After the Los Angeles Rams blew a 26-7 lead to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3, it was considered one of the worst losses of the Sean McVay era. That was undoubtedly topped by the collapse on Thursday night against the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams led 30-14 with under 8:30 minutes to play. The next 15 minutes of gameplay were shocking to say the least. As Sam Darnold threw the game-winning pass on a third two-point conversion attempt, the Rams lost 38-37. It’s the type of loss that leaves you speechless.
With that said, let’s jump into 10 takeaways from the game.
1. The Rams found success in 13 personnel
A big talking point leading into both games between the Rams and Seahawks has been personnel matchups. The Rams have success in 13 personnel and the Seahawks are able to uniquely match that in nickel. In the first meeting, the Rams didn’t have a lot of success. On Thursday night, they had a 64 percent success rate in 13 personnel in the first half. This was a Rams team that was grinding down the Seahawks defense. They were playing ball control and had over 20 minutes of time of possession in the first half.
For much of the game, the Rams were playing on their terms. They were dictating the line of scrimmage and the tempo. Kyren Williams and Blake Corum had 21 rushing attempts in the first half and finished with 37 for 118 yards. While the explosives may not have been there, the Rams were consistently finding success runs, especially on first down. If these teams meet for a third time, this is something that they can build on.
2. Davante Adams was missed
The Rams offense had 581 yards of total offense, but it was clear that Davante Adams was missed. Offensively, they lacked a second option in the passing game. Puka Nacua had 12 receptions for 225 yards. Nobody else had more than three catches and only Xavier Smith had more than 50 yards. Konata Mumpfield was targeted eight times and had three catches. He has potential, but the ball skills aren’t there yet. The tight ends all had missed opportunities with Davis Allen and Colby Parkinson each having a few tough drops.
One of the biggest changes of this Rams offense is how effective they’ve been in the red zone. They were 3-for-6 in the red zone on Thursday night. The offense settled for field goals twice inside he five-yard line. As the Rams have experienced in recent years, field goals do not win these games. Turn one of those field goals into a touchdown and it might be the difference. In the red zone is where Adams has had his biggest impact. Thursday night was the first time since Week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens that the Rams offense had a 50 percent conversion rate or less in the red zone.
3. Kobie Turner has turned a corner
There was a point midway through the season in which Turner looked to be having a down year. Over the last three games, Turner has 3.5 sacks. He also managed an interception on Thursday night that should have been the nail in the coffin. The Rams have needed someone on their defensive line, especially on the interior, to get consistent pressure. That player has been Turner and he showed up in a big way against the Seahawks.
Turner has been a consistent threat on the interior throughout his career. Over the past month, that player has returned to form and he’s been a key piece of the defensive line. Hopefully he’s able to continue this level down the stretch.
4. Stafford & Nacua did what vs. No. 1 defense?
There was a lot of talk coming into this game about all of the struggles that Sean McVay has had against Mike Macdonald in their last two meetings. Matthew Stafford threw for 130 yards in the last game against the Seahawks. Stafford surpassed that in the first half. He finished with 457 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. The last time Stafford threw for as many yards was in 2013 in a 31-30 win for the Detroit Lions against the Dallas Cowboys.
Stafford did all of that while throwing against the top pass defense in the NFL. However, as has been the case many times in Stafford’s career, his team failed him. Stafford set the Rams up for a potential game-winning field goal that was missed. He left the field with a touchdown lead in overtime and lost. Thursday was the epitome of Stafford’s career.
Additionally, take away the off-the-field stuff, and what Puka Nacua did was also incredible. Nacua had 12 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns. He scored what should have been the game-winning touchdown. After matching his career-high in receiving yards last week, Nacua surpassed that on Thursday. For all the stuff about Nacua being a distraction, he showed up in a big way against a very good Seahawks defense.
5. Spoiler Alert: Rams need a cornerback
Heading into the draft and free agency, it was said that the Rams needed a starting-level cornerback. They didn’t address the position. As the trade deadline approached, it was said that the Rams needed a starting-level cornerback. They added a depth piece that has since been placed on injured reserve. Not making a move at that position may end up being the Rams’ demise. However, it’s not as if everybody didn’t see this coming.
There have been times this season in which the secondary has played well. Still, they can only be hidden for so long. In all of the Rams’ losses, they have been a major reason for it. This is the Rams’ Achilles heel. A two-score lead should be good for a defense. At the same time, as teams have to throw the ball more from behind, it forces teams to attack the Rams’ biggest weakness. Everything that was said about this cornerback group has come to fruition.
Emmanuel Forbes has been fine at times, but he’s proven to be handsy and take costly penalties. Ahkello Witherspoon has been inactive the last two weeks and he was supposed to be this team’s top cornerback. Is this a position group that the Rams can overcome?
6. So…about Chase Blackburn and special teams
Given how Harrison Mevis had started his Rams career, there was a lot of chatter that maybe Chase Blackburn wasn’t as bad as he had been made out to be early in the season. However, this is the third game in which special teams has arguably cost the Rams a win. This game changed when Rashid Shaheed returned a short punt right down the middle of the field for a touchdown. That play gave a Seahawks team that had just turned the ball over the life that it needed.
The Rams continuously hand teams the ball at the 35-yard line on kickoffs and take touchbacks. Mevis had his first miss with the team. His 48-yard kick with 2:11 to play went wide right. Evans had back-to-back bad punts. The first was right down the middle of the field with no coverage behind it while the second traveled 32 yards. We simply can’t keep having this conversation. It’s happening way too often. It’s unlikely anything is done between now and the end of the season, but a change on the special teams unit needs to happen.
