The Los Angeles Rams have finished the 2025 regular season with a win. While it didn’t necessarily come easy, the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals 37-20 to clinch the fifth seed in the NFC playoffs, setting
them up for a matchup against the Carolina Panthers. The question now is whether or not winning this game provides enough confidence to win the next four. Let’s jump into this week’s 10 takeaways.
1. Rams will welcome Adams’ return
Davante Adams pushed to play for the Rams on Sunday afternoon, but Sean McVay put an axe in that suggestion. The Rams will need Adams 100 percent healthy in the postseason and there wasn’t a need to re-aggravate his hamstring in Week 18.
With that said, when Adams does return, the Rams will welcome him back. It was the same story with the Rams wide receivers behind Puka Nacua. Too often, Stafford and Konata Mumpfield weren’t on the same page. It almost resulted in multiple interceptions. Stafford and Xavier Smith weren’t on the same page again on a deep target down the field. Offensively, the Rams started 0-for-2 in the red zone. The Rams have missed Adams in the offense as that second option opposite Nacua. More Adams and less Mumpfield and Smith will be a good thing.
2. Pass rush makes presence felt
The defense didn’t have a perfect performance against the Cardinals, but it wasn’t because the pass rush didn’t show up. There was a point in this game in which Brissett had been pressured on 13-of-15 dropbacks. The Rams defense generated 24 pressures for a 60 percent pressure rate and sacked Brissett six times, including twice by Desjuan Johnson. Johnson has been fantastic playing on the edge and Sunday was an exclamation point. Rookie Josaiah Stewart started the game with a sack-fumble.
From a pass-rush perspective, this is a performance that the defense needs to be able to build on going forward. Their 60 percent pressure rate is the sixth-highest pressure rate by any defense this season and the Rams’ highest in a game since 2021. Jared Verse was consistently in the backfield and Byron Young made a handful of plays. Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner were also forces in the middle of the defensive line. This may have been the Cardinals, but it might be the confidence boost that this group needs going into the postseason.
3. Stafford makes final MVP case
Heading into Week 18, Matthew Stafford had one final shot to make his case for MVP. Stafford finished 25-of-40 for 259 yards and four touchdowns. Stafford became the eighth quarterback to throw for at least 46 touchdowns in a season. Six of the previous seven won MVP. He also became the third player ever with at least 45 touchdown passes and fewer than 10 interceptions in a season. Both Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers won MVP.
The MVP race between Stafford and Maye is close. Because the Patriots and Maye won the NFC East, finished 14-3, and ended as the No. 2 seed in the AFC, he may win it. While Stafford has had the more difficult schedule, it’s been games against the Panthers and Falcons that have arguably lost him the award. Still, both players are extremely deserving and have had incredible seasons. Stafford put on a reminder of why it should be him on Sunday afternoon.
4. Issues with short-yardage run game
It may be fair to say that the Rams have been one of the worst short-yardage running teams in the NFL. We’ve gone from Kyren Williams being one of the best short-yardage running backs to dreading when he gets the ball in a short-yardage situation. The Rams ran the ball several times in a short-yardage situation against the Cardinals and came up short multiple times with Williams getting the carry. When Corum got the opportunity, he picked up the first down three times. Williams doesn’t seem to have the push in those situations.
The Rams did use Puka Nacua on a sweep on one and converted, but for that to be available, the Rams have to find success with their running backs. This has been an issue for the Rams for most of the year. It seemed to all start with the missed fourth down against the San Francisco 49ers back in Week 5. Kevin Dotson not being in the game doesn’t help, but the Rams may need to rethink how they approach this situation in games.
5. Continued issues with CB2
It’s been a weekly trend at this point, but the Rams are having consistent issues at cornerback. While Emmanuel Forbes has been up-and-down, there has been an issue opposite of him all season. There was some optimism that Ahkello Witherspoon coming back may provide a boost. However, he spent two weeks inactive after coming back healthy. After returning to the lineup, he hasn’t been good. While he had an interception, it came on a play in which he got beat on a ball that was underthrown. Brissett didn’t miss the second time and Witherspoon got beat deep. Darious Williams has had issues there as well and been inactive the last two weeks.
