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znModeratorJust an observation.
The Rams went blow for blow, shot for shot, and fought these same Ravens for 70 minutes in Baltimore two weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/l6TE18Efvc
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) December 26, 2023
znModeratorznModeratorJason La Canfora@JasonLaCanforaThat was as emphatic as it gets. 49ers better have big Trent for the playoffs or they might not even be the best NFC team in California these days. they definitely don’t have the best QB in the NFC Westright now.Scoot@_SC00T
NFC West QBs vs Baltimore RavensBrock Purdy: 18/32 (56.2%), 255 yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs, 42.6 Passer Rating
Geno Smith: 13/28 (46.4%), 157 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 49.3 Passer Rating
Matthew Stafford: 23/41 (56%), 294 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 103.1 Passer Rating
znModeratorLamar Jackson, HOW 🤯
pic.twitter.com/Tfif1ORkbS— PFF (@PFF) December 26, 2023
znModeratorGus Edwards 4th-down TD run to put Baltimore ahead following the turnover. 💪
(Via: NFL, ESPN)pic.twitter.com/EcI0lGmLL2
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) December 26, 2023
znModeratorNick Wagoner@nwagonerPick No. 3 for #49ers QB Brock Purdy on a play that was already all but dead and going to come back for a chop block penalty. Another bad decision. Ravens have first down at Niners’ 19.znModeratorNick Wagoner@nwagoner
This is the first time in his young career that #49ers QB Brock Purdy has thrown multiple interceptions in the first half of a game.Purdy had never thrown a pick when targeting Deebo entering tonight. Both of these picks were for him.
Louis Riddick@LRiddickESPN
#Ravens #49ers secondary’s making plays man…gonna be that kind of grind it out night for both QB’sNick Wagoner@nwagoner
A hell of a play by Ravens DB Brandon Stephens, who reacts to the screen for Deebo by deflecting it into the air and into the arms of Marlon Humphrey.That’s the second interception of the night for #49ers QB Brock Purdy.
Ted Nguyen@FB_FilmAnalysis
Good read by Purdy reading the CB blitz. Incredible play to tip it and intercept it by the Ravens defense…
10-5 Ravens halfway through the 2nd quarter.
znModeratorHeath Cummings@heathcummingssrThat’s one of the worst halves any team has played this season. Chiefs got their tails kicked schematically and physically..Field Yates@FieldYatesI didn’t think I’d ever see an offense with Patrick Mahomes look like this for nearly a full season. KC led the league in yards and points last year and returned 7 of its top 8 rushers plus 10 of its top 11 receivers (with Rashee Rice added)..trey wingo@wingozThat was arguably the worst half of Patrick Mahomes careerznModeratorMike Sando, from https://theathletic.com/5159714/2023/12/25/nfl-biggest-surprises-tom-brady-baker-mayfield/
Top quarterbacks miss more games than at any time in recent memory.
Michigan Law student Jake Grossman produced the chart below showing what percentage of games Tier 1 and Tier 1-2 quarterbacks have played each season since 2014, the year my Quarterback Tiers survey debuted. The rates are lower this season than in any other. With so many other established quarterbacks retiring in recent seasons, offensive production is hurting.
znModeratorinsane cut from Jahmyr Gibbs
21 has to think he teleported pic.twitter.com/tBf4NFUtBc
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) December 25, 2023
znModeratorI am up to date on the latest meditation/curse techniques.
See? Goes to show. As I am always telling young people. never underestimate the value of a good education.
znModeratorWe have ourselves a damn good storyline going on right in front of us. This has been a famously fun season, and the future looks pretty goddam good.
Yeah starting with the Arizona game after the bye, this has been a great offensive team with Stafford playing brilliantly, and Kyren Wms giving them a top notch running game. The defense is scrappy and comes through enough to make a difference even though it isn’t consistently a top defense. The Cleveland and Baltimore games sealed it.
We know what the flaws are on this team but they can address that next year. At least a lot of it anyway.
I’ve enjoyed this run of games as much as any other we’ve seen in the past. It has the same “we weren’t expecting this” feeling that 99 did.
znModeratorJoe Flacco for MVP
pic.twitter.com/VqZ7OUvqfN— PFF (@PFF) December 24, 2023
znModeratorI can't believe I missed this when it happened.
