NEVER BACK DOWN NEVER WHAT pic.twitter.com/WoBIwnBXLT

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) October 1, 2023

.

Puka Nacua is a man who needs to be acknowledged! Another amazing performance of 9 catches 163 yards and his 1st career touchdown in game winning fashion.

The rookie continues to prove himself a formidable threat on offense! pic.twitter.com/X7ZWUXUiGO

— RAMS ON FILM (@RamsOnFilm) October 1, 2023

Puka Nacua sets the record for most receptions through a player’s first 4 games (31) 🙌

📺: #LARvsIND on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Jq9JHUeqb6 pic.twitter.com/T0zSRK6iQ4

— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2023

Rams putting plans together if left tackle Alaric Jackson can’t play at Colts

DAN GREENSPAN

https://aol.com/york-stunned-swamped-record-breaking-050447090.html

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Things didn’t go well for the Los Angeles Rams after left tackle Alaric Jackson hurt his hamstring in a loss at the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night.

As they prepare to play at Indianapolis on Sunday, the Rams are preparing contingency plans if Jackson cannot play.

The Rams (1-2) held a walkthrough Wednesday instead of practicing because of the quick turnaround, but coach Sean McVay estimated that Jackson would not have been able to participate.

As far as Jackson’s chances to play this week, McVay would not speculate.

“I think we’re going to find that out, so we’re taking that a day at a time,” McVay said. “He’s feeling good and I know that’s what he’s hoping for, and that’s certainly what we’re hoping for too.”

Zachary Thomas, a second-year player from San Diego State, replaced Jackson. It was a struggle as the Rams gave up five sacks in the second half, with Thomas apparently at fault on at least two of those plays.

“He came in and competed the best that he could, but there were certainly some challenges as I think we all saw,” McVay said of Thomas’ performance.

A sixth-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2022, Thomas had played one offensive snap in the NFL prior to Monday. He admitted that going up against Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who had two sacks, was eye-opening.

“He was probably the first true speed rush I’ve ever had to go against in a game,” Thomas said. “Watching him on film, and shouldn’t say I’ve grown up watching him, but over the past few years just seeing what he’s done, it’s kind of unreal to just get on the field and just get in my stance and look up at him. It’s insane.”

Thomas thinks he will be better prepared if called on to play against the Colts. He pointed to the difference a full week’s worth of preparation can make.

“I mean, just being able to like actually get in the walkthroughs and all the practice reps and stuff,” Thomas said. “The past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing like practice squad stuff, which is great for training like physical stuff. But as far as running plays and stuff, it will have a lot more impact just getting to be in the huddle.”

The other option if Jackson is unavailable would be moving right guard Joe Noteboom.

McVay said Monday he decided against moving Noteboom outside because it would have meant changing two positions during the game.

Asked to expand on that decision-making process Wednesday, McVay acknowledged with hindsight it would have made sense to turn to the more experienced Noteboom against Hendrickson and Cincinnati.

“I’m not going to pretend to be perfect, but I will learn from those things and we’ll make better decisions if we feel like those are applicable,” McVay said.

There could be relief coming for the Rams’ offense elsewhere. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp will be eligible come off injured reserve next week.

McVay hopes to have Kupp, who injured a hamstring in training camp, return to practice and start the 21-day window to put him on the active roster.

“We want him to be able to return to performance at the level that he’s capable of and so we’re continuing to take it a day at a time,” McVay said.

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2023/09/28/nfl-expert-picks-rams-colts-week-4/?taid=6515d4723ba4d0000181c379&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

According to Tallysight, 63% of the 212 experts who picked the game are taking the Rams to beat the Colts. Unsurprisingly, 62% are also taking the Rams to cover the spread, with most books having Los Angeles as a 1-point underdog to Indianapolis.

In terms of the over/under, 64% believe the total will go under 46 points.

The Colts were without Anthony Richardson last week after he suffered a concussion in Week 2, but he seems on track to return this weekend against the Rams. Gardner Minshew played well in his place and even led the Colts to a win over the Ravens, but Richardson brings an added element of rushing ability to the quarterback position.

The biggest question for Los Angeles isn’t whether it’s Richardson or Minshew, but whether the offensive line can hold up against the Colts’ pass rush. If not, we could see a repeat of Monday’s game against the Bengals.

deacon jones on this play:

1. tips the pass that causes the interception.
2. throws the block that turns the pick into a td.
3. is the first guy to congratulate clancy on his pick-6.
4. is the first guy to hustle off the field.
5. 1967, deacon was 29. pic.twitter.com/oaytR7gR4E

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) September 28, 2023

3 Rams things: Sean McVay’s comments on game management questions and more

Jourdan Rodrigue

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — In a Los Angeles Rams season that will be unpredictable, at times chaotic and always interesting, we’re going to learn a lot about the young and older players (and their coaches) each week.

This week, coach Sean McVay’s game management is under scrutiny. Plus, more offensive line updates, and we go inside a big play.

