Cam Akers returning to play in an actual game 5 months after an Achilles tear is simply an inhuman accomplishment. #NFL

pic.twitter.com/NMr9mfBREa

— TRP 🎙 (@trplive) January 5, 2022

Axel Kopun@FV_Mylia_Lynn
Was watching Inside the NFL earlier. Julian Edelman & Ray Lewis picked the 49ers to beat the Rams, Michael Irvin picked the Rams. Will be interesting to see what all the “experts” say this week. Hope they all pick the 49ers…

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
KR/PR/WR Brandon Powell is finally sticking to the active roster for the Rams, after his PS elevation allotments of the last few weeks. Signing officially announced today.

Greg Beacham@gregbeacham
Rams LB Von Miller: “I had never heard of Greg Gaines, but that changed the very first game I saw him play. … You talk to him and you see him, and he sounds like a substitute teacher. But when he puts on pads, he’s a totally different player.”

Michael J. Duarte@michaeljduarte
Sean McVay said Cam Akers was at practice today and was cleared to go full speed. “He was out there flying around and it was amazing to see.” Cam Akers will play on Sunday against the #Niners. The team will be cautious with him and presumably have him on a snap limit. #LARams

.@RamsNFL @CooperKupp is the #NFL leading receiver in every category but he is an excellent blocker and a big part of their success both front side and backside cut-off blocks. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/ethdW1Vcbl

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) January 4, 2022

Raheem Morris defense 12-4@BurnerTapia
Blaming everybody but QB1 for the interceptions is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Some of his picks are literally the worst throws I have ever seen. I promise it’s ok to be critical of stafford. It doesn’t make you less of a fan to hold him accountable

𝐣𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐞@LArams4L
Matthew stafford in the 4th quarter through 16 games:
• 72.8% completion rate – 1st in NFL
• 126.8 passer rating – 1st in NFL
• 11 Touchdowns – Tied 2nd (behind Justin Herbert 12)
• Interceptions 0 – 1st in NFL

J.B. Long@JB_Long
We just spoke with Sean McVay about how he’ll handle the return of @RamsNFL RB @thereal_cam3 in Week 18:

“I think you let him go. I think he’s ready. We’re operating with the expectation and anticipation that Cam Akers is going to make his (season debut) this week.”

alyoshamucci

Ravens

Tough draw for us in our extra game, but luckily they were without Lamar. Ugly wins are still wins. And having to come back on the road is a solid test.

The Great

1) New #1 in Cooper Kupp. 15 games with 90+ yards and he beat Bruce in 16 games.

2) Sony Michel running the ball. Gotta resign him, good thing RBs are cheap. Given the draft class and other pending FAs he should be about 3-4 million per … maybe less. I like that he doesn’t have much tread on his tires after being basically shelved in NE.

3) Beckham on 4th down.

4) Being -2 in turnover margin and winning.

The Good

5) I thought Van Jefferson was the most consistent he’s been.

6) Gaines playing through pain.

7) Donald has how many TFLs this year?

8) Von Miller popping up more.

9) Darious Williams PBU factory is back open.

10) Higbee being a potent weapon.

11) O line back healthy.

12) Both Passing TDs, Stafford and WRs.

The Bad

13) Hey Ramsey and Rapp, you’re on TV. That’s embarrassing.

14) The Deep INT.

15) Overall pass blocking.

16) Michel’s dropsies.

17) How many times we went empty set. Like … I get it on 3rd and 10.

18) Getting away form the run when we’re rattling off 6 yards a clip. I get that it might be intentional to hide certain formations and plays we’re saving for the playoffs … but if it’s not that it’s simply not the right call.

The Ugly

19) Stafford’s pick 6 … again. FOUR this year.

Whether or not it's the *greatest* season an NFL receiver's ever put together, hard to believe there's been a more *complete* year than Cooper Kupp's 2021.

Last night, we asked Sean McVay for perspective: https://t.co/L9XQGGIRqy

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) January 4, 2022

The Los Angeles Rams have the fifth-best odds to win the Super Bowl in the NFC. Who are the four teams ahead of them? https://t.co/qvuKNTGzjZ

— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) January 4, 2022

It doesn’t get more consistent than Cooper Kupp pic.twitter.com/NmNGJnCdNw

— PFF (@PFF) January 3, 2022

Aaron Donald with yet another spectacular performance. Watching him you just know you’re witnessing a living legend of the gridiron.
77 tackles (career high), 12.5 sacks, and leads all interior lineman by far with 18 tackles for loss. pic.twitter.com/l4hOHlOBDS

— RAMS ON FILM (@RamsOnFilm) January 3, 2022

wv wrote:

Its an OMG moment.

