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Rodrigue: Rams’ overtime loss to Ravens a head-spinning range of realities

By Jourdan Rodrigue

https://theathletic.com/5126691/2023/12/10/rams-overtime-loss-ravens/?source=emp_shared_article

BALTIMORE — Never have I covered an NFL season in which this thought has rung in my head so frequently: Wow, there are a few ways to react to this.

That’s the fairest way to look at the Los Angeles Rams’ Week 14 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens, off a rare walk-off punt return touchdown in a downpour that featured multiple missed tackles and, yes, a missed block in the back penalty. Players, coaches and fans are all emotional after a loss like that, when the team went toe-to-toe with the NFL’s best, yet still committed enough self-inflicted mistakes to have everyone wondering “What if … ?” afterward.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford orchestrated a score-tying drive with 1:16 to play, after what felt like a rock fight in the third and fourth quarters. On the road and in overtime, minus starting right tackle Rob Havenstein (groin), veteran tight end Tyler Higbee (inactive; neck stinger) and speed threat receiver Tutu Atwell (concussion protocol), the Rams had a real shot. Their defense also forced a three-and-out to open the extra time.

But also …

The Rams’ defense broke down at the worst time in regulation, after a day in which it gave up three touchdowns off of breakdowns in the secondary (all explosive pass plays). MVP candidate quarterback Lamar Jackson — who is the caliber of player, whether in structure or creating on the move who can make the seemingly impossible happen — hit a 21-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Zay Flowers, then a two-point conversion to put the Ravens ahead 31-28 with 1:22 to play. That the play happened after an overly long time stoppage by the game’s officials seemed even worse.

“They had more explosives than we did,” veteran safety John Johnson III said. “We had opportunities to end it, to (put) it away and we didn’t. … We were just trying to get in the best play, seeing from what they were doing. I think we were in a decent coverage. I think it was a good call. But we didn’t execute. We were this close. Everybody knew what they had to do, but we were this close and just couldn’t get it done.”

Added Rams coach Sean McVay, “We had plenty of time to get a call in. They came out in a loaded four-by-one formation. We were in a call that we liked, and it didn’t go down for us. You credit Zay (Flowers) for making that play, and Lamar (Jackson) for being able to stand in there and make the throw.”

Jackson threw for 316 yards and the three touchdowns, plus an interception (veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon came up clutch at the right time, yet again).

In the “you never see that” category, the Rams’ defense also notched a second safety in as many weeks, after a missed snap rolled into the end zone. Jackson felt Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald bearing down on the ball and kicked it out of the back of the end zone, which led to a declined penalty and ultimately the safety. For every costly breakdown, the Rams’ defense seemed to also string together a few impressive plays or series against an elite group of skill players and their star quarterback.

But also …

Young kicker Lucas Havrisik hit a 36-yard field goal in the rain with 11 seconds left to tie the score 31-31. Havrisik started the week believing he’d lost his job, after misses in the last two games. The Rams signed veteran kicker Mason Crosby on Wednesday.

McVay, by the way, addressed the oddness of the Rams’ decision to sign Crosby to the practice squad, elevate him for Sunday’s game and then not activate him in favor of Havrisik, saying, “You look at it as a competition and Lucas earned the right to be kicking today based on what we saw throughout the course of the week … (the elevation) was based on conversations and expectations that we had set. We wanted to be able to follow through on our word to the people that were involved in bringing Mason in.”

Havrisik showed a lot of toughness Sunday in how he responded to the entire situation. He didn’t lose his job, and then he made his kicks. Enough said.

But also …

Rookie fifth-round tight end Davis Allen, who had a breakout game with four catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, also had a drop on third-and-9 in overtime that led to that punt return. That will stick with him. So will the Rams’ delay-of-game penalty that moved them back 5 yards on the down.

Odd moments flared up throughout the game, from the very first offensive possession. Well, that wasn’t odd in itself — the Rams ran the ball nine times in a row for 67 yards to open the game. They changed the points of contact for the Ravens’ defensive players on what seemed like every play, testing space in the box and around the edges.

More specifically, the oddity was what I’ll refer to as “call-sheet whiplash” when the Rams threw three consecutive times out of shotgun from the Baltimore 9-yard line, all incomplete, and settled for a field goal. They threw four times in a row on their second possession, too, gaining 17 yards but also losing 8 on a sack before punting.

McVay also said the offense had issues with the headsets that caused them to burn their last timeout of regulation, ahead of a third-and-6 at the Baltimore 18-yard line with 16 seconds left.

“You don’t want to have to use that timeout, but he couldn’t hear me,” McVay said of Stafford. “You’re gonna have to go backwards, then that limits some of your options.”

Stafford said the situation popped up twice Sunday, indicating it was a communication issue.

“On that play, I just got to hear him better,” Stafford said, referring to the third-and-9 before the timeout. “I was unclear as to what play he was wanting in.”

But also …

The Ravens have one of the best defenses in the NFL, if not the best. They are smart and multiple. After Los Angeles put up 216 yards of offense in the first half, including 85 rushing yards, Baltimore adjusted well. The Ravens had four tackles for loss just on run plays on the first two Rams possessions of the second half. The third quarter was a slugfest between the two teams.

“(They played) a little bit more base to 11 (personnel) for us, we just didn’t execute well enough in the second half,” Stafford said. “Close football game, not gonna be perfect. Conditions aren’t perfect. I don’t know what they are, the No. 2 defense in the league, they’re gonna have some say in it as well. I thought our guys were steady all game. Continued to trust each other, trust the process. Go battle, play physical.”

Los Angeles got back to the run on a go-ahead touchdown drive that began with 8:01 left in the fourth quarter. As they did to open the game, they mixed up the direction and contact points of their run plays from snap to snap, first sending Kyren Williams around the left side and then up the middle for 21 yards over two plays. Then Stafford slung it around, connecting a laser of a throw with receiver Puka Nacua on an acrobatic 23-yard catch, and hitting Allen over the middle for another 21 yards (both on first downs). Receiver Cooper Kupp, who had his most productive game since Oct. 15 with eight catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, all on “vintage” Kupp plays, including a 12-yard catch-and-run on the aforementioned drive. Stafford connected with former Raven Demarcus Robinson for the touchdown that put the Rams up 28-23, and then hit Robinson again on the score-tying final drive of regulation for 19 yards. Kupp had a 34-yard catch-and-run on that drive that got the Rams to the Baltimore 22-yard line with 44 seconds left.

But also …

The two-point conversion try from Stafford to Kupp on the earlier fourth-quarter drive failed. A step forward, a half-step back, a step forward. Go back to the beginning of this column. It’s a jumble of realities. “If that had happened previously, then would this other thing have happened?” It’s enough to drive a person mad, in the city that claims Edgar Allan Poe. When the emotions settle, everyone will take from this game what they want to see.

“There’s plays everybody wants back that probably could have changed the outcome,” Stafford said.

“We had our chances, as a team,” McVay said. “To be even able to have those chances, guys did a lot of good stuff. When it comes down to it, we’ll learn from it (and) respond the right way.”

A punch-for-punch game, and also a miss-for-miss game. A loss, yet still a more competitive game than the betting lines, or the general public, or even the media believed it would be.

But also …

Special teams.