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znModeratorThe MVP of the Rams/Seahawks game is this man.
Ryan Wendell had the OL doing work! pic.twitter.com/RCfD5bLikA
— SeattleRams (@seattlerams_nfl) September 11, 2023
znModeratorPuka Nacua and Tutu Atwell rise to occasion for Rams in Week 1 win at Seahawks
Stu Jackson
SEATTLE – As they had done at times during this spring and summer, the Rams would have to draw on their experience of operating the offense without wide receiver Cooper Kupp?.
Two players who had consistently shown up during those times were Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell?. Both wide receivers translated that performance from the practice field to Lumen Field on Sunday against the Seahawks, posting 119 receiving yards each in Los Angeles’ 30-13 victory.
“Did a great job,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said postgame. “It’s what I’ve been seeing in practice, and those guys gotta take a lot of confidence from going out there in practice and making plays like that. And, again, there’s a few I want back with both of those guys that could’ve been an even better day.”
Nacua’s day got off to a tough start, but stabilized for a confident foundation quickly. Although Nacua dropped his first target, Stafford went back to him and took responsibility for it.
By halftime, Nacua led the Rams with 5 catches for 71 yards and accounted for half of Stafford’s 18 targets at the break.
“Shoot, probably after my first drop, the under route,” Nacua said, when asked when he felt like he was in a rhythm and settled in. “It was like, ‘holy cow,’ he’s coming to be and I gotta be more – not that I wasn’t prepared, but I was like, ‘okay, now I’m on my p’s and q’s because I feel like I gotta be my biggest critic. I let the first one go. I was so excited, like, the first one, I gotta be ready, I gotta snag it, and of course the first one goes, we have a miscommunication. But Stafford, as I dropped it, he was the first one to come up and be like, ‘hey, you’re good, that was on me.’ It helps me to keep the confidence going, so a big help from him.”
Atwell had shown glimpses of being a playmaker at all three levels of the field last season, and it was on display throughout Sunday’s game. He hauled in a 44-yard completion from Stafford to set the Rams up at the Seahawks 8-yard line, which in turn set up running back Kyren Williams’ second touchdown run that helped the Rams regain the lead 14-13.
znModeratorsuper bow era
rams wr – catches & yards in first game of career: pic.twitter.com/7dg5yRUe6a— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) September 11, 2023
znModeratorSarah Barshop@sarahbarshop“Puka Nacua has come in and he’s as mature a rookie as I’ve ever been around,” Sean McVay said. “And he is a physical, tough, strong player. He’s got a great way about himself.”znModeratorI asked Puka Nacua about this play postgame. Matthew Stafford hit him at the sideline with his sinker fastball over a “blind” defender. Nacua’s answer and open delight was great. https://t.co/cIuApXIgdH pic.twitter.com/CW3IFsBt2z
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) September 11, 2023
znModeratorLos Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks Game Highlights | NFL 2023 Week 1
znModeratorwhat a fun 3rd down design from the Rams.
look at how Tutu Atwell splits his teammates on his release before going vertical. pic.twitter.com/oLIva0jhd5
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 10, 2023
znModeratorWhich player gets your Week 1 game ball for his unexpected contributions to his team’s victory?
Graham: Puka Nacua. Are you kidding me? With Cooper Kupp sidelined and growing concerns he could be gone for a long time, the fifth-round pick from BYU was targeted 15 times, catching 10 for 119 yards in the Los Angeles Rams’ upset road victory over the Seattle Seahawks. He had three 100-yard games last year in college against Arkansas, Liberty and Boise State.
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue30 pts plus a second-half shutout on defense. North-to-south running mixing with the zone. Protected the QB. Long drives. It’s only week 1, yes, but it’s all in here – the small things done for months that led to today…Early look at TruMedia for the Rams’ OL tonight (sometimes these numbers can change very slightly). They only gave up six pressures on 38 dropbacks and two quarterback hits, no sacks..Also interesting to me was variety of blocking surfaces they activated, from mixing gap and zone running to getting tight ends involved (including on those sift-style blocks that get them a running start to their block). There was a physicality to them they had not had..The Rams’ 16-play opening scoring drive was about as physical as I’ve seen them play in years. They mixed gap and outside runs as well as running backs Cam Akers and Kyren Williams, converted tough third-downs (Williams hit an 8-yard run on third down and 4, and then scored on third down and 1)..The last time the Rams had two WRs over 100 yards in a season-opener was 2003 (h/t@sarahbarshop on the research assist).Rams defense is so young…a shutout third quarter like the one they just had will go a long way for their confidence. Seattle ran seven plays, 10 net yards.I’m still concerned about the Rams’ special teams coverage units..Dave “Softy” Mahler@SoftykjrLast time Seahawks lost a week one game at home: 1999. Mike Holmgren’s first game. 28-20 to DetroitznModeratorNever a good sign when your franchise quarterback says this after a game. https://t.co/hdI3JmmGJB
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 11, 2023
znModeratorAndrew Siciliano@AndrewSiciliano
Rams time of possession: 39:23Only TWO @NFL teams have 400+ yards of total offense so far in Week 1:
Dolphins: 463
Rams: 419McVay: “Puka Nacua, what a grown man he was today.”
Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Sean McVay on receivers stepping up with Cooper Kupp out:“I’m so proud of those guys, but I’m not surprised.”
J.B. Long@JB_Long
Matthew Stafford was sacked 29x in less than 9 full games last year behind a ravaged offensive line.Hardly touched today and was not sacked. Not sure there’s a more positive takeaway from a W1 win in SEA than No.9 flying home with a clean jersey.
znModeratorThe #Seahawks just got booed off their home field.
Rams 30, Seattle 13 only begins to describe one of the most disappointing openers in franchise history for Team Expectations beginning the 2023 season.
Here's how bad it was: https://t.co/QU6c5eiWJ0 @thenewstribune
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) September 10, 2023
znModeratorMost receiving yards for a Ram in their rookie NFL debut ‼️
🗣️ @AsapPuka pic.twitter.com/w7dESgrtF9
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 10, 2023
znModeratorPuka Nacua had 10 receptions for 119 receiving yards tonight.
He becomes the 4th player in NFL history to have 10 receptions and over 100 receiving yards in his 1st career game.
2023 Puka Nacua
2018 Keke Coutee
2003 Anquan Boldin
1964 Sid Blanks pic.twitter.com/tQWPtwUg0T— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 10, 2023
znModerator"I just love coming to work every single day battling with these guys."@RamsNFL's Matthew Stafford and Aaron Donald discuss today's win with @LauraOkmin ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/2OjpXp0cVN
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 10, 2023
znModeratorThis is incredible. pic.twitter.com/uRKjuH7oUd
— Rams Brothers (@RamsBrothers) September 10, 2023
znModeratorDK Metcalf just randomly shoved Ahkello Witherspoon from behind.
He eventually got hit with a taunting.pic.twitter.com/LRtyulWlMU
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 10, 2023
znModeratorThe Rams are…good?!?!
That was quite the win over Seattle, 30-13. Next up: San Franciscohttps://t.co/GAtM2CTfoi
— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) September 10, 2023
znModeratorThat’s a 5th round pick rookie, stepping into a starting position and catching 10 passes for over 100 yards.
Hats off to Puka Nacua! This 3rd down catch was one of the plays to help seal the game pic.twitter.com/IZSLxb8FOS
— RAMS ON FILM (@RamsOnFilm) September 10, 2023
znModeratorZooey, except for very minor things (ie. I think Jones is already “there”), we are on pretty much the same page I think.
Though you, as a Seattle fan, must be thrilled to have this one year opportunity to maybe sneak past the Rams a bit before next year when that will all come crashing down around you.
…
znModeratorI understand what the Rams did. They avoided a future cap hell. They didn’t have a cap hell in 2023–they could have done the thing they always do where they keep a few high priced vets by restructuring. They consciously decided not to do that, and instead to go through what Rodrigue calls “a partial rebuild.”
So now in 2024 they have all their picks and big cap space. If they had done the normal restructurings in 2023, they would have been close to cap hell in 2024 and certainly 2025, along with their stars and top players closer to their last seasons while needing to go through a partial rebuild. That’s the bad combo they avoided. They put the 23 team in the shop to avoid having it just fall apart in a year or 2.
In terms of starting rookies, they really won’t be doing that in 23. At most we will see 2-3 rookies starting (Avilla certainly, and maybe a linebacker and maybe a nickel back). Most of the new starters on defense are anywhere from 2nd to 4th year guys. The new starters, while not rookies, are however still question marks. But that’s mixed in with vets like Fuller, Johnson, Jones, and Donald.
Without Kupp, the offense has less potential, but it did make gains. The OL is not only freshened up, it is bulked up (a much bigger line than we’re used to and actually one of the biggest OLs in the NFL). If Jackson comes through, they found a solid starting LOT for the price of nothing, which is a major coup. The OL’s also deeper and operating under a new philosophy that mixes power with zone, and a new OL coach who is already getting very strong buzz (and I mean buzz unlike any new position coach I have seen for years).
The WRs without Kupp depend on operating as a group with individuals stepping up, including Atwell and Jefferson. Neither was very good in 2022 but the WR group could have some juice in them if those 2 do improve. They might even be decent, though without Kupp they probably can’t be much better than that. We’ve seen years under Spags and Fisher where they had nothing at receiver. This isn’t really like that.
What they have now that they’ve never had before is real potential at TE. Higbee can be good as we’ve seen, Hopkins took the roof off his development, and Allen is one of the top rookies on the team (he caught every target thrown at him in the pre-season).
So it’s not going to look like the 2021 offense once it got going in the 2nd half of the season.
Withoug Kupp they can’t be the 10 win team I was predicting but they can be competitve.
Following them this year will be kinda like following a rebuild team, but unlike a rebuild team they have at least Stafford and Donald. It just so happens that the position on offense you want to secure to have a chance in the future is qb, while the one position on defense you want to secure to know you have a future chance is DT (a dominant DT ups everyone else’s game on the entire D, because if nothing else he attracts numbers in a way no other position on D does or can. It’s like the old saying–some defenders can change the game on Sunday, Donald changes an opponent’s game on Monday).
Okay so how do you watch a team that is rebuilding? You look for signs of future good and take the wins you can get. (We’ve been there.) The difference is? This team at the end will have more experience for its 2nd through 4th year players, plus cap space and draft picks, PLUS it already has Stafford and Donald. Plus a still developing coach who went to 2 superbowls in 5 years.
So I’m going to watch 23 as if it were a rebuild, BUT a rebuild with a potentially much stronger outcome than you normally expect. Rebuilds are 2-3 years. This is just trading 23 for 24. But again in 23 I will watch it as if it were a rebuild.
This year–to make an analogy–feels more like I’m in a cast, as opposed to being bedridden for a long spell.
znModeratorPeople with Cooper Kupp on their fantasy team: pic.twitter.com/xf3gjXde86
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) September 9, 2023
September 9, 2023 at 3:16 pm in reply to: Seattle game … us, the media etc. … + broadcast map #145176znModeratorThe Rams promoted Brett Maher and Brett Rypien from the practice squad https://t.co/Gxt91PgSc0
— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) September 9, 2023
znModeratorWarner, Kupp, (now Stafford) etc. Some elite Rams have had injury issues that kept fans from really getting to enjoy them. Makes ya appreciate Aaron Donald even more. He had a long run of good health. There have been some Rams iron-men, havent there: Steven Jackson comes to mind. Of course Merlin had a ridiculous run. Jackie Slater. w v
Yeah good point. Plus Jack Youngblood (regular full-time starter from 1973-84).
Deacon Jones, after becoming a full-time starter in 1962, missed only 5 games in 10 years and a total of 144 possible regular season starts.
In 10 years, Torry Holt missed 14 out of a 160 possible regular season starts…but he did wear down (knee), and while only 14 missed games in 10 years is pretty good, it ain’t quite ironman territory.
znModeratorMcVay says this wasn’t a black-and-white injury where it happens and the player recovers as expected. He said there’s “a lot of gray” with Kupp’s injury, which is why he was sent to a specialist in Minnesota.
“It wasn’t the normal thing and there’s a lot of gray behind this,” McVay said. “I’m not a doctor, so I can’t really answer anything more about that. I just know that it doesn’t follow the standard protocol for when you’re reaggravating a soft tissue injury, trying to continue to get a grasp on exactly what it is so that he can get back to feeling like the Cooper that we know and love, and hopefully we’ll do that. As far as what that plan looks like, there’s a lot of information that goes way above my head that they’ve talked about. I think there’ll be some things that from a rehab procedure approach that he’ll start to implement, but it wasn’t like there was any sort of groundbreaking information when I sat down and got a chance to speak with Cooper this morning.”
McVay isn’t expressing any level of panic with Kupp out, saying he has confidence in the receivers behind him. But there’s no replacing him or his production in the lineup. And surprisingly, McVay said this was a scenario the Rams saw as a possibility for a while, suggesting it wasn’t unexpected, so they’ve been preparing accordingly.
“You wish he was able to go, but I got a lot of confidence in the guys,” McVay said. “This is something that we probably thought was going to be the situation for a while now so this isn’t anything new to us, but rather just put it to bed, not have to continue to answer questions. We want to be able to get Cooper back when he’s ready to go and in the meantime a lot of guys have been able to get a great chance to be able to develop, establish a rapport with Matthew (Stafford) and the rest of the group and looking forward to watching these guys compete on Sunday.”
September 9, 2023 at 3:08 am in reply to: Just a thread for different kindsa interesting things #145169znModeratorI hugged him the night he died. He was supposed to join us in Tunisia for a role in the Life of Brian. A very sweet man. https://t.co/30T0KMfpr9
— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) September 8, 2023
znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Rams WR Cooper Kupp is out Sunday while dealing with a hamstring situation that has “a lot of gray” to it. Team seeking more clarity, including possibility of nerve issue or indeed a soft-tissue injury.I asked about this today because it seemed notable that McVay said Monday the situation does not align with some of the things that happen “relative to a standard hamstring strain.” Something to keep an eye on..
To be clear – saying here this response matches comments from earlier that the injury was a setback, not two separate incidentsSeptember 8, 2023 at 7:19 pm in reply to: Seattle game … us, the media etc. … + broadcast map #145166znModeratorJourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Sean McVay says it’s a possibility that Cooper Kupp, Stetson Bennett and Hunter Long go on injured reserve, the designation of which would be formalized on Saturday if it happens.
“Definite possibility” is the phrasing here.
September 8, 2023 at 6:22 pm in reply to: Seattle game … us, the media etc. … + broadcast map #145165znModeratorCooper Kupp, Stetson Bennett + Hunter Long ruled out for Week 1. @CedarsSinai Injury Report. ⤵️
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 8, 2023
September 8, 2023 at 6:08 pm in reply to: the 2023 OL thread (w/ definitive article posted on 5/30) #145164znModeratorSean McVay said "there's a good chance" of Joe Noteboom starting at RG on Sunday.
— Stu Jackson (@StuJRams) September 8, 2023
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