.@RamsNFL Mathew Stafford had a pretty easy day at the @SoFiStadium office. No need to get his jersey washed; he was barely touched #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/jc4E0HKeFP

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) September 23, 2024

canadaram wrote:

The Rams’ top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft rank first and second among rookies in pressures through the first three weeks of the season. Braden Fiske, @RamsNFL (12) Jared Verse, @RamsNFL (11) Laiatu Latu, @Colts (10)

Wyatt Miller@wymill07
Braden Fiske had 6 pressures yesterday.

That’s tied for the 2nd-most in a single game among interior defensive linemen this season, in the company of greats like Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence and others.

Rams Bros.@RamsBrothers
Jared Verse is a heavy favorite right now to win DROY, per DraftKings

• Jared Verse (+300)
• Laiatu Latu (+600)
• Dallas Turner (+600)
• Byron MurphII (+900)

Best part, it’s just the beginning. Once he starts racking up sacks, it’s over. Hope you got your bets in!

PFF LA Rams@PFF_Rams
The Rams’ rookie duo in Week 3:

Braden Fiske:
7 pressures
12.0% win rate

Jared Verse:
4 pressures
20.0% win rate

Zooey wrote:

It’s going to be a while before I become indifferent to this clip.

wv wrote:

49er injuries

They mention the DT Hargrave. One of the breaks that gave the Rams a chance in that game was Hargrave going out. When he was in there he was giving the Rams interior OL fits. He killed several plays himelf. Things picked up when he went out.

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Sean McVay joked that the last play yesterday might be skewing their explosive pass plays allowed but removing that, Rams are tied for fourth most allowed thru 3 weeks (15, with 12 completions of 20+ yards). They are getting initial pressure but QBs working out of structure and

creating downfield is one of the multiple reasons here. 11 of the 15 were just over last two weeks per TruMedia. “Rush and coverage go together …I think we have to do a good job of rushing with integrity, not allowing some of these plays to extend. Some of them are individual

efforts…then some of them, we have got to hit home with a 5 man rush, they have a good design on and we’ve got to be able to play our techniques a little bit better…other than turnovers, that is the next indicator of playing really good – I don’t get really involved in the

stats, but the turnovers and then minimizing the explosives whether it’s the run game or the pass game and then creating them on the offensive side of the ball, those are critical factors for being able to efficient and execute on either side …and we certainly have to do a

better job of that.”

TL;DR multiple things are true at the same time + this should be fixable

They do the Ram right away (after the ads) at about 1:21 in a long vid.

…

The chaos Rams are back, this time with lift from special teams and Matthew Stafford

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5786798/2024/09/22/rams-comeback-win-49ers-chaos-matt-stafford/?source=emp_shared_article

LOS ANGELES — Because the football gods have a dark sense of humor, they decided to release Los Angeles Rams fans from two years of shielded eyes and agony while watching special teams all in one game.

Rookie kicker Joshua Karty hit a 37-yard game winning field goal with five seconds left in regulation, practice squad call-up receiver Xavier Smith’s 38-yard punt return a few moments earlier helped get Karty to the field goal try, and prior to that backup running back Ronnie Rivers converted a fake punt that eventually led to the Rams’ first touchdown of the day. Down 14-0 off of two “W-A-O” touchdown passes to Jauan Jennings (Wide A– Open) early in the first half, Matthew Stafford, running back Kyren Williams (who finished the day with two rushing touchdowns and a touchdown catch), No. 4 receiver Tutu Atwell and an irregular cast of characters — plus the special teams unit — mounted the biggest Rams’ second-half comeback since 2006 to beat the San Francisco 49ers 27-24.

Karty, drafted by the Rams in the sixth round in April, later told me in the locker room that he had not actually kicked much all week. Karty was held out of practice while dealing with a groin injury, and the only time he got on the field this week was during warmups Friday. It was about as cold — and cold-blooded — a kick possible.

“There’s a lot of trust from the coaching staff,” said the even-keeled, soft-spoken Karty, “there’s a lot of trust that I had to have in myself, too. I’ll be honest, it’s not exactly a confidence-booster without having a whole week of prep (and) without getting the rhythm and timing you normally do. I had to trust myself, and the coaches had to have faith in me, too.”

(Don’t talk about how Karty has not missed a field goal yet this season, by the way. Don’t mention it — a helpful tip from long snapper Alex Ward, though Karty says he is not superstitious, only “a little ‘stitious.’”)

“Holy s—,” said a breathless Sean McVay at the lectern postgame. Couldn’t have said it better myself, but I’ll add what he won’t: This was one of the most masterful games I have seen McVay coach.

Consider the following: The Rams are without star receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. They are playing their third left guard, Logan Bruss, who didn’t even make the 53-man roster the first two years of his NFL career, and a rookie center. McVay, who may as well have “11 personnel” tattooed across his forehead, overhauled his offense’s identity from last Monday to Friday to feature heavier 12 personnel sets — despite having only two healthy tight ends (both Colby Parkinson and Hunter Long badly needed in this effort) and no extra tackles to fill in in case one of them got banged up. Of his healthy receivers, McVay moved rookie Jordan Whittington into a fully hybrid role, using him as a tight end/fullback, particularly in the run surface, where Whittington ran escort and sifting motions to help create physical movement and space — including on Williams’ second touchdown (first rushing). When the Rams did shift back into 11 personnel, they mixed in lots of layered concepts between ultra-fast Atwell, who had perhaps his most effective game as a Ram, and veterans Demarcus Robinson and Tyler Johnson. They substituted and rotated skill players more than usual (because with a healthy Kupp and Nacua, McVay just can stay in 11 personnel the whole game — to be clear, there is nothing wrong with this and it’s very effective). Still, the Rams had not run a single snap of 12 personnel this season prior to Sunday.

