.@Buccaneers @RamsNFL @emmanuelforbes7 is playing great defense using his length; his foot speed; and his ball skills to help make the Rams the #1defense in the NFL after 12 weeks. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/tv56K2soyy

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) November 25, 2025

The best defenses at preventing TDs this season 📊 pic.twitter.com/b7PZt27YG8

— PFF (@PFF) November 25, 2025

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
Rams Defensive Grades through Week 12, according to @PFF:
– 1st in Defensive Grade (89.7)
– 1st in Coverage Grade (90.5)
– 2nd in Run Defense Grade (84.6)
– T-4th in Tackling Grade (72.4)
– 6th in Pass Rush Grade (78.5)

Rams are 10.5pt favorites in the early window this weekend in Carolina. Has plenty of potential to be ugly. pic.twitter.com/vJNXxNz19p

— Rams Bros. (@RamsBrothers) November 25, 2025

Pass protection as measured by two independent sources pic.twitter.com/8nM5uktXPk

— Computer Cowboy (@benbbaldwin) November 25, 2025

wv wrote:

How many people remember the intensity of the New Orleans vs Rams rivalry that existed during the Haslett days?

I do. Quite vividly. The Saints were always always tough in those days.

Blaine Grisak@bgrisakTST
During the broadcast, Collinsworth called Rams S Kam Curl one of the best tackling safeties…and it tracks.

Curl has a missed tackle rate of 5.5%. That ranks 6th in the NFL. His 87 tackles this season lead all safeties.

LAFB Network@LAFBNetwork
The top two highest-graded CBs in the entire NFL this week? Both play for the Rams.
🐏 Emmanuel Forbes — 92.4
🐏 Cobie Durant — 90.6
First CB duo all year to finish 1–2 in weekly grades.

Truth https://t.co/Bg23JRXXYy

— Andrew Whitworth (@AndrewWhitworth) November 25, 2025

J.B. Long@JB_Long
The Rams have an INT in four straight regular season games for the first time since 2018.

During the Rams' 6-game win streak, they haven't just scraped out wins, they've dominated.

The offense has a success rate that's nearly 10% higher than what the Rams' defense has allowed. No other team has a positive success rate difference of even 7% in that span. pic.twitter.com/8kO13fMtq7

— Wyatt Miller (@wymill07) November 24, 2025

Zooey wrote:

They noted McClendon was holding down the spot on the line just fine, and that he might be the future starter at RT.

InvaderRam wrote:

i’m glad to read about mcclendon. right tackle was a big worry for me going into next year. this should be a good audition for the rest of the season. especially with playoffs and a possible superbowl run on the line.

jay__D@ProminentKingz
Warren McClendon is the future at RT for the #RAMS.

34 snaps & 0 Pressures

Me (@”me.com”):
Of course that was against Tampa, which couldn’t get any pressure on Stafford. It’s a good start but bigger tests are coming.

…

Goodness pic.twitter.com/N88QLFm3AR

— Liam Blutman (@Blutman27) November 24, 2025

Rams look like the team to beat in the NFC after yet another statement win

Nate Atkins

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6832833/2025/11/24/rams-win-buccaneers-nfc-top-seed/?source=emp_shared_article

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — In a matter of seconds Sunday night, a football went from Baker Mayfield’s hands to those of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver, and then back into the air. Soon it was in the arms of Cobie Durant, as the Los Angeles Rams cornerback sprinted to the end zone and then toward the tunnel to take in the roar of the SoFi Stadium crowd.

“I saw him bobbling it, and in my mind, I was like, ‘I’m finna take this ball,’” Durant said. “And then I saw Baker Mayfield, and I was like, ‘Ah, I can’t get tackled by Baker.’”

Matthew Stafford was on the sideline doing a “Landshark” gesture with his arms as a nod to Durant’s nickname. Meanwhile, Durant’s defensive teammates were sprinting downfield and toward the tunnel to find him.

“They always run as far away as they can,” defensive end Kobie Turner said of the celebration. “He could have celebrated right there. He went to the opposite corner, so I was like, ‘I guess I’m going.’ I did the celebration with them, and I was out of breath. I was sitting down on the sideline like, ‘Please do not put me back in.’”

This is what playing for the Rams is like at the moment, showcased in a 34-7 win over the Buccaneers to improve to 9-2.

Players are getting worn out by their own celebrations.

And Sunday was a night built for celebration. It was the night Aaron Donald returned to SoFi Stadium for a video montage honoring arguably the greatest player in franchise history, the one who threw quarterbacks to the turf on a rampage to a Super Bowl victory in Stafford’s first season with the Rams in 2021. And here was that same franchise, remade around Stafford, showing the flashes of a squad that can get back there.

There was the pass rush with two-sack performances by Turner and Jared Verse, harassing Mayfield into a 9-of-19 day for 41 yards before he exited with a shoulder injury and his arm in a sling. There was the secondary, making plays like Durant’s pick six and Emmanuel Forbes Jr.’s interception, as well as 10 total pass deflections.

There was even a kicker performance, with Harrison Mevis drilling field goals from 40 and 52 yards for his first makes as an NFL player.

There was Davante Adams scoring two more touchdowns to extend his NFL lead with 12 for the season. There was Puka Nacua, racking up seven catches for 97 yards and converting a third-and-18 that would have most teams settling for a kick. But this Rams squad is not operating like most teams at the moment.

