I echo the “strange flags” and non-calls sentiment. I’m still not sure I got a good look at the Nacua penalty, but it looked like he swung and missed. After the defender kind of assaulted him twice. I was surprised by the ejection. We’ve all seen many far worse personal fouls than that. I thought it was the worse officiating I can remember in… I dunno… several seasons, probably.

I think Seattle deserves some credit for screwing up the Rams in the first half. Even when Nacua was in there, the Rams weren’t producing anything, and Seattle bottled up Williams most of the day. I think you would have to go back pretty far in time to find a game where he got just 3 yds/carry. He made some helpful plays late in the game, and I thought he was helping keep Stafford alive back there often, so he helped them win.

I guess Kinchens musta got a game ball. Looked like Smith threw the ball to him on purpose, and he made them pay. Play of the game, or maybe runner-up to Stafford’s last throw and that great catch by Robinson, but they don’t get the chance if Kinchens doesn’t kill that drive plus hang a 6-spot up on them.

Overall, the secondary looked shaky, though, especially Witherspoon (who maybe gets a break since he just barely got a jersey with his name on it). And thank the lord Metcalf didn’t play, or I think we would be consoling ourselves with a 3-5 record.

Mind you, the Rams were 3-6 after Week Nine last year, so it could be worse.

Looked like the OL gave up the most pressure Stafford has seen all season, or at least since the line stabilized, but fortunately the Rams DL cracked the code up front and scuffed up Geno’s backside pretty well.

I will take any win over Seattle any way I can get it. That wasn’t a Rembrandt, but it mighta been a Pollock, and that’s good enough to send them into the next two games (MIA, NE) as favorites.

So Ethan Evans has Smallpox, and Nacua had his leg amputated.

Meanwhile, Frankenstafford just keeps playing. Go figure.

wv wrote:

Every time i have watched a Jets vid this year, i have thought of Joe Namath. The year he played for the Rams. Was supposed to be a savior. But he couldnt move. Ah well. w v

Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.

I am glad the Rams got Verse instead of Bowers. Bowers is a really, really good player, but this team needs Verse.

.@rams v @vikings Braden Fiske with the late spin to move Darnold off his spot…Potential tying TD to Vikings Addison. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/adupyMsHP2

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) October 25, 2024

From the game article at CBS:

Why the Rams won

The storyline that will come out of this game is how much better the Rams offense looked with Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp back in the fold. And that’s true. When targeting that duo, Stafford completed 12 of his 17 targets for 157 yards and a touchdown. Their presence also opened things up for the likes of Demarcus Robinson to bring in two touchdowns and opened more running lanes for Kyren Williams (97 yards rushing).

That said, the Los Angeles defense was the backbone of this win. Coming into Week 8, the Rams were allowing 151.7 rushing yards per game, which ranked 30th in the league. Their 4.7 yards per carry allowed over that stretch also ranked in the bottom third of the league. In this game, they held Aaron Jones — who had been having a career year to this point — to just 58 yards on 3.1 yards per carry.

After a frantic first half, the defense clamped down in the red area and limited the Vikings to two field goals, while also applying pressure on Sam Darnold throughout the night. For a team that had just 11 sacks coming into this game (fifth-fewest in the league), they were able to take Darnold down three times and tally six quarterback hits.

If the Rams can pair that type of defensive effort to what we know their ceiling is offensively, they can turn their season around.

I think all of that is notable, and just want to add a little extra topping to that.

On Minnesota’s first drive of the 3rd quarter (after picking off Stafford), Justin Jefferson made that semi-preposterous juggling catch at the 4-yard line. 1st and goal at the Rams’ 4. Here’s what happened next:

-4 YD 1 & Goal – LAR 4(7:53 – 3rd) A.Jones left end to LAR 8 for -4 yards (D.Williams).
+3 YD 2 & Goal – LAR 8(7:11 – 3rd) A.Jones left tackle to LAR 5 for 3 yards (K.Turner).
No Gain 3 & Goal – LAR 5(6:29 – 3rd) S.Darnold pass incomplete short middle to J.Jefferson [J.Verse].
Field Goal 4 & 5 – LAR 5(6:25 – 3rd) W.Reichard 23 yard field goal is GOOD – Center-A.DePaola – Holder-R.Wright.

That’s kind of bigly.

The Rams’ then got the ball, went 70 yards in 8 plays, and scored a TD to take the lead for good.

That was an important stop right there for the defense which spent the first quarter perfecting their matador skills. I think that with Williams and Witherspoon back shoring up the secondary, the ascendance of Durant as a legit player, and a pass rush that seems on an upward trajectory…nah. They’re not trading Kupp.

I will always be glad of a win over the Vikings.

And I won’t apologize for a blown non-call on a facemask when the Vikings had no chance anyway. Ten blown calls like that will never atone for the call on Tom Mack in the playoffs in a far more critical situation, so the Viking whiners can GTFO with any complaints about that.

I had kind of forgotten how fun it is to watch Nacua and Kupp play football.

The D gave up TDs on the first two drives, and looked hopeless. Two FGs the rest of the way, as they finally got pressure on Darnold.

Solid. Fun. I liked it. Good Game. 10 days to get ready to take down Seattle.

The season is reborn, I believe.

pic.twitter.com/KZOTh2XXa6

— Gritty is the Way (@Gritty20202) October 23, 2024

zn wrote:

J.B. Long@JB_Long

Undrafted rookie safety Jaylen McCollough has 3 interceptions in just 33 defensive snaps over the last two games for the Rams

That’s not even 10%.

zn wrote:

zn wrote:

Sean McVay said today it’s about as “live” a game as an offense will have to play, inclusive to playcaller and players adjusting.

You know what it sounds to me like? They didn’t work on preparing for the Raiders as much as they usually would in a week before a game. Looks to me like they spent part of that time prepping for the Vikes, which means less prep for the Raiders–so they trusted a more scaled down offense against the Raiders.

Fortunately it didn’t bite them.

I think not playing Kupp/Noteboom was also looking ahead to the Vikings. They’re not 100%, so playing against the Raiders would have exacerbated their conditions, and there wouldn’t be normal recovery time. This way they are as fresh as possible against the Vikings, and have extra recovery time before the following game.

Hopefully, this all translates into a strong performance on Thursday.

What’s up with Logan Bruss not playing? I don’t know much, but this UFA Dedich fellow did not seem like an upgrade at all. To the contrary.

Reinforcements to the OL and WR positions cannot come soon enough. CBS shows everybody not on IR as expected back this week, but that’s not what I’ve been seeing from the tweeters and beat sources. Kupp looks like he’ll play, and they were considering Noteboom this week, so maybe he could get in there. That would help.

As noted, the arrival of Witherspoon helped the defense, but this team doesn’t look likely to pull an upset on Thursday if that was the best they could do against the Raiders.

Bash on, regardless.