“We knew coming into the week we were going to run a lot of 12. Hunter (Long) and I talked all week that we were going to have to prove that we should be running this,” Parkinson said. “We can run the ball really well when we had both of us out there, and I think we did that, and the offensive line played great and Kyren was doing his thing back there.”

Don’t look at Williams’ “yards per carry” average (3.7) to understand the real effectiveness of the 14 runs the Rams deployed out of 12 personnel. When in this alignment, their rushing EPA was 0.15 (this statistic importantly factors in situational variables on every play) and their success rate was 50 percent, which would rank top three among all NFL teams through the start of the season for overall success rate. The Rams, who started the season 0-2, have an average success rate of 44.3 percent and their average rushing EPA is minus-0.03 (all statistics via TruMedia).

Instead of McVay sticking to his system — his comfort zone — the Rams looked very different schematically Sunday (he even kept running the ball down two touchdowns). Further, the Rams had the foresight to install those 12 personnel looks in the earliest days of training camp, including Whittington’s role, before getting their “A” offense (with Kupp and Nacua) put in. Remember me, the overeager reporter, hinting strongly back then at the increased tight ends usage? Instead of starting from scratch during the first practice of the week (Wednesday), they were able to call back to concepts they had already tested and adjusted.

“I think that’s going to be something that we’re going to continuously have to do,” McVay said. “Because these circumstances are different than anything we’ve gone through. I think it’s a real credit to the coaches. … It’s a tremendous tribute to those assistant coaches, and then ultimately the players being able to step up and deliver in these moments. We’ll have to continuously do that.”

Stafford was as deadly in the closing minutes as his teammates know him to be. According to Next Gen Stats, the Rams had a 3.2 percent win probability with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter, before Stafford led the two scoring drives that tied, then won the game.

“You just keep playing,” Stafford said. “You don’t look at the scoreboard, you don’t worry about all of that. Just keep playing the next play, try to do the best you can on that next play. … Whatever the situation is in the game, up, down, tied, whatever, I try to be the same player. There’s no doubt that down in the fourth quarter with the ball in my hand, I got a little extra, you know, heartbeat going. But I’m excited about those opportunities. That’s what I want, I want to be in those moments. I feel like the guys on our team know that and hopefully they feed off of that.”

All of this was enough, barely, to patch over another deeply concerning afternoon for the Rams defense. The secondary was porous at times and didn’t seem to be communicating well early in the game. The first and second levels of the defense missed tackles and sacks. Brock Purdy could scramble for what felt like an eon, and McVay’s reaction to this postgame drew chuckles from a few fans the Rams allowed to sit in his news conference.

“Yeah, you guys are laughing ‘with me,’ it’s not funny is it?’” said McVay. Make no mistake from the buoyancy the win gave his mood, this type of defensive play will not stand in his building. That group, aside from veteran cornerback Darious Williams, is generally healthy. Yet it has looked unprepared and undersized, especially early in the last two games.

Let’s not forget, Purdy was without his stars on offense, too. George Kittle was a late downgrade to out with a hamstring injury, and Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey are out. Jennings caught 11 of his 12 targets for 175 yards and three touchdowns, and the secondary had real issues passing responsibilities to each other or executing plays. The 49ers dominated the possession matchup early (with the help of three penalties on a single drive that led to first downs, two of which were extremely questionable calls) and had the ball for 11:41 to the Rams’ 3:19. Two late stops (one of which forced a 55-yard field goal try by 49ers kicker Jake Moody, which he missed) and a strip-sack by second-year outside linebacker Byron Young were bright spots, yet their play as a unit feels woefully incomplete right now.

But hey, the football gods showed their cards to all of us in Sunday’s win. They choose chaos, and these Rams aren’t going away easily.

“I’m not into ‘improbable, probable,’” Stafford said. “The NFL is an improbable business, I’ll tell you that much. You never know what is gonna happen week in and week out, you have to go out and earn it, prove it, and we did that today.”

InvaderRam wrote:

i missed almost the entire game. but was boxscore watching it on my phone. what a comeback though. how many fourth quarter comebacks is that for stafford now?

36 career comebacks, tied for 5th all time with Drew Brees.

According to PFR, it’s his 7th as a Ram, counting the post-season.

Not counting game winning drives, just 4th quarter comebacks.

He had 8 in 2016 alone, a year when the Lions actually went 9-7. That means of course that 8 of their 9 wins that year were 4th quarter comebacks (including 1 against the Rams).

J.B. Long@JB_Long
Kyren Williams ties Marshall Faulk’s Rams franchise record streak of 6 straight games with a rushing TD, which ended in 2001.

15 rushing TDs in last 15 games for KW23.

LA back within a score, 3Q: 21-14.

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Today was 4th Quarter Comeback No. 36 for Matthew Stafford, moving him into a tie with Drew Brees for fifth-most all-time in NFL history

Matthew Stafford also moved into 10th all-time in NFL history in career completions with his performance today

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
The Rams have deployed a lot of 12 personnel today but shifted back into 11 in the red zone, which signaled they would pass…but Stafford handed off once to Williams and then dumped him a little “run extension” YAC pass. Smart plan there gets the Rams on the board.

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
49ers K Jake Moody’s 55-yard field goal attempt MISSED wide left.

Rams took over at their own 45 with 2:43 left

Matthew Stafford launched a 50-yard completion to Tutu Atwell the very next play. Wow

San Francisco 49ers vs. Los Angeles Rams Game Highlights | NFL 2024 Season Week 3