Speaking of huge.

LA Rams Transactions:
• Designated for Return RB Cam Akers

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 23, 2021

Yay! That’s 2 weeks in a row for norcal.

It’s a decent win, especially for the defense. They contained Wilson with a 4-man rush all night, and the Seahawks never seemed to have the upper hand in the game. The Seahawks played pretty well on defense, though they may have been helped by the fact that the Rams had zero live practices all week and a ROT who isn’t a ROT.

The Rams dominated the first half, and yet it seemed like a moral victory that they went into halftime tied at 3. But the Rams just won a slow, inevitable tug-of-war match where they just steadily dragged Seattle all night long. Seahawk fans are rightly upset about a couple of blown calls, but they can’t really believe they were in that game. They got 200 yards all night. And I’ve heard no mention of calls the crew blew the other way. Hochuli’s crew is disturbingly bad, it seems to me. I don’t usually even know who’s calling the games, but seems like every time I hear Hochuli’s name, it’s for the wrong reason.

Jalen Ramsey is a really good football player, and may be the best Ram’s corner they’ve ever had. I like Deayon. I think Williams is better in man coverage, but I didn’t hear his name much last night, and that’s usually a good thing. Gerald Everett is the only guy who can feel like he did his bit in the passing game. Taylor Rapp and David Long are on life support, as far as I’m concerned. The Rams’ stellar streak of drafting secondary players was interrupted by those two guys.

Matthew Stafford seems like the LE model of Jared Goff. He’s better, but they sure look alike in their inconsistency. They both make these amazing throws sprinkled with WTF throws. That first INT Stafford threw was terrible. It was so bad I don’t know how it hasn’t drawn more attention. He wasn’t hit. He wasn’t off balance. And that ball was nowhere close to the target.

Sony Michel is what I was hoping for when I read about him at the trade. He has done enough to legitimize the Rams rushing attack, and defenses have to respect the run. He doesn’t have the flash and burst of the legendary backs of yore, but he is good enough to keep the Rams’ offense balanced.

The Rams put in a solid game in spite of going through the most turbulent week of the season, and there is reason to hope that they are peaking at the right time. They are even in a decent position to take the division after all, though the road ahead is not easy. I don’t see them beating GB in GB, though.

But first things first. I hate the Vikings.

Bucs’ Godwin out for the year.

I am casting my vote in favor of the Saints holding on to a 9-0 lead.

Well, the AZ/DET game is off to a good start.

Ramsey is back, and Lockett is out.

That’s favorable.

No big deal; just a deer scoring a goal then celebrating… 😮 pic.twitter.com/AKhGIKSDF7

— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) December 16, 2021

Then they travel to MN for a game 5 days later. Cool.

Troy Reeder and Von Miller on Covid list.

Yeah…I like Cowherd. But that IS recency bias, and I think he’s a homer for the Rams.

I need to see the Rams do the same thing 3 weeks in a row. Go do Seattle, then Minnesota like that, and then we will revisit the rankings.

The Rams have been too inconsistent to be ranked higher than 3rd in the NFC right now, and I think both the Cowboys and Cardinals can plausibly argue that they should be ranked higher than the Rams. In fact, right now, I would slot the Rams 5th…exactly where they are seeded, as it happens.

Jordan Fuller also positive.

A 4-yard touchdown pass to receiver Cooper Kupp…was a teleported ball that disappeared from Stafford’s hands only to cross several space-time planes and re-appear in Kupp’s arms.

That’s how I saw that play, too.

Wellllll… I dunno who that Orr guy is, but I think he showed the world tonight why he is not an NFL starter. I wish the fella well, but he’s never showing film from this game to his kids, even if this is the only game he ever plays.

The Rams DL gets the game ball. That’s what I like. They just effed up Kyler Murray all night long, and that – along with two big TOs – is why they won. That INT by Jones was huge. Red Zone TOs are just killer, and Stafford made the best of it, driving down to score, and the Rams were in control from that point on. Leave it to the Rams to make it interesting by failing to fall on an onside kick, but a helpful penalty and DL pressure made sure the Cards couldn’t steal a game they were outplayed most of the night.

I liked it. I thought it was the Rams’ best performance of the season, in fact. They HAD to win this game, and they did, in spite of wide Covid chaos. I like the way CanadaRam called the secondary “high school,” because…man. That was not the starting lineup you want to see the Rams roll out on the road against the highest seed in the game.

Just… well done.

I thought I was going to scream when McVay started with 7 passes to 2 rushes, but he ended up using Michel effectively. I wanted more rushing, but when Stafford uncorks a throw like that to Jefferson, you can’t really complain that they should have given it to Michel to pick up 5 yards around the end.

And that TD to Kupp over there…what the hell was that? Looked like a bad pass in the dirt to a guy who wasn’t open, and couldn’t possibly catch that for a TD. It was so unlikely, that I wasn’t sure it was going to be good on the third replay. Just WTF was that pass? I don’t know how that ball got in there, and I don’t know how Kupp caught it, but I will take sandlot TDs any time the Rams feel like scoring them.

Best defensive effort of the season. Especially considering the state of the secondary. Wow.