When the Chargers signed Sebastian Joseph-Day to an $8M APY contract that they terminated via this tweet, it created a 5th round 2023 compensatory pick for their intrastadium rival in the Rams.
LAR drafted this guy with that pick: https://t.co/afhgzb3rP9 pic.twitter.com/NJBRVbM4Se
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) December 24, 2023
znModeratorPuka Nacua shows why he’s in Offensive ROY conversation in prime time as Rams keep rolling
Jourdan Rodrigue
INGLEWOOD, Calif — There weren’t many people out there left for rookie receiver Puka Nacua to surprise, but he blew the doors off his prime-time moment anyway.
Nacua, who finished the Los Angeles Rams’ 30-22 win Thursday night against the New Orleans Saints with a career-high 164 receiving yards (180 total scrimmage yards), is now just 146 yards away from matching Bill Groman’s all-time rookie receiving record (1,473 yards). Nacua is squarely in the Offensive Rookie of the Year conversation, or he should and likely will be because any pundit with a pulse was watching him jet-sweep around defensive linemen and shake off defensive backs and stretch for catches and block down on safeties in the run game all night.
“He’s outstanding,” coach Sean McVay said after the game. “I could not be more grateful for the contributions … you guys have seen it week in and week out. You talk about that (run/pass) balance, you can’t have that balance if you don’t have receivers who are willing to dig out support and do some of the things that he does. You see around the league, (Houston Texans quarterback C.J.) Stroud has had a great year, but this guy … he would get my vote. He’s really special.
“But the best part about him is, he doesn’t worry about those things. He worries about being a great teammate.”
That the 164 receiving yards and a touchdown — the latter of which was on the Rams’ game-opening fourth-and-goal from the 2 — is just a yard better than Nacua’s Week 4 game against the Colts, or just 10 yards better than his Week 7 game against the Steelers is a reminder that Nacua has been doing this all … dang … year … whether people were watching the games the entire time, or still cracking jokes about the general anonymity of the Rams’ 2023 roster.
The fact is, the Rams went from a team nobody knew to a team nobody wants to play.
Memorable moments for Nacua on Thursday night included a 17-yard catch on third-and-6 on the Rams’ 14-play, 95-yard opening drive. He added a 28-yard catch in the second quarter, 10 yards of which came after the catch, and a 41-yarder in the third. Nacua accounted for six of the Rams’ 10 most productive plays.
He is also growing in the little details each week. He went from the zone-beating first read of Matthew Stafford in an historically productive start to the season (filling in for longtime star Cooper Kupp) to a receiver who has moves — like, NFL moves such as long speed on vertical routes or the little shoulder shakes and ankle-breaking pivots that help shake and spin around defenders for more yards after the catch. A third-and-1 that gained 29 yards down the sideline, 19 of which were with the ball in Nacua’s hands, showed how far he has come in just a short time (and from an already impressive start).
The Rams have a 72 percent shot at the playoffs now, according to the New York Times tracker. Nacua is a huge reason for that, but not just because of his production. He also embodies an energy so many Rams players on this roster also carry, young or old. They are present. They are too focused on the work at hand — “work works,” McVay says, as I wrote earlier this year — to go anywhere but forward, because that is where their collective growth is carrying them. Some of them don’t know any better than to be wholly present. Some, like McVay and even Stafford, have re-discovered that as “grizzled” veterans.
“I’m taking (steps) right there with them,” Stafford said. “Every year is a building process. Sometimes you do it different than other years. This year is different than all the other years I’ve played. But it’s fun to go to work with these guys, (and) fun to watch everyone come together, pull for each other, work hard.”
There are still a few key matters to clean up, that have almost — almost, but not quite — done the Rams in over the last few weeks and even throughout the season.
Kicker Lucas Havrisik keeps missing field goals. Between Havrisik and other kickers the Rams have rolled without direction through their roster in 2023, they are leading the NFL in missed field goals and at the bottom in special teams DVOA. Thursday night, it was a missed 47-yard attempt that gave the Saints the ball at their 37-yard line. They scored their first touchdown of the day three plays later. Another special teams gaffe set up another all-too-easy score that made the game a little too close for comfort. With 4:40 left in the game and the Rams up 30-14, rookie punter Ethan Evans had his punt chipped and the Saints got the ball back at the Los Angeles 35-yard line. They scored a touchdown, and then converted a two-point try, just two plays later.