Either the KC players are slow, or Chase is OMG-fast.

w
v

JA'MARR CHASE 72-YARD TD! #RuleTheJungle

📺: #KCvsCIN on CBS
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/I7puZVAoiF

— NFL (@NFL) January 2, 2022

Here is the great 4th and 5 catch by OBJ. This vid has the endzone view replay, which shows definitively how great this catch was.

OBJ makes incredible catch on clutch fourth-down conversion

New additions shine as Rams’ latest high-wire act includes overcoming Matthew Stafford’s turnovers: The Pile

https://theathletic.com/3046865/2022/01/02/new-additions-shine-as-rams-latest-high-wire-act-includes-overcoming-matthew-staffords-turnovers-the-pile/

Rams veteran outside linebacker Leonard Floyd approached quarterback Matthew Stafford on the sideline, after a goal-line stand by the defense on a long drive held the Ravens to a field goal (their fourth such drive-ending of the day). Floyd and star defensive lineman Aaron Donald had just combined on a third-down sack; 4:30 remained in a game Los Angeles trailed most of the way.

Floyd held his fist out to Stafford for a bump, as the quarterback readied himself to take the field.

“Be clutch,” he said, simply. Stafford had turned the ball over in the first, second and third quarters — his fourth and fifth interceptions in the past two games, one a pick-six, and a lost fumble — and the blueprint ball-control teams had used on the Rams through a winless November after forcing early mistakes and a deficit was starting to express itself once more.

But for a second consecutive week, the Rams overcame a multiple-turnover game by Stafford to beat the Ravens, 20-19, in Baltimore. This week, Stafford had a larger hand in making up for his own mistakes when he took over in the fourth quarter of a 19-14 deficit, then hit tight end Tyler Higbee and receivers Cooper Kupp and Ben Skowronek in turn on drive-sustaining catches of 15, 24 and 15 yards (Kupp’s catch-and-rumble earned him his 1,801st yard of the season, good for the Rams’ all-time single-season record).

On fourth-and-5, with 1:08 left to play, November addition Odell Beckham Jr. made one of the more impressive catches of the Rams’ entire season, a strong-handed grab he pulled in through contact, and gave the offense a fresh set of downs at the goal line.

“I don’t know how many people in the world make that catch on fourth-and-5,” said head coach Sean McVay postgame of Beckham. “You talk about aggressive hands, being able to catch it away from his body, making a play when we absolutely had to have it.”

On the next play, Stafford hit him for the go-ahead touchdown, Beckham’s fifth in six games — and Stafford’s 42nd game-winning drive in his career.

But the game was iced by another headline-grabbing November addition, veteran outside linebacker Von Miller, who recorded his second sack of the day (and third as a Ram) on Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley on first-and-10 with 19 seconds left. The Rams held a single-point lead after a failed two-point attempt, and Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s booming leg loomed on the other side. Miller’s sack was more than a big play: It also killed 16 seconds because Huntley’s receivers were all well downfield and had to run back to the new line of scrimmage, eight yards behind where the ball had been snapped, and so prevented the Ravens from running multiple plays afterward that could have gotten their offense into Tucker’s range.

Last week, it took everything the defense and special teams units had to overcome the adversity Stafford’s turnovers put them in, to keep steady as the offense settled itself. The theme was all-too-similar this week, including on Stafford’s pick-six, which happened in a now-infamously familiar area — backed up deep in his own territory, in this case the Los Angeles 16-yard line. Stafford has thrown four interceptions that have been returned for a touchdown this season, and four of his 15 interceptions this year have been within his own 18-yard line.

“We actually had a miscommunication, we didn’t run the right route at the No. 2 spot (the No. 2 receiver) and that enabled (safety Chuck Clark) to be able to kind of trigger on Higbee running the out-cut from the (No. 3) spot,” said McVay, in explanation of Stafford’s first turnover. “They were in a split-safety (and) there was a hook player who was playing visually, I thought he made a nice play, but overall it takes all 11. Matthew can be better with the location, I can be better with the play call. We did have a mix-up, and we were supposed to have a different route from the No. 2 spot that ended up flushing out that hook player.”

