Rams Bros.@RamsBrothers
The Rams are 6pt favorites vs. the Cardinals on Saturday night — the most points they have been favorited by all season.

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
Since Week 15, CB Ahkello Witherspoon (@ahkello) is first in pass breakups (five), tied for first in passes defended (four), and tied for sixth in incompletions against as the primary defender (7).

Thought the Rams disguised this pressure well. Pre-snap, couldn’t tell which 4 would be rushing the passer. Hoecht ends up dropping in coverage and it’s Kam Curl with the hit/forced fumble on Rodgers.

Verse with the recovery — definitely helps with his DROY campaign! pic.twitter.com/r3SIdZfi8B

— Rams Bros. (@RamsBrothers) December 23, 2024

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.”

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
RB Kyren Williams (@Kyrenwilliams23) recorded a single-season career-high with 13 rushing touchdowns.

He also tied Derrick Henry, Jalen Hurts and David Montgomery for the most games with at least one rushing touchdown this season with 10.

Sosa Kremenjas@QBsMVP
Kyren Williams since the Philly fumble debacle (4 games):

96 attempts
421 rushing yards
4 TDs

Legit workhorse lately.

Fishkiller@FV_Mylia_Lynn
the defensecaused 2 turnovers in Jets territory that set the offense up with a short field that resulted in the offense’s only TDs of the day. Their 4th down stop also kept the Jets from scoring & the offense got a FG off that drive.

Dan Orlovsky@danorlovsky7
Jayden Daniels’ tape is as good as Joe Burrows rookie tape as good as CJ Strouds rookie tape

Kid is an absolute star

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Bucs’ loss to the Cowboys moves the Rams into the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoff picture entering Week 17

Highlights: Rams Top Plays vs. Jets | Tyler Higbee’s Diving TD, Jared Verse’s Fumble Recovery + More

Zooey wrote:

And Seattle loses.

Rams Bros.@RamsBrothers
Vikings win, the Rams clinch the NFC West with a victory vs. the Cardinals on Saturday night.

Just another outrageous play by Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson. pic.twitter.com/r9L62bqDj5

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 22, 2024

What a play by Omar Speights!

📺: @NFLonCBS | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/pLEmVHpFjI

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 22, 2024

J.B. Long@JB_Long
LA surrenders fewer than 10 points in consecutive games for first time since 2015. Only the 3rd time in the last 30 seasons of Rams football that’s been done. (via NFL Research)

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
The Rams offensive line allowed zero sacks for the third-straight game, marking the second-longest streak in franchise history and the first time they’ve accomplished the feat since 2013.

Rams Bros.@RamsBrothers
Offensive line health is the most important aspect of a Sean McVay offense.

His only losing season came when the Rams broke the record for most unique offensive line combinations back in 2022. Context matters.

J.B. Long@JB_Long
Most 100-yard rushing games since 2023
via NFL Research

Derrick Henry – 11
Saquon Barkley – 11
Kyren Williams – 10

*23 carries, 122 yds, TD today

Ramblin’ Fan@RamblinFan
Omar Speights for a HUGE run stuff, stopping the Jets on 4th down and 1 yard to go on their 33-yard line.

The Arizona Cardinals have been eliminated from playoff contention. pic.twitter.com/MZmBN4p72m

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 22, 2024

The San Francisco 49ers have been eliminated from playoff contention. pic.twitter.com/vdrvZ5NufM

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 22, 2024

Geoff Schwartz@geoffschwartz
The last five Panthers games

Lost to Chiefs by 3 as time expired
Lost to Bucs in overtime
Lost to Eagles on a dropped pass
Blowout L to Cowboys
Up 20-3 and then 30-20 w/12 minutes left … but WIN in overtime.

Good for the Panthers

canadaram wrote:

Nice recovery by Whittington on the muffed punt.

Whittington had 2 great plays on special teams. The first was to tip the punt out of the endzone so the Jets started on their 1. Then as you mention, the recovery.

That was the thing about him at Texas. He was known as a special teams ace on every STs unit there. So he would block, cover, and run returns.

Nice to see all that translating to the pros.

Shoutout to the special teams 🤌

📺: @NFLonCBS | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/LTv2V0W9VI

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 22, 2024

I mean come on. Jared Verse doubled — fair enough. Goes to ground– that happens. But he STILL stops the play. A little assist from Rozeboom, but this is Verse's play slowing enough for CR to get ankle.

Jets had this blocked. Fiske was hooked…and they get a 1 yard gain. pic.twitter.com/AGaI1PkkfI

— Jim Youngblood 53 (@53_jim70721) December 22, 2024