“I’m always concerned with things that we can improve upon,” McVay said. “We got to look at it, we got to be honest with ourselves in terms of the totality of what occurred. There are so many moving parts on every single snap, and we’re interested in being solution-oriented. So, there’s going to be some things that we’ll look at (and) clean up.”
The defense had held New Orleans to 14 points until that late fourth-quarter drive, including two punts, three turnovers on downs and an interception in their nine drives not including kneeldowns. The touchdown also drew a rare (though still delicate) comment toward the officials from McVay, because Cobie Durant’s jersey and arm appeared to get pulled during the touchdown catch by A.T Perry. Regardless of any possible missed call, twice in five days (and a couple more times this season), the Rams have broken down in one phase or another in late moments. That won’t fly in the postseason. It certainly can’t fly wide left.
“We sure make it interesting, don’t we?” McVay said with a dry smile. “Defensively, we played really well. It was a big turnover by (safety) Jordan Fuller, and then we gave up some stuff at the end that we’ve got to clean up and there’s a lot of things that we can certainly improve on special teams.”
But Nacua — along with a cast that included Stafford and Kupp, who are always cool at the right moment, dependable gains in key situations from Kyren Williams, who crossed the 1,000 rushing yards mark Thursday with 104 yards on 22 carries and an 82-yard/one-touchdown effort from receiver Demarcus Robinson — took matters into his own hands to ice out the victory with the kind of decisiveness usually more present in players with much more experience.
Nacua fell on the Saints’ onside kick attempt after their two-point conversion — “in the moment, every alarm in my body and my brain is going off,” he said — and then carried a handoff around the left side and up the field for a conversion just on the front side of the two-minute warning, staying in-bounds so that New Orleans had nothing else to help it on the other side. They had no remaining timeouts, while the Rams had a fresh set of downs.
“Great catch on the onside kick, and physical run,” said Stafford, “which was awesome. … He stayed up, stayed in bounds. Did all the right stuff.”
Stafford said it so casually, as if that level of awareness and execution is simply just the expectation of Nacua at this point.
Nacua, the fifth-round rookie receiver who doesn’t play like a rookie.
Who this season has gotten shoutouts from LeBron James and whose No. 17 jersey was worn by new Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani as he sat in Stan Kroenke’s suite Thursday night.
Who somehow keeps growing, keeps getting better and keeps inching closer to an all-time rookie receiving record that doesn’t even cross his mind.
“Definitely not,” said Nacua, when asked whether he could have pictured now being in reach of that high mark when he started his rookie season. “I was thinking about how would I be able to block well enough to get on the field, and if I was going to be a special teams player and how I was going to be able to figure that out.”
That is “it,” whatever you want to call it. That thing that Nacua has, that the players on this roster have whether they are on offense or defense, whether they are 10-year veterans or started the year as wide-eyed rookies.
And imagine what “it” — what he, what they all — can become next.
znModeratorMost sacked QBs this season:
Sam Howell – 59
Bryce Young – 51
Zach Wilson – 46
Russell Wilson – 40
CJ Stroud – 35
Justin Fields – 35
Tommy DeVito – 35— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) December 24, 2023
znModeratorramsman34
The DeVito factor is real. 64.4% completion rate – 1032 yd – 8 td/3 int. Very mobile and willing to run. Take this team lightly and you will get embarrassed. They have Saquon. They have Darren Waller. They have talent.’
It’s in NY and it will be cold. Kicking the ball there will be a greater challenge than it already is in general.
Rams need to be locked in. Hopefully they get healthy and work on the deep ball coverage issues and STs issues between now and then. Even though they technically have from yesterday until Tuesday off. I am sure the coaches are still working on those issues, schematically and personnel wise. Man that’s a long time to wait for another Rams game.
znModeratorat first i was all for bringing back dotson. but i’m actually wondering now if they should just let him go. re-sign jackson for sure. witherspoon too. robinson and shelton – i guess it depends on what kind of contract they would command. but i’d want to see if i could snag a big time fa on defense rather than all on dotson, robinson, and shelton. maybe bring shelton and let dotson and robinson go. draft or sign an under the radar wr. draft or sign an under the radar olineman.
