roberto clemente@rclemente2121
just how bad is this ravens defense?

headed into today’s game the ravens ranked #32 (dead last) in offensive points allowed.

the texans ranked #29 in offensive scoring.

the texans hung 24 offensive points on the ravens in the first half of today’s game.

Surprise! Trey Reed May NOT Have Committed Suicide

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/10/4/2346909/-Surprise-Trey-Reed-Did-NOT-Commit-Suicide?utm_campaign=recent

I have seen NO information in the trad media about the Trey Reed “suicide” on the campus of Delta State University in MS. I had heard that the MS medical examiner’s autopsy resulted in a statement that he died by suicide. However, this morning, my husband found the following Uniting Now post on Instagram regarding a second autopsy, paid for by Colin Kaepernick (which I didn’t hear about either). The result of this autopsy was announced last evening, and stated that Trey Reed died of blunt force trauma to the head, and. He was then hung from a tree after his death to attempt to make it appear as a suicide.

There was plenty of motive for his murder and hanging. Trey Reed was in conflict with some of the white Delta state students over Charlie Kirk and his role as a right wing influencer who justified racial bigotry.

.@49ers @RamsNFL @JaredVerse1 is talented; plays very hard and is improving…He is becoming a monster for any opposition. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/XuSmpwOaG8

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) October 4, 2025

Guys I am not buying the “beat up 9ers” argument.

Jones is better in that system than Purdy.

They were deep enough at receiver to contend with a team that is shallow at CB.

Bosa is not the only good defensive player they have.

Saleh and Shanahan have long known how to play the McVay Rams.

Rams had no answer for McCaffrey as a receiver on short passes.

Their OL was less beat up than the Rams OL is. Their OL outplayed the Rams OL.

Given all that the Rams lost because of errors (and a dirty play–KW fumbled on the 1 because a defender hauled off and slugged him in the face…though having said that, again, the Rams lost because of their own errors).

But they did not lose to a horribly beat up team. Jones alone was enough to make them competitive.

Trent vs. Verse was a matchup between two heavy-hitters that did not disappoint. Verse's power on full display here for the rare HQ pressure pic.twitter.com/2BImbRXQDr

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) October 3, 2025

Trent Williams & Jared Verse had 12x 1v1 reps in WK5 in what was an epic battle between high-level players who are 13 years apart in age. There's a mutual respect between the future HOF LT & 2024 DROY that is really cool to see as well.

Full breakdown: https://t.co/SC3fcWvQBz pic.twitter.com/6JOd06L0j2

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) October 3, 2025

Best George Foreman impersonation in NFL pic.twitter.com/y9TS4wr3Sk

— Jim Youngblood 53 (@53_jim70721) October 3, 2025

I'm not usually that guy but what the fuck is this?pic.twitter.com/TAHbJHMYCC

— Rams Fans United (@RamsFansUnited) October 3, 2025

Matthew Stafford makes throws that other professional QBs can only DREAM of.
pic.twitter.com/ZqEJQ6VW7K

— John Frascella (Football) (@NFLFrascella) October 3, 2025

McVay is sick. I’m sick. We’re all sick. Things need to change. pic.twitter.com/4LOGljiwxz

— nat 🪬 (@habibiting) October 3, 2025

In loss to 49ers, Rams put the game in Matthew Stafford’s hands — until they didn’t

Nate Atkins

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6685843/2025/10/03/rams-matthew-stafford-loss-49ers/?source=emp_shared_article

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Just after Matthew Stafford placed the ball in Kyren Williams’ arms on fourth-and-1 and the running back fell short as the two lines converged, San Francisco 49ers players ran on the field to celebrate an overtime victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

The mood in the home locker room at SoFi Stadium was not one of stunned silence. It was anger, fury and a whole lot of regret.

“(Bleeping, bleeping) team,” Rams wide receiver Davante Adams said on the way to his locker.

Players tried to talk through what just happened — how they came back from down 13 points in the second half to an NFC West rival, how they threw for nearly 400 yards to give themselves a chance to win, only to fail on fourth down.

“Guys are pissed off,” Stafford said of the mood, “because they care.”

Soon, their heads turned when they heard a scream. It was Jared Verse, the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year, caught in a stretch between the tunnel and the locker room and in a metamorphosis from competitive warrior to a man who had to answer for why his team came up short.

Then there was coach Sean McVay.

“The play selection was very poor,” McVay said. “I’m sick right now because I put our players in a (expletive) spot and I’ve got to live with that.”

