williams’ best games of the season from both a production and efficiency standpoint as he continued his recent stretch of dominance. This is the third time in four games that Williams has surpassed 100 rushing yards, as well as the third time this season he averaged at least five yards per carry.

The Rams forced a season-high three turnover on downs on five fourth down attempts

The Jets played with nothing to lose, as they were eliminated from playoff contention coming in. That meant going for nearly every fourth down opportunity, but the Rams stopped them more often than not.

The first risky move came in the second quarter when the Jets went for it on fourth-and-one from their own 33-yard line. Rookie linebacker Omar Speights came flying into the backfield to hit Jets running back Breece Hall behind the line for a massive stop that turned into six points shortly thereafter. Later on, cornerbacks Ahkello Witherspoon and Darious Williams both picked up impressive pass breakups to secure stops on two other fourth down tries.

The Rams allowed -31 rushing yards over expected (RYOE), their best mark of the season

Next Gen Stats models expected rushing yards based on speed and player positioning. Those calculations expected the Jets to rush for 31 more yards than they did on Sunday, when the Rams held them to 75 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Williams took those vacated yards for himself, totaling +31 rushing yards over expected.

Los Angeles allowed just 3.8 yards per rush against the Jets on Sunday, its fifth-best mark of the season. It has now held their opponent to under 80 rushing yards in two-straight games.

Sunday’s game was the coldest game that Stafford has ever played in at 23 degrees

This is surprising for someone that played in Detroit for the first 12 years of his career. Pro Football Reference had the temperature at 23 degrees, which is three degrees colder than his previous career-low, a Week 17 game that saw Detroit take on the Packers in Green Bay in 2018.

Stafford only threw the ball 19 times on Sunday, completing 14 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. That was enough to leave East Rutherford, N.J. with a win.