And then there was Stafford. He started the game 8-for-8 for 89 yards on the opening drive. He threw three more touchdowns with a 122.7 quarterback rating, including yet another no-look touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson. He now has 30 touchdowns and two interceptions, joining a list of quarterbacks to throw 30 scores with fewer than five picks to begin a season that includes Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes.

“He’s playing,” Adams said, “like the Most Valuable Player in the league.”

Add the different pieces up, and you reach a conclusion: The Rams are the team to beat in the NFC right now.

That wasn’t true before. Not back in January, when they fell just short in a divisional playoff game in Philadelphia and then watched the Eagles roll to a Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. It wasn’t quite true in Week 3, when the Rams held a 26-7 lead over the Eagles in that same stadium but watched it disappear in a 33-26 loss. Nor two weeks later, when the Rams hosted an undermanned rival in a banged-up San Francisco 49ers in prime time and made all the losing plays in a 26-23 overtime loss that left the locker room blurting profanity.

But everything seems to have changed since then, as coach Sean McVay promised it would that night. The Rams haven’t lost since. And they’re not just winning games right now, they’re dominating.

Sunday’s victory was their sixth in a row. Five of those have come by at least 14 points, with the exception being a two-point victory over the 8-3 Seattle Seahawks. The average margin of victory in the six wins has been 20 points, allowing the Rams to surge past the Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts to the league’s top point differential at plus-127 and to boast the NFC’s best record.

“I didn’t know we were No. 1,” Durant said. “But I know that now. That’s a good feeling.”

These Rams used to have holes you could pick, even when they won. Early in the season, it was about not finishing drives in the red zone, with a new connection between Stafford and Adams that felt forced. Then it was in ball security, when Kyren Williams fumbled going into the end zone in the loss to the 49ers.

Then it was about the outside cornerbacks after Ahkello Witherspoon went to injured reserve, as receivers such as A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Adonai Mitchell and Kendrick Bourne ripped off chunk gains.

Then it was all about the field goal unit that missed a league-high eight kicks through the first eight games.

None of those issues is happening right now. Williams and Blake Corum, who also had a costly fumble against the 49ers, have carried the ball 146 times since Week 5 and have not fumbled a single time. The cornerbacks have gone from allowing plays to making them, with Forbes and Durant both securing multiple interceptions over the past three games. The Rams haven’t missed a kick in the three weeks since switching from Joshua Karty to Mevis.

And Stafford has become a machine in the red zone, thanks to the use of play action and three-tight end sets, plus a growing connection with Adams on slant and fade routes that no defender seems capable of guessing right on.

The result for Stafford has been a chorus of MVP chants at SoFi Stadium and 25 touchdown passes and zero interceptions in the past eight games.

“Most quarterbacks can’t throw (25) passes without throwing a pick,” Adams said.

The two have mostly done their damage from inside the 5-yard line. On Sunday night, that expanded to a 24-yard fade route down the right sideline where Adams left the cornerback in the taillights, much like he did in practice earlier in the week.

“It was similar to what happened to No. 27 out there,” Adams said about Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum, whom he beat on the play. “Poor kid. He was the one in the way today. It wasn’t anything personal. It’s just the way it’s got to go.”

It’s not to suggest there aren’t potential factors that could bring this squad down. The Rams are currently playing without the two best members of their secondary, and with how critical Quentin Lake is to Chris Shula’s defensive scheme, it’s only fair to still have concern in a passing league.

Williams’ ball security issues have a track record. Mevis hasn’t attempted a high-leverage kick yet. And the offensive line could be one injury away from an issue after placing right tackle Rob Havenstein on injured reserve this week. That could be the one way to throw this 37-year-old stationary quarterback off the heater he’s currently on.

If the Rams trip up in the final six games, they could have to travel back to Philadelphia to win in the cold. That’s a statement they still have to make. But the Rams have responded to adversity emphatically enough to have earned the benefit of the doubt. Last week, they beat the Seahawks despite the worst performances of the season to date from Stafford and Adams. This week, they held Mayfield and the Buccaneers to 70 net passing yards without their top two defensive backs.

That’s what a culture like this can breed when the results start to follow.

“It’s a resilient group. A really selfless group,” Parkinson said. “You can see when anyone scores, everyone’s excited. Everyone’s celebrating. It’s a ton of fun to be a part of.”

That culture has Adams, one year removed from furious postgame sessions after Las Vegas Raiders or New York Jets losses, running into the tunnel after his long touchdown as a tribute to Bo Jackson. It has Durant trying to find the words through his postgame smiles, wondering what his mom will have to say about all of this. It has Stafford doing shimmy dances after no-look touchdowns and celebrating the “Landshark” on the sideline.

It has a team with all of its goals within reach with six games to go. And rather than fighting the complacency of these moments, they’re leaving even hungrier for the next score and next celebration, even if it leaves them out of breath.

“I feel like we’ve definitely made a strong statement,” Verse said, “that we’re one of the best in the league. If not the best.”

OptaSTATS@OptaSTATS
The 2025 Rams currently have:

the NFL leader in passing TDs (Stafford, 30)
the NFL leader in receiving TDs (Adams, 12)
the NFL leader in receptions (Nacua, 80 – tied)
the NFL’s best scoring defense (16.3 PPG)

They would be the first team ever to have all 4 in the same season.