It was a different tone than McVay and Rams players displayed after losing two weeks ago to the Philadelphia Eagles, when they felt some validation in the 26-7 lead they built on the road against the reigning Super Bowl champions. Though they lamented the mistakes that led to a 33-26 loss, they embraced the lessons the first defeat of the season could offer.

Thursday, against a banged-up 49ers team missing three Pro Bowlers, was different. This was anger.

It had McVay rushing off the podium, into the locker room and over to three wide receivers huddled together. Tutu Atwell had won the game last week on an 88-yard touchdown and had just reeled in a 38-yard pass to set the Rams up with this chance in overtime, but he was not in on the final snap since it was a running play. Two other receivers, Puka Nacua and Jordan Whittington, were in as lead blockers.

The four watched clips from the game on a cellphone in a locker stall.

“That’s my fault there,” McVay said as he walked away.

McVay often blames himself when a play ends in disaster. He did it last week on Williams’ fumble, too.

“I’m not going to comment on whether or not I was a fan of it,” Adams said of the call. “If it works, then I’m a fan of it. If not, then I’m not, obviously.”

On one hand, football has an adage that, if you put a game on the backs of your offensive line to gain a single yard, simplify the variables. Shorten the distance. And if you can’t gain a single yard in the trenches, you don’t deserve to win.

But this Rams team is built differently than many that operate that way. It’s built for a passing league. There are costs in a game of inches.

Los Angeles got to the fourth-and-1 by throwing 47 times and running just 16. Stafford was looking like a clutch hero again, as he did last week against the Indianapolis Colts when he guided his 50th career game-winning drive. He was threatening to do it on Thursday with his Rams-career-high 389 yards and three touchdowns.

The overtime drive included one of the best throws he’s ever made. He felt pressure from the inside, spun a full 360 degrees to his left, reset between the hashes and launched the ball 48 yards in the air to a spot along the right sideline, where Atwell caught it in stride and stepped out of bounds for a 38-yard gain.

The Rams put the game in Stafford’s hands — until they didn’t.

That’s where the sting will likely lie for McVay. He went with a football adage ingrained in the grandson of a longtime 49ers executive instead of the bet he and the franchise placed when they acquired Stafford at the cost of Jared Goff and two first-round picks. The bet that won them a Super Bowl.

This was the third straight week the Rams went for a fourth-and-1 and got stuffed. All three were running plays. The first, in Philadelphia, was a Williams run behind backup right guard Beaux Limmer that Eagles first-round picks Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter blew up immediately. The second, against Indianapolis, was a sneak where the Rams left the NFL’s reigning tackles leader, Zaire Franklin, unblocked to pull down Stafford, who notoriously struggles with the sneak.

On Thursday, McVay had Williams run slightly off-tackle, where he had blockers against a defense in a two-safety look. But those blockers included backup right tackle Warren McClendon Jr., No. 2 tight end Davis Allen and wide receivers Whittington and Nacua. Whittington made a quick motion behind the other three, and then Nacua, Allen and McClendon got beat to their inside as 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir came unblocked through the space Whittington vacated to pull Williams down.

“Sometimes if they line up and they’re a little looser, you may have a chance to have some sort of play-action pass on that play,” said 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner, who helped Lenoir on the tackle after swooping around Allen’s block. “But you could tell on that play by the way they came out that they were going to run.”

An offense can believe in making it obvious it’s running and still pick up a single yard when it has to. But that ideology usually comes with heavy personnel, like two tight ends or an extra tackle. Or with a quarterback sneak, like the Eagles have perfected amid a 20-1 stretch, a weapon the Rams know they don’t have with Stafford.

“I want the ball every time. That’s the kind of competitive player that I am,” Williams said. “I just have to keep the legs driving, run behind those people and get that 1 yard that we need.”

So was the problem the execution? Or the bet on the talents of the players blocking it?

“That’s a bread-and-butter short-yardage call for us,” Stafford said. “I didn’t have any problem with it. I trust in our guys to go out there and make a play.”

Said Nacua: “In short yardage, we trust our guys and with the physicality that we’ve been trying to adopt as our identity. I just barely saw the clip on social media, but I know I owe one to Kyren. It’s something I pride myself on.”

The Seattle Seahawks famously lost Super Bowl XLIX to the New England Patriots through the inverse of this play, by throwing at the goal line with a chance to win. But the pain of Malcolm Butler’s interception of Russell Wilson wasn’t just in the idea of throwing at the goal line: The Seahawks went against the strength of their offense by not running Marshawn Lynch.

On Thursday, the Rams went away from the strengths they are built on — Stafford, the game’s active leader in game-winning drives; Nacua, the NFL’s leading receiver; Adams, a three-time first-team All-Pro; and McVay, a Super Bowl-winning coach revered for his pass-game designs — to run behind backups and wide receivers.

And it was defensible: Williams has a hard-running style and was averaging 5.0 yards per carry. And McVay had just called a pass on third-and-1 in the fourth quarter, only for Stafford and Adams to miscommunicate on an option route. Perhaps that play weighed on McVay’s mind. But so, too, could have Williams’ fumble at the goal line with a chance to win at the end of regulation.

McVay had foundational passing plays to run. But he also knew the source of the most bankable plays, Nacua, was likely to see a double-team. And of the 14 previous runs he called in this game, every one gained at least a yard. But never was a run more obvious than this fourth-and-1.

Whether it was the play call or the execution, the chicken or the egg, a three-point overtime loss to a division rival is still a three-point overtime loss to a division rival. The pain is real, and it manifests in screams and expletives.

But it’s also just Week 5.

The Rams have details to clean up, but have a quarterback playing as well as any and stars at wide receiver and in the pass rush. They will have five more NFC West games, including a revenge match with these 49ers Week 10 in San Francisco.

They’re 3-2 with inches separating them from 5-0. Those inches are an inspiring, painful, motivating and heartbreaking pair of chapters in a book that is barely a quarter written.

Whether they become wounds or scars is the story the Rams will write the rest of this season.

Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
It’s hard to believe, but I feel good saying the Rams are capable of beating anyone. But first, they need to get out of their own way.

Fumbles, blocked kicks, drops, penalties. Too many mistakes made the last 3 weeks.

roberto clemente@rclemente2121
the rams defense:

dating back to week 15 last season @ 49ers, the rams d has given up 1 or fewer offensive tds in 6 of 9 games, more than 2 offensive tds just twice, held offenses to an avg of just 15.1 points per game, while going 7-2 (excl wk 18 when rams rested starters).

Brock Vierra@BrockVierra
The Rams have now had four kicks blocked in their last three games

Sarah Barshop@sarahbarshop
Sean McVay said the Rams “certainly did more to lose that game than we did win it tonight.”

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
“We had a chance to win it multiple, multiple times. Those sting and piss you off… that one is frustrating, the Philly one is frustrating.” – Matthew Stafford

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Matthew Stafford on frustration around locker room after OT loss: Guys are pissed off because they care. I feel like we had opportunities to win the game multiple times. We didn’t get it done, guys are ticked. I like that.

Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Don’t remember the last time I’ve seen Sean McVay this frustrated and mad after a game.

Brock Vierra@BrockVierra
Lots to discuss but Matthew Stafford had an MVP performance. He might be playing the best ball of his career.

Sosa Kremenjas@QBsMVP
Don’t forget, Kyren tried his best to fumble away a game last week too but got bailed out by a defensive stand and Stafford marching down to tie it up.

Easily could’ve had this same outcome vs. Indy.

Mina Kimes@minakimes
One note on the Rams’ failed 4th down att–their rushing attack is *very* efficient this year, but it’s also predicated on facing a ton of light boxes (for obvious reasons).

Against <7 man boxes, they’re 1st in success rate league-wide.

Against stacked boxes, drops to 19th.

Sosa Kremenjas@QBsMVP
Last 2 weeks:

Kyren Williams: 2 fumbles
Blake Corum: 3 drops, 1 fumble

LOS ANGELES RAMS

QB Stetson Bennett IV (emergency 3rd QB)

TE Tyler Higbee (hip)

OL Rob Havenstein (ankle)

OL Beaux Limmer

DE Desjuan Johnson

SAN FRANCISCO 49ers

QB Brock Purdy (toe)

WR Ricky Pearsall (knee)

WR Jauan Jennings (ankle, rib)

DE Robert Beal (ankle)

WR Jordan Watkins (calf)

LB Nick Martin

RB Jordan James

Zooey wrote:

Puka is not a cheetah. He doesn’t have that upper end speed.

He’s more like a lion. Plenty fast enough, and more powerful.

Puka Nacua is a lion. You’re welcome.

I think of him more as a land-based orca with legs. And arms. In human form. You know what I mean.

Anyway, back to your “cat fetish” analogies. Not all #1 receivers are cheetahs. There’s lions, and tigers, and honey badgers.

No sloths though.

They do the Rams at 1:42 in.