My three things in Week 4:

McVay explains questioned game management

A series of puzzling decisions from the head coach, especially through the end of Monday night’s 19-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, bear expanding upon — and so does some poor situational execution.

McVay often takes timeouts rather than incur a delay of game penalty if the Rams are cutting it too close to the end of the play clock. Monday night, the events on the other side of those timeouts weren’t good.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked for a 7-yard loss on second down, after McVay’s third-quarter timeout, his first timeout of the second half (12:33, third quarter; the Bengals were flagged for a facemask and the Rams got a first down, but settled for a field goal three plays later). Stafford was sacked again, this time for a 10-yard loss on third down, after McVay’s second timeout of the second half with 7:05 to play. Offsetting penalties led to a repeat of the down, a Rams 5-yard gain. The Rams had just one timeout left at this point, down 10 points. From there, the situational football and game management got more puzzling.

With 6:09 left to play, and at least two possessions needed to overcome their deficit, the Rams had a fourth-and-5 at their 30-yard line. McVay elected to punt.

Why?

“I did (consider going for it),” McVay said Wednesday afternoon. “Just didn’t feel like it was the right thing, there were some struggles that we had had on third down and so had confidence in our defense at that point and so that was kind of the thought process there.”

The decision ran counter to ESPN’s analytical modeling, which believed it should have been a “go” call — and not just because deciding to punt cost the Rams 0.9 percent in win probability. Analyst Seth Walder explains below:

Walder’s model also found a 3 percent difference in win probability in the second quarter, when McVay elected to kick a field goal on fourth-and-3 at the Bengals’ 5-yard line instead of go for the conversion. “Only 3 percent?” you ask — but consider that the difference here dropped the Rams from a 51.7 percent win probability at that time, to a 48.7 percent win probability, according to ESPN’s model. These percentage points of difference in win probability may seem small, but McVay often says that games are won or lost in the margins.

McVay annually trends toward more conservative fourth-down and even two-point conversion decision-making, but he went for a goal-line fourth down against Seattle in Week 1 and got a touchdown. After that game, he sarcastically poked a little fun at himself for normally skewing toward kicking the field goal in that situation, but cited confidence in his players in that particular moment.

I asked McVay on Wednesday, what is the Rams’ process in such decision-making? Do they use analytical models, etc., and what is the conversation like although understandably unfolding in a very fast-paced situation?

“It’s a combination of some of the analytics, and sometimes I think a big part of it is the feel for the flow of the game,” McVay said. “A lot of it is, ‘OK, what is the (play) inventory that you would have, where are you at in regards to who is available (and) what is your injury situation?’ Certain models and metrics that I definitely believe in, but I also think there’s a feel for the flow of the game and then there are 22 moving parts — that’s a huge factor to me.”

Meanwhile, the clock and lack of timeouts became a significant factor after the Rams’ defense got a stop on the Bengals’ drive following McVay’s punt decision. The Bengals ran it on third down, wound down the clock, then their own punt team also wound the clock down to about 3:40 (the Rams’ third-down stop happened at about 4:30). Stafford finally got the ball in his hands at 3:34. But then on consecutive passes, tight end Tyler Higbee ran for the sticks, and not the sideline, and Tutu Atwell cut inside to avoid a defender and go for the conversion. The two plays took more than 30 additional seconds off the clock.

Stafford scrambled on fourth-and-3 and converted the must-get down, but a play later he was sacked a sixth time. The two plays took the clock from 2:43 all the way down to the two-minute warning. Stafford then hit Puka Nacua on a deep shot that set up the Rams at the Bengals’ 3-yard line. McVay, who had only called 11 run plays the entire game to that point (and just one red zone run), ran the ball. The failed run play took another 22 seconds off the clock.

When Stafford hit Atwell for a touchdown with 1:03 to play, the Rams kicked an extra point. This meant that they would need an onside kick recovery plus touchdown to win, versus an onside kick recovery plus field goal to tie. If they were successful on a two-point conversion, they would need an onside kick recovery plus only the field goal to win.

McVay said he did not consider going for the two-point conversion, indicating that he was playing for the tie: “We still needed another possession. It was something (where) we felt like, ‘well, let’s give ourselves a chance, if we do recover the onside kick — because we only have one timeout left in that situation, the field goal is what would have sent it into overtime. You make it a touchdown game if you don’t end up converting.”

Still, the clock doesn’t run during two-point conversion attempts. Converting there would have meant the Rams would have needed to eat up less of the field if they recovered the onside kick — they could have won with a field goal, in that scenario — and so could have made their dearth of timeouts less of an issue. The Bengals had just one time out left.

Stafford, on the other hand, chuckled while recounting what he told an assistant coach as the Rams prepared for their onside kick.