7. Defense has serious self-reflecting to do
This isn’t to say that the Rams offense didn’t have a role in the loss. They went three-and-out on three consecutive drives in the fourth quarter. You need to be able to string together a first down or two that late in the game. An argument can be made that McVay should have gone for two instead of taking a 30-14 lead to try and make it a three-score game. With that said, a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter should be more than enough for a defense to hold. A touchdown lead in overtime should be more than enough for a defense to hold.
The Rams defense has played well at points this year. It’s easy to overreact to one performance, but this is no longer a one-off performance. It’s very possible that they miss Quentin Lake. Still, they have allowed 30 or more points in three of the last four games. Against the Seahawks, they allowed a 55-yard touchdown run to Kenneth Walker. That’s not something this defense has given up this year. With a 30-22 lead, they allowed an explosive play over the top that resulted in a wide-open touchdown.
This group had moments in this game. They turned the ball over twice and set up a touchdown for the offense. Sam Darnold was 0-for-6 on third down with two interceptions. One of those interceptions was caused by a Jared Verse pressure. Over the next 11 days, this defense needs to do some self-reflection and figure out what type of group they want to be.
8. Rams have made their bed
If the Rams aren’t playing in SoFi in January, they will have nobody to blame but themselves. This is a team that was up 26-7 with a 94.4 percent chance to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the second half and lost. They had the ball at the goal line in the fourth quarter with an 80.5 percent chance to beat the San Francisco 49ers and lost. The Rams were 10.5-point favorites and had an 80.2 percent chance in the second half to beat the Carolina Panthers and lost. On Thursday night, they had a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter with a 98.5 percent chance to win and lost.
The Rams are no longer in control of their own destiny. With a 49ers win on Monday Night Football, they will drop to third place in the division. If the Rams are traveling to Chicago or Philadelphia in the divisional round and then to Seattle for the NFC Championship, these are the games that we’re going to look back on. The Rams have made their bed and now they have to lay in it. They now need the Seahawks, 49ers, and Bears to all lose one game to take the No. 1 seed back. There is no reason that the Rams shouldn’t have the No. 1 seed and yet, here we are.
9. NFL is at a crossroads with officiating
This isn’t to say that the Rams lost because of the officiating in this game. I want to make that very clear. The Rams had a 30-14 lead in the fourth quarter. They managed to blow that all on their own. That doesn’t mean that the NFL has also reached an officiating crisis and trust issue with fans and sports gambling doesn’t help matters. Early in the first half, the Rams had to settle for a field goal because Justin Dedich was called for an illegal man downfield penalty.
On the broadcast, rules analyst Terry McAulay noted that Dedich should not have been called for illegal man downfield. These plays and occurrences happen on a weekly basis. Either the rules analyst isn’t familiar with the rules or the officials on the field aren’t applying them correctly. Per the NFL rulebook,
“An ineligible player is not illegally downfield if, after initiating contact with an opponent within one yard of the line of scrimmage during his initial charge he moves more than one yard beyond the line while legally blocking or being blocked by an opponent, or after breaking legal contact with an opponent more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage, he remains stationary, moves laterally, or moves toward his own goal line until a forward pass is thrown.”
McVay mentioned wanting clarity on the review of the incomplete pass that was declared a fumble and recovery in the end zone. The Seahawks didn’t challenge the play, the whistle was blown, and teams were lining up for the kickoff. Over the past two years, there has been a lack of clarity on when officials are able to utilize the ‘eye in the sky’ review system. It seems to be selectively applied and is rarely consistent. At the end of the day, the right call was made, but there needs to be a standard process for how we get there.
The Rams were penalized eight times in this game which is the most times they’ve been penalized in a single game this season. Again, they didn’t lose because of the officiating, but there seems to be a clear disconnect with the rules and how/when they are applied on the field.
10. Is this really a team of destiny?
As much as it’s hard to admit, there is a lot of luck that goes into winning a Super Bowl. However, the consistent theme is that Super Bowl-winning teams find ways to consistently win close games. In 2021, the Rams are 4-2 in one-score games. That doesn’t mention the things that had to go right to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or 49ers in the playoffs. What if Stafford and Kupp don’t connect in Tampa Bay? What if Jaquiski Tartt doesn’t drop a sure interception?
The Rams are 4-4 in one-score games this year and haven’t shown the ability to consistently win those close games. It means that their 11-4 record isn’t flukey, but what happens when the margins get tighter in the playoffs? Can this team close games? Think about what it took for the Rams to blow a 26-7 lead to the Eagles. The Eagles had to convert on fourth down four times and block two field goals to win. In this game, the Seahawks had to return a punt, convert three two-point tries, and come back from 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Throughout the McVay era, the Rams have come out on the right side of these games. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs 54-51 back in 2018. In 2021, they beat the Arizona Cardinals on the road in an important late-season division matchup. Last year, they beat the Buffalo Bills in a turning point game. The Rams under McVay win these games.
In 2021, the Rams blew a 17-3 lead to the 49ers in Week 18. It was their last loss of the season. Still, given how this loss happened, it felt much more like a collapse. The Rams have found crazy ways to lose games more times than they’ve threaded that thin needle to win them. They’ve lost two games this season when having more than a 90% chance to win. Can they win consistently when the margins get tighter in the playoffs?