That tone, or one similar to it, has been the road McVay has taken in all of Stafford’s multi-turnover games this year. McVay has lauded the quarterback’s mental toughness and play recovery down the stretch of games, and Sunday reiterated the crucial nature of the throws Stafford made on the offense’s final drive — while at the same time noting that they have to play cleaner overall, and Stafford would be the first to admit that. It’s OK, even fair, to consider both of those sentiments as truths.

But especially with two of the Rams’ major additions showing up big for them Sunday afternoon in Miller and Beckham, Stafford’s own arrival in Los Angeles and the substantial trade capital that got him here was again juxtaposed and questioned by many on social media and in traditional media through the game’s shakier moments of the past two weeks (echoes of a five-interception November). It’s different for quarterbacks; the stakes are higher. The Rams know that, because they wrote the proverbial check that raised those stakes in January.

There’s no question that Stafford has to play cleaner football. As impressive as this group’s resilience has been over the past two weeks, they shouldn’t have to beat the other team and their own errors, too. The expectations the Rams themselves set with the trade, and the major capital involved, is that Stafford lead them to a Super Bowl and this is not the sustainable way to do it, especially for a team whose build-model already balances on so thin a wire.

I can also appreciate that there’s a little more nuance to the conversation than allowed on social media: McVay believed so thoroughly that the previous situation was untenable that he welcomed the risk, welcomed the chaos Stafford demonstrates through some of these games if it meant that package also came with the arm’s other personality, the clear multiplicity they could build into their offense with it, and Stafford’s calmness in crisis, even if self-inflicted. There was not another realistic upper-echelon quarterback for whom to trade, and McVay both genuinely wanted to work with Stafford, and he was not sticking with his former one. Further, unlike with Jared Goff (whose own turnovers irked his head coach to no end), McVay is clearly fine with Stafford’s “floor” because he believes he knows how high the ceiling can go. Would we expect any other type of public comment from the guy who pushed so hard for that trade?

The issue at hand for the Rams is that — clear resilience of the previous two weeks aside, hell, calmness in all of the chaos of the last month — the blueprint is out on how to beat them, if they first beat themselves. The Ravens didn’t succeed on Sunday night, but it was clear they tried to implement similar methodology as the teams of November’s losses, each which featured at least one early turnover.

“I hate going over these, I’m tired of doing it,” said Stafford postgame, in clear frustration of his own play as he rattled through the turnovers — the pick-6, then missing wide-open receiver Van Jefferson on the under concept as he instead hurled one deep to Beckham and the three defensive backs in his area, then getting stripped in the final milliseconds of a third-quarter sack as he tried to step through it.

“I want to start the game better than I started it, there’s no question about that,” he added. “It’s a team effort (and) I’m proud of the way these guys fight, the way we stick together …

“If we take away the two, three, four mistakes, big mistakes we had in this game (on) the offensive side of the ball, it’s a nice day,” he later added. “So, we have got to do — me specifically — a little bit better in those situations.”

Welcome to The Pile. The Rams are 12-4, and on a five-game win streak as they brace for the 49ers, with a chance at the NFC West title and the No. 2-seed in the playoffs. Let’s start poking around:

Jalen Ramsey, Taylor Rapp heated in huddle

On the game’s very first defensive series, cornerback Jalen Ramsey and safety Taylor Rapp were clearly trying to convey something to one another but appeared unable to do so before the snap. Afterward in the huddle, the Fox broadcast showed Ramsey and Rapp exchanging what appeared to be heated words, before Ramsey made contact with Rapp’s helmet with an open hand. Teammates quickly separated the two, and they stayed separated on the bench for at least part of the time that remained in the quarter. It’s not clear what exactly transpired, but McVay downplayed the incident postgame.

“It’s two great competitors, they both want to do right,” said McVay, adding that the altercation stemmed from a miscommunication on defense on the previous play and calling it a fight between “brothers”.

“They moved on, they kept it going,” he said. “I don’t think it affected our ability to be able to move forward. These are two guys who love football and they love one another. … These guys are grown men. If you guys heard the stuff that I said on the headset during games, it’s way worse than smacking another player. This is an emotional game. I always tell people, ‘I can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I can always promise to apologize. These are things that happen. These guys love one another and I think this is just a part of what families go through. I don’t think it affected our ability to move forward as a team at all.”