“One of our coaches came up to me and was like, ‘All right, if we recover the onside we’ve got about 15, 20 yards to get into field goal range,’ I was like, ‘hell no, man,’” Stafford said. “If we get this freakin’ onside, I’m freakin’ gonna gut ’em and go get a win, let’s get the hell out of here.’”

Not having more than one timeout to deploy in a two-possession game seemed to significantly affect McVay’s “go” decision-making.

The Rams were not moving the ball well Monday night, but could have used every advantage they could get — including those related to decision-making and situational execution.

Offensive line, in the run and pass

In pass protection, the Rams’ offensive line gave up 20 pressures and six sacks Monday night, according to TruMedia.

Starting left tackle Alaric Jackson is dealing with a hamstring issue and his status for Sunday in Indianapolis is unknown, though McVay said Jackson is “feeling good.” What won’t happen, if Jackson can’t play, is a repeat of second-year reserve tackle Zach Thomas playing on an island against the pass rush as he often was (with disastrous results) Monday night. Both McVay and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur indicated the team would devise a different plan, if Jackson is unavailable, whether that is moving Joe Noteboom back to that spot or getting help for Thomas via schematic changes.

The Rams also ran the ball just 12 times against the Bengals, a departure from McVay’s often-publicized emphasis on developing an identity through their rushing attack this season.

A deficit often prompts teams to go more pass-heavy. But the Rams have only trailed in games on 53.8 percent of snaps (No. 15 in the NFL). Stafford has thrown 126 passes, second-most in the NFL, while the Rams have run the ball 75 times (ranked No. 20, and 40 of those runs happened in Week 1).

Even in the first half of Monday night’s game, with the score largely even, five of six red-zone downs were pass plays and the halftime run/pass split was 8/15.

The Rams are also facing light boxes on 55.7 percent of their snaps through their first three games (and had the same percentage in Week 3), according to TruMedia, which means more defenders in coverage and less up front on a little over half of their total snaps.

LaFleur expanded on why — at least from the Rams’ perspective — they didn’t run the ball more, indicating that the Bengals’ pre-snap looks led the Rams to more passing checks (even if the post-snap rotation reflects a lighter box on the stat sheet).

“The thing about what Lou (Anarumo) does is they don’t allow you to run at times,” LaFleur said. “You want to stay balanced, but if they tell you, ‘you’re not running the ball here’ (based) on the punt-block type of pressures they’re bringing in those situations. So there were a lot of runs called that unfortunately had to get checked out of it into some passes. Some of the results were good, some weren’t as good. Always want to stay balanced, but you’re not just gonna go beat your head against the wall if they’re saying ‘you’re not gonna do it.’

“They’ve always, I’ve personally played him three years in a row now. … They have found a way to have a system, which I think is in alignment to what we try to do on offense and similar to what (Raheem Morris) does on defense, it’s just, in my opinion, a good menu. A lot of things start out looking the same and end up being different. They might show you an eight-man front with a nickel and safety up, and the two backers inside — they might bring both of those guys off the edge. They might bring one of them and play a Cover 2 shell behind them so they’re bringing a run pressure but also protecting the back end. It’s just a really good menu of stuff. They know that. It makes it difficult.”

Inside Ahkello Witherspoon’s interception

Ahkello Witherspoon’s one-armed interception highlighted a tough fight from the defense against Cincinnati. I asked the veteran cornerback about the play in the locker room postgame, in hopes of saving a tidbit or two for this column that illustrates how fast adjustments have to be made in these situations:

“Really, what I felt was (receiver Tyler Boyd) coming back to the football,” Witherspoon said. “Like, not trying to let me get the pick. He ended up kind of getting (the ball) for a second, and I was still, with that right arm, trying to tuck it because I had the inside edge. That’s really what made it one-handed, was his aggression back (to the ball), not trying to give up the pick. And so I just lost that other hand, and scooped it.

“I had inside leverage. I thought it was going to be really just an easy catch (for me). But then he started coming downhill, trying to almost take it away from me. So I just had to pull it out with one hand. (You have to be) more physical.”

I was wondering how many of you were paying attention. 🤣

Of his 4, two were tipped balls that resulted in a pick, and the other 2 could have been avoided if his WR (looking at you Van Jefferson) didn't round off his route on one, and actually come back to the ball on the other. https://t.co/mq0OC20FfO

— SeattleRams (@seattlerams_nfl) September 28, 2023

colts fans are no doubt relieved that kupp will be sidelined this weekend after the game he hung on them at their house in 2021 – kupp caught 9 of 11 targets for 163 yards and 2 tds (the third most receiving yards he's posted in a game) – beat the colts! pic.twitter.com/oBWChiJQO6

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) September 28, 2023

Mike LaFleur shared his take on the Rams abandoning the run on Monday night, saying the Bengals were essentially daring them to throw it.

So, they didn't want to keep banging their head against the wall trying to run it https://t.co/4rnCCKzXGd

— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) September 28, 2023

On paper, Rams are better.

Rams stats: stats after game 3

Colts: