from https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6671468/2025/09/28/colts-rams-score-takeaways/?source=emp_shared_article

Indy’s secondary struggles

The first time Rams receiver Puka Nucua faced the Colts as a rookie in 2023, he totaled nine catches for 163 yards, highlighted by a game-winning reception in overtime. On Sunday, he picked up right where he left off as he finished with 13 catches for 170 yards and the game-tying TD in the fourth quarter. Colts cornerback Xavien Howard appeared to be the main culprit of Nacua’s big day as the Rams repeatedly targeted him in coverage, including on Nacua’s 9-yard touchdown. It’s becoming a weekly theme for teams to pick on Howard, who did not play in the NFL last season.

For as poorly as Howard played, the biggest mistake from the Colts’ secondary was from fellow cornerback Mekhi Blackmon. The third-year pro fell down in coverage and gave up the 88-yard game-winning touchdown to Atwell with 1:33 left in the game. That was Atwell’s only reception of the game. — James Boyd, Colts beat writer

Stafford shakes off rusty start for smooth, clutch day

Stafford lamented some “physical” misses last week in Philadelphia, and it seemed like a bit of that rust carried over into this week. He didn’t target Davante Adams until late in the half. He couldn’t find a rhythm with receivers other than Nacua. And the Rams were having a hard time holding up in pass protection.

But once he got the ball at the end of the first half, Stafford woke up. He led the Rams on a 13-play, 96-yard drive where he was in command by targeting Howard wherever he lined up on the field.

Stafford got back to spamming targets to Nacua and Adams, namely with Nacua often guarded by Howard. It paid off on a fourth-down play in the fourth quarter, when Stafford delivered a strike to Nacua for a 9-yard touchdown.

Stafford engineered his 50th career game-winning drive and 39th career fourth-quarter comeback. The next play after Nacua’s touchdown, Stafford launched the ball to a wide-open Atwell.

Stafford finished 29-of-41 for 375 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a rating of 123.5. It was the best game of his 17th season and shows exactly why the Rams are considered a strong contender in the NFC.

And Nacua continues to be a star. The NFL’s leading receiver has topped 91 yards in all four games to start the 2025 season and is catching more than 80 percent of his targets. — Nate Atkins, Rams beat writer

A postgame video recap from the Rams’ crazy 27-20 win over the Colts: pic.twitter.com/UKQXF9xLMF

— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) September 29, 2025

They do the Rams at about 32:07 in

…

A postgame video recap from the Rams’ crazy 27-20 win over the Colts: pic.twitter.com/UKQXF9xLMF

— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) September 29, 2025

from before the game:
J.B. Long@JB_Long
The Indianapolis Colts are the NFL’s last remaining team without a turnover, after Buffalo and Tampa both committed their first earlier today.

***

Gary Klein@LATimesklein
Maybe the Rams should just always operate in 2-minute mode

NFL+@NFLPlus
Jared Verse recorded a season-high six pressures in Week 4. Three of them came under 2.5 seconds after recording only four such pressures in the first three weeks, per @NextGenStats

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Kam Curl rightfully getting praised for his two INTs, but had a strong game/stat line overall, too:

9 total tackles (tied for team-high)
3 passes defensed
2 INTs

Adam Schefter@AdamSchefter
Rams WR Puka Nacua, who had 13 receptions for a career-high 170 yards and one TD today, now has 42 receptions this season, tied with Cooper Kupp in 2022 and Michael Thomas in 2018 for most receptions by a player in his team’s first four games of a season.

Jim Youngblood 53@53_jim70721
Not just being a homer, but I think Rams just hitting stride. 49ers won’t be cakewalk, but Rams getting healthy on interior line … 49ers missing Bosa and all the others. I don’t think they have the horses anymore.

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
In today’s victory, WR Puka Nacua recorded a career-high with 170 receiving yards. The last Rams player to have 170 receiving yards in a single game was Isaac Bruce in 2004.

Sarah Barshop@sarahbarshop
Puka Nacua said he injured his thumb when he “got rolled up on one of the run plays” early in the third quarter. He got x-rays during the game, but they came back clear, so he came back into the game.

Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
Puka Nacua through 4 games:

50 targets
42 catches
84% catch rate (WTF!)
503 yards
91+ yards in every game
8+ catches in every game (1 of 3 players ever to do so)
2 TDs (1 receiving)
10.1 yards per target

As consistent as the sun rising in L.A.

KyTheRamsGuy@kytheramsguy
#Rams Byron Young now leads the NFL with 5.0 sacks this season.

KyTheRamsGuy@kytheramsguy
Jared Verse in the last two games:

🔵2 Forced Fumbles (1st since Sept 21st)
🔵2 Sacks (4th since Sept 21st)
🔵13 total pressures (1st since Sep 21st)

PUKA WITH THE CLUTCH TD 🫨

Watch live out-of-market games on #NFLPlus
Blackout restrictions may applypic.twitter.com/3qZPQu4PNo

— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) September 28, 2025

Kyren Williams just did Cam Bynum dirty on this run. Started pointing at him after a stiff arm.pic.twitter.com/qRCyhpHNrX https://t.co/Bzg5Bi9axx

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 28, 2025

Albert Breer@AlbertBreer
Colts are going to kick themselves over this one …

• AD Mitchell unforced fumble thru the end zone.
• Mitchell holding on the Taylor touchdown.
• 10 guys on the field for Rams’ go-ahead 88-yard TD.
• Penalty on the kick return before the final drive.

Brutal.

trey wingo@wingoz
The Colts today: 2 punts..and 2 Interceptions

***

me note: before this game, 1 punt and 0 INTs

What a fantastic TD celebration. Very happy for Mitchell. 😉 pic.twitter.com/dRdyWXeMvL

— RAMS REPORT🗯 (@RamsNFLReport) September 28, 2025

Wyatt Miller@wymill07
Rams win 27-20 over the Colts after being down late in the 4th quarter.

They advance to 3-1 ahead of next week’s Thursday Night Football game against the 49ers.

Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
The Rams’ two roster weaknesses are showing up again:

Interior pass protection.
Perimeter pass defense.

This team rolls on offense and defense in the other areas. But…

Matthew Stafford hits a *wide open* Tutu Atwell for an 88-yard touchdown pass to put the Rams on top.

Tutu has been waiting for this moment and what a way to cash in.

Crazy fun game. Looks like two playoff teams.

But the Rams rose up in the passing game and pass rush for Matthew Stafford’s 39th career 4th-quarter comeback and 50th game-winning drive.

L.A. is 3-1 with a short week ahead.

Sarah Barshop@sarahbarshop
From ESPN Research: Tutu Atwell’s 88-yard touchdown was the longest go-ahead scrimmage touchdown in the final two minutes of a game this century.

Jim Youngblood 53@53_jim70721
1. Rams played well.
2. Rams benefitted from a huge bonehead play
3. Run defense was excellent
4. Curl caught a couple of poorly thrown balls, but they Count.

Colts
1. seemed snakebit-dumb errors
2. Daniel Jones didn’t throw with authority, seemed off-, nervous, scared

Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Jonathan Taylor’s 53-yard touchdown run was brought back by none other than Adonai Mitchell due to holding.

That’s two touchdowns he’s cost his team today

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
OLB Byron Young recorded his fifth sack on the season in the first quarter and has showed up in the sack column in every game so far this season. His four-game sack streak matches his career-long set last season (Weeks 8-11.) He now has 20.5 sacks for his career.

PFF@PFF
Puka Nacua leads the NFL in:

🥇 Targets (49)
🥇 Catches (42)
🥇 Yards (503)
🥇 Explosive receptions (12)

TurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
Puka Nacua has 503 receiving yards. Puka is the first player in NFL history to gain 500+ yards in his team’s first 4 games of a season two different times in his career.

20 other players have done it once and only once. This is only Puka’s third year.

Noah Compton@nerlens_
Rams top edge rusher Jared Verse on #Colts QB Daniel Jones:

“He is playing his best brand of football right now. He’s who he should’ve been coming out [of college]…and you’ve gotta be respectful of their offensive line. They’ve got dawgs across their OL.”

The Rams' run defense has a shot to legitimize itself on Sunday.

Jonathan Taylor brings the same threat as Saquon Barkley, but the difference is he's gotten rolling already, with more rushing yards than 17 *teams*

Inside the matchup (and other ones):https://t.co/wjG6TyFyOI

— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) September 26, 2025

…

Rams defense will again be tested against Daniel Jones and surging Colts

By Nate Atkins

[link above]

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — Through three weeks, the only team in the NFL that has punted just once is the Indianapolis Colts.

They have lit up the scoreboard for 33, 29 and 41 points, respectively, and are 3-0 for the first time since 2009. And now, they present an early test the Los Angeles Rams didn’t know was coming.

Sunday’s game at SoFi Stadium was supposed to be a breather in a gauntlet of an early schedule that includes four road trips in six weeks, including last Sunday’s battle in Philadelphia against the defending champion Eagles, a Week 6 trip to Baltimore to face the Ravens and a trip to London to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7. The Rams also have a Thursday night home game against the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers next week.

It’s a unique game for me, as the Colts were the team I covered for the past four seasons, including this year’s training camp, before joining The Athletic to cover the Rams beat.

The Rams heard all about the nightmare of stopping Saquon Barkley last week. It was everything they couldn’t do the previous season, when he ripped off the two best rushing games of his career. Barkley’s four different touchdown runs of at least 60 yards inspired the only changes Los Angeles made on defense in the offseason, when it signed linebacker Nate Landman and defensive tackle Poona Ford so it could live with fewer defenders in the box.

The Rams passed the test last week, holding Barkley to 46 yards on 18 carries, marking his worst rushing total with the Eagles.

Jonathan Taylor is also a former rushing champion, but unlike Barkley, he’s off to a strong start this season. With 338 yards, he has outrushed 17 different NFL teams. He also hit the league’s highest speed for a ball carrier this season at 22.38 mph, per the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

“He’s a home-run hitter,” Rams defensive end Jared Verse said of Taylor. “You give him a gap, he’s going to take it to the house.”

The Colts have mostly thrown early in games to set up Taylor as the finishing act, but the Rams will be focusing on the All-Pro running back.

“There’s a lot of times, just watching on film, where he’s able to run scot-free up to the second level,” Rams defensive end Kobie Turner said. “That’s a credit to their O-line. They have a good O-line down there that doesn’t get as much credit as the Eagles, because the Eagles won the big one last year. He’s a super explosive back, similar to Saquon. He’s able to hit home runs.

“At the end of the day, we can’t let him get up to the second level free. We have to make him make a cut in the backfield.”

Taylor has consistently been effective on the field, as evidenced by his third consecutive season of over 1,100 rushing yards, achieved while playing at least 14 games. However, what has changed the Colts’ rushing attack this season is their ability to get out of predictable run-and-pass scenarios.

Last season, the Colts didn’t trust Taylor to pass protect and taking him off the field was a signal they were passing. They also signaled runs and passes based on which single-trait tight end they played, whereas first-round rookie Tyler Warren brings the dual-threat skill set to blur that vision from the huddle.

A surging Daniel Jones

The story of this resurgence has followed the one at quarterback.

A year after his release by the New York Giants, Jones enters Week 4 ranked third in the league with 816 passing yards, fifth with a 71.6 percent completion rate and third with a 111.7 quarterback rating — and he has yet to throw an interception. He’s played with a blend of the playmaking as a runner and downfield passer that he flashed as a first-round rookie in 2019, with the efficiency that once earned him a significant contract extension before things fell apart.

The key is that he’s handling pressure better than ever before. Whereas he had a 40.9 percent success rate against the blitz in his first six seasons, he has increased that number this season to 59.6 percent, which ranks second in the league, according to NFL Pro.

The Rams have gotten key sacks in two of the first three games from safety Jaylen McCollough, but they will have to pick their spots this week now that Jones has so many targets at his disposal, and now that Taylor is showing tremendous growth in pass protection.

“We put some stuff on tape to show teams that we blitz and we’re an aggressive outlook on defense, so it’s about playing and using that to our advantage,” McCollough said. “We’re going to blitz, and we’re going to play our game. That’s just how it is.”

The Rams have a legitimate four-man pass rush. They can stay creative with overload pressures from Verse, Byron Young, Josaiah Stewart, Turner and Braden Fiske, and by rotating the matchups on the edges between Verse and Young, as well as Colts tackles Bernhard Raimann and Braden Smith. Indianapolis doesn’t chip the edges as much as other teams, as it prefers to operate in 11-personnel and utilize Warren as one of its primary receivers.

One approach could be working stunts on the right side interior, where Indianapolis will either start guard Matt Goncalves, who has a toe injury, or 2024 undrafted player Dalton Tucker, who struggles in space.

“The whole name of the game for defensive linemen is, how can you affect the quarterback?” Turner said. “Are you getting in his head, making you feel his presence the entire game? He’s also sneaky fast. I didn’t realize how fast he was until we turned on the tape this week. …

“The big point for us, honestly, is earning the right. We have a tremendous amount of trust in what we can do on third down, and when we get them into known passing downs, but you have to earn the right. We have to stop their running game that has been firing on all cylinders.”

Colts’ spread-the-ball approach

The Rams’ pass rush is their engine for surviving the loss of top outside cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who brought a balance of physicality and playmaking that doesn’t exist in the same way in their other perimeter options.

Unlike the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans and Eagles, the Colts don’t have an actual No. 1 outside target. Instead, they were the only team in the NFL last season with three receivers with more than 800 yards in Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce and Josh Downs.

The addition of Warren, whose 193 yards are already more than any Colts tight end last season, has made it a four-headed unit that makes it harder to know who the primary read is on a given play.

Pierce could miss the game while in concussion protocol, but 2024 second-round pick Adonai Mitchell presents an imposing skill set and is looking for his first big game in the NFL.

“I see it as a good thing for our defense because everybody is going to get an opportunity,” Rams cornerback Cobie Durant said. “When the ball is in the air, it’s see ball, get ball, our ball. We make the emphasis all about the ball and getting turnovers.”

The Rams need to keep cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. away from Pittman as much as possible, as Pittman brings a size advantage of 60 pounds on Forbes, similar to what Eagles receiver A.J. Brown had last week. A loss of Pierce would eliminate Indianapolis’ one established deep threat, as he led the NFL with 22.3 yards per catch last season.

Colts coach and play caller Shane Steichen lives to get defenses in man coverage for a variety of crossing, mesh and pick concepts. The Los Angeles secondary plays Cover 3 more than any other coverage, and the absence of Pierce could free up safety Kam Curl to offer better help on Warren.

Winning the battle against the Colts offense would go a long way toward winning the game, as the Rams should have more advantages on the other side of the ball: Colts nickel cornerback Kenny Moore II is likely to miss the game with an Achilles injury, giving wideout Puka Nacua favorable matchups if Charvarius Ward travels with Davante Adams.

Matthew Stafford will have to watch out for Camryn Bynum, who disguises his role as well as any safety and is tied for a league-high with two interceptions. The run game should insulate Stafford against a defense giving up 4.8 yards per carry, so long as the Rams can hold up to another stout interior test against three-time Pro Bowl tackle DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart.

roberto clemente@rclemente2121
the colts will be the highest ranked scoring offense the rams defense has faced so far this season at #4, compared to phi #8, ten #27 and hou #32.

then again, the colts offense has faced the #19, #28 and #29 ranked defenses in offensive points allowed to get to #4.

mcvay’s debut as an nfl head coach was a 46–9 blowout of the colts, it was the third-largest margin of victory and the second-highest point total the rams have ever put up against the colts in their 46 matchups dating back to 1953… mcvay is 3-0 vs the colts as the rams hc. pic.twitter.com/3muybiOUnz

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) September 26, 2025