The Fox broadcast showed Rapp talking animatedly with defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, while on the other side of the bench Ramsey did the same with second-year safety Jordan Fuller, a team captain in the defensive backfield (along with Ramsey) and the defensive signal-caller.

“We kind of just try to talk it out, (we) just hash it out in that moment, but we have bigger things to handle,” said second-year safety Jordan Fuller, a team captain in the defensive backfield alongside Ramsey this season. “We have game-plan stuff, adjustments and all that. … Everybody was able to focus and squash everything, but sometimes tempers flare. We’re grown men that really, really want to win.”

Neither Ramsey nor Rapp addressed the incident postgame.

“I think some of the most uncomfortable interactions I’ve had are with people that I’m truly comfortable to be real with, and then our ability to move on is what makes it special,” McVay said. “Anybody that I’m close with knows that’s how we are. We want to be able to keep that to a minimum, but I don’t think that affected our ability to operate in the least bit. … Sometimes I think it’s healthy to be real with each other.”

Fuller’s interception turns the tide

Fuller’s first interception of the season could not have come at a better time for the Rams, who were down 10-0 with all of the Ravens’ points off drives that started via turnover (seven off the pick-6 and ensuing extra point).

With 1:42 left in the second quarter, Fuller picked off Huntley on a deep downfield pass and returned it 34 yards. Three plays later, the Rams finally punched in a touchdown of their own off the takeaway, as Stafford hit Kupp for 18 yards.

As usual, the ‘Cooper Kupp extraordinary feats’ section

Kupp put together a six-catch, 95-yard game (plus the touchdown) that first broke one milestone:

… and then another, after a “vintage Kupp” catch-and-run in the second half that featured yards after the catch, Kupp breaking through a ton of contact, spinning, twirling and shimmying his way to any extra inch of grass he could find:

“Cooper Kupp, he is so special in so many ways,” McVay said. “I think the best thing about Cooper is that he just goes about his business in a workman-like approach week in and week out. … He just makes the plays when he has to. … This doesn’t surprise me.”

Kupp also attracted praise from former NFL tight end Greg Olsen, who was calling the game for Fox, on a couple of run plays in which Kupp could be seen, as usual, blocking downfield. McVay even shared postgame that a 35-yard toss-and-catch from Stafford to second-year receiver Jefferson, which opened the second half, was Kupp’s idea which he presented to McVay at halftime.

“He recognized how they were playing a certain coverage (and) he put that thought in my head,” McVay said. “That was, in essence, his play call. That just goes to show you, the guy is making plays every time he gets an opportunity but he’s also making suggestions because of the way he sees coverage contours and the way the back end (of the defense) is distributing to get us to some of the voids and the vacancies. And who else is making suggestions on a 35-yard gain that played out exactly like he had articulated to me? Maybe I should give him some of my salary, too.”

Bottom of The Pile

• Miller shared an interesting tidbit about his two-sack day postgame:

“(Ravens’ Patrick) Mekari, the right tackle, he’s one of the best right tackles in the league,” said Miller. “I played him earlier in the season in Denver and I felt like he got my number. I was telling the guys all week that I had a bone to pick. To come out here and perform well, and get a game-ending sack against a great opponent, it feels good. I had (Aaron Donald) jump on my back, Leonard Floyd, all the guys go crazy. That’s what you play the game for, man, it’s definitely refreshing to go out there and do your job.”

• Leonard Floyd ranked No. 2 in tackles on Sunday for the Rams defense (seven, plus a split-sack), but it was his effort stops against multiple run plays and his chase down of Huntley on a second down, right into Miller’s arms for the sack, that drew praise from McVay postgame. On the following snap, Floyd got the pressure that forced Huntley to throw the ball away. Floyd played through an ankle injury he suffered during Friday’s practice.

“This guy’s such a stud,” McVay said. “You talk about just a relentless effort, urgency, I love Leonard Floyd.”

• Sony Michel’s 3.9 yards-per-carry on the stat sheet doesn’t do real justice to what was really another solid outing. He punched in a touchdown in the second half that brought the Rams within two points, and his catch-and-run for a first down in the second quarter set up Kupp’s touchdown and helped prevent the Rams from getting shut out in the first half for the first time since … the Ravens did it in 2019.