What happened was, over.the.cap was estimating the cap to be higher in 2024, and then they had to revise their estimation. 2024 will not take as huge a leap in terms of cap space as many were expecting.
But then as you point out, that just means the Rams have to make some solid choices–they can still add to this team.
Here’s what they were good at in 2023 and it’s not hard to assume they can keep being good at it.
- Draft picks. They have 11 in 2024. They could trade down and get a couple more. I wonder if they had a self-assessment on the personnel side of the office too, to go along with McVay’s self-assessment and changes. Avila is the best 2nd round pick in the entire McSnead era. If this is the case, then maybe we can heavily count on what a new 1st and 2nd rounder will bring. They’ve always been good at lower round drafting.
- “Ronin”. They absolutely hit on very good players other teams cut (Witherspoon, Robinson) or bargain-traded (Dotson). They can always churn up more surprises this way. Plus, this is a coaching/culture thing too. For example, it’s possible that Ryan Wendell is the best OL coach they’ve had in a long time, and they have had some good ones.
- High market free agency? They have some choices to make between keeping their own and adding someone new, but hopefully they re-assessed things after the disastroous signing of Alan Robinson in 2022 and they can make something work here.
- The 2023 draft and signings. Draft picks usually don’t do a lot as rookies. Many did in 2023, partly because they were just plain handed the opportunity, but then you have to wonder who hasn’t stepped up yet. Who else do they have? Bennett? Hampton? Tomlinson? Mathis? Johnson? For that matter– from 2022, Bruss? Durant? Someone who isn’t even on our radar yet?
- They’re more experienced. An extension of the last point. Think of the team before and then after the bye and how much progress they made. Well they can make even more before the 24 season. An example of this–no matter how good Nacua and Williams have been, both did have young player mistakes in 23. Remember Wms setting up an INT because he looked at the defense before looking the ball into his hands? 2 fumbles in one game? And Nacua has drops, blocking mistakes where he was out of position, and he’s actually not yet a consistently good route runner (believe it or not). So who else will refine their game some more during this off-season and coming summer? Jackson? Alvila? Allen? Zach Evans? Lake?
znModeratorznModeratorAmong the other traits we’ve been discussing w/ KW–it’s the jump cuts in the backfield too.
Anyway. Just thought I would put a bunch of Wms comments in one place:
I know everyone knows all this but I like finding the words for it. Namely: Williams’s superpower is in his play from handoff or pitch to hitting the LOS. Beyond the LOS he’s pretty strong for his size, has top contact balance, and is a fiercely determined straightline runner. He has those things but not the elusiveness, speed, size, or power. I mean he’s not just “a guy” in that respect but he does not have those things at the superpower level. His real magic is in those steps before he hits the LOS–vision, reads, instincts, anticipation, burst, smarts.
If you took away Steven Jackson’s body, with its size and strength and speed, you’d be left with his internal essence of determined will. In other words. Kyren Williams.
I’m just astonished at how he quick-slithers through traffic, and then bursts.
Williams and Nakua are, like, all-pros at this point. Seriously. Amazing.
In some ways Williams is the most interesting/fun RB to watch/analyze in a long time.
Im not sure i can remember a rb quite like him.
And my lord what a difference he makes. Combined with the new OLine and the new blocking scheme. I mean, some of these drives in the last few games have been glorious. The whipsawing. The physical nature of the running. The way the defenses are kept off balance.
And. Consistency, as IR says. A model self-maximizer, as BT says.
i would just add about kyren. first of all i agree. it’s the vision and instincts and burst and decisiveness that standout about williams. and i agree he doesn’t have elite size and speed and strength. it’s probably why he’ll never have any one play that just jumps out like todd gurley would regularly break out. but he’s just so unbelievably consistent. like a metronome. and it makes this offense run so much smoother. gurley didn’t have that level of instinct and vision.
Williams is a keeper. Great vision and contact balance. Makes a ton of good decisions on the fly, and tacklers miss him going through the hole. Lacks home run speed, but the Rams don’t really need him to do that. That’s just a bonus when it’s there. But I do think he can continue to give the Rams a lot of chunk plays . . . six, eight, twelve yards and a cloud of dust. Gurley was a legit track guy, like Dickerson. They had it all. Like Sayers, Bo Jackson, Jim Brown, Sanders, Faulk, etc. Sometimes, though, the truly elite backs don’t always work on the little stuff, and backs with fewer athletic gifts, like Williams, do. Strikes me as “natural” that the naturally gifted rely more on those gifts, and the players without them, if they have serious want-to, compensate enough to almost make up for it.
Maurice Jones-Drew
https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-rb-index-week-13-three-running-backs-who-can-save-their-teams-seasons?campaign=Twitter_atn
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Kyren Williams
Los Angeles RamsThe Rams have re-designed their run game to rush more downhill, which fits what Kyren Williams did at Notre Dame. It’s no surprise the second-year back is finding success behind a much-improved offensive line. Williams, who has great vision, burst and contact balance, is continuing to get better as the season progresses. After missing four games with an ankle injury, Williams had his best performance Sunday with a career-high 204 scrimmage yards in the win. He was phenomenal, making big gains with his legs and as a pass-catcher on screen plays. This is what the Rams need from their RB1.
znModeratorBobby Brown III high energy cheering.
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.@bobbyiii5 on the mic is truly the gift that keeps on giving! 😂💙 pic.twitter.com/ddlw0qcYXb
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 23, 2023
znModeratorHere they discuss the Rams at 2:28 in.
…
znModeratorKyren Williams’ best runs from 113-yard game
znModeratorVideo of released Israeli hostages saying Hamas protected them with their bodies when Israel shelled them. Strange, I thought they wanted to kill all Jews as self victimized Zionists claim.
Reminder Israel rescued ZERO Israeli hostages in 78 days but killed 25,000 Palestinians.
— 🫒Dismantle the whole thing 🍉 (@nada_chehade_) December 23, 2023
znModeratorfrom https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2023/12/23/24013335/rams-offensive-line-steve-avila-kevin-dotson
Back in June, Pro Football Focus ranked the Rams offensive line as the 28th best unit in the NFL. As recently as midseason rankings done in November, The 33rd Team’s Maxx Forde ranked them 30th.
Dalton Miller from Pro Football Network just ranked the Rams offensive line as the 11th best group in the NFL and PFF had them ranked 17th heading into Week 16.
DVOA has the Rams offensive line ranked sixth in the NFL in adjusted line yards. Adjusted line yards takes all running back carries and assigns responsibility to the offensive line.
znModeratorFree agency is not necessarily going to be the big gift many (including me) hoped for.
If they can unload Noteboom and Allen they can get up to 20 M more than the 40-something they will already have, but 60-something M isn’t going to be enough to land an impactful expensive FA plus sign all of the following Rams UFAs:
Witherspoon
Dotson
Robinson
SheltonPlus Jackson is an RFA
That list includes 3/5ths of their current OL.
The key will be the draft plus being smart again (as they were in 2023) about signing cuts, “ronin,” and bargain FAs. As for big signings–their own guys and/or a big market FA–they will have to be selective.
znModeratorBTW zn, I think that I take your game day work on this board for granted. I really like scrolling though everything you post here before and after games. It’s nice to have everything in one place. Thank you.
Ditto. zn makes this board what it is. Thanks.
Yes indeed, this is the place to be… thanks ZN
It’s an old habit from the Zine days–posting stuff, editing things. Glad you guys appreciate it. It’s a good community. I also enjoy our chat room. Watching a game while being in the chat room with old friends seems like 2 naturally linked activities.
znModeratorPARAM
Saints game
McVay called that great 95 yard TD drive to start the game. That was a huge statement right out of the gate. The Saints’ defense hadn’t allowed a TD their last 2 games.
znModeratorfrom Best 2023 NFL rookies: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39090951/10-best-2023-nfl-rookies-ranking-first-years-cj-stroud-jalen-carter
4. Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams
If the next two guys behind you in reception totals are Travis Kelce (80) and Davante Adams (76), you’re having a top-tier season. Nacua is on track to break the NFL’s single-season record for catches by a rookie (Jaylen Waddle with 104 in 2021).
Nacua is ranked ninth in the NFL in yards after the catch (437), too. If he keeps up his current volume, he could threaten the greatest statistical rookie seasons ever at the position.
znModerator -
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