The Rams are in a tough predicament. At some point they need stability opposite of Forbes. At the same time, Witherspoon hasn’t been good in coverage and also lacks interest making tackles. Williams has similar issues. If the Rams don’t make the Super Bowl, their lack of a solution here may be the reason.
6. Special teams with mixed performance
For the first time in what seems like three months, we saw the Rams utilize the knuckleball kick that they had success with earlier in the season. Instead of just conceding the 35-yard line on kickoffs with touchbacks, the Rams have been much more open to trusting the kickoff coverage unit. The first two Cardinals’ possessions started at the 23 and 17-yard line. Harrison Mevis went 3-for-3 in this game and doesn’t seem shaken up from his miss of a few weeks ago.
However, it wouldn’t be the Rams’ special teams unit without some issue. They did give up a first down on a fake punt after the defense allowed an 18-yard run on 3rd-and-26. The Cardinals would go on to score a touchdown on the next play. Ben Kotwica has had the special teams unit playing better, but there is still room for improvement.
7. Higbee and Parkinson solidify roles
It’s going to be interesting to see how the Rams manage the tight end position once Terrance Ferguson returns from injury. Tyler Higbee clearly has a role in the offense. Higbee led the Rams with 91 yards on five receptions and a touchdown on Sunday. He has a clear connection with Stafford. After an early drop and missing a tough catch before the half, Colby Parkinson showed up when it mattered. Parkinson had the go-ahead touchdown and another score to put the Rams up 37-20.
As frustrating as both players can be, they do have a role within the offense. Higbee is someone that Stafford can rely on and Parkinson has had moments this season. With that said, Ferguson has more big-play ability than both. This likely leaves Davis Allen as the odd-man out, but this remains a very solid group.
8. Rams answer adversity in positive way
The Rams faced a moment in the third quarter in which they needed to decide what team they were going to be. Was this a team that plays up to their potential or one that completely collapses? The offense had back-to-back three-and-outs on offense in the second half while the defense hadn’t forced a punt. It looked as if this Rams team was completely broken by the Seahawks loss. Mentally, they had not been able to get back to the level from the first three quarters of that game. They trailed the 3-13 Cardinals 20-16 late in the third quarter. The same Cardinals team had lost eight straight and 13 of 14. They gave up the lead with a touchdown to a backup tight end that hadn’t scored since 2021.
This is a team that could have gone one of two directions. They could have continued to struggle and let a bad Cardinals team spoil their Week 18 aspirations of getting the five seed. On the other hand, they could respond in a positive way and come away with a close win. The Rams didn’t just win, but after going down 20-16, they out-scored the Cardinals 21-0. The Rams ended the game in a way that they can have some positive feelings going into next week.
9. This wasn’t the reset Rams needed
While the Rams won this game by a large margin, it also wasn’t the reset that the Rams needed. This wasn’t a complete, dominant performance. This is a game that was tied 6-6 until late in the second quarter. The Rams trailed a 3-13 Cardinals team that had all but given up on the season until the late stages of the third quarter. This is a team that locked down late defensively, but didn’t force a punt until the fourth quarter.
Multiple things can be true in that the Rams did enough late in this game that they can feel good about themselves going into the playoffs. At the same time, there is plenty of room for improvement. The Rams can’t play like this next week and expect to win. Until the fourth quarter, this was a team that looked broken.
10. Lot of questions heading into playoffs
This is still a team with a lot of questions going into the playoffs. The Rams have been in a slump over the last month and a half. Is simply getting healthy enough to resolve all of their issues? There’s no doubt that the return of Kevin Dotson, Quentin Lake, and Davante Adams will provide a boost. However, does it solve everything? Is the secondary good enough, especially on the perimeter? If there is a place in which the Rams can be exploited, it’s in the secondary. This is a defense that has also missed too many tackles recently.
Right now, this team has more questions than answers. On the bright side, they do play a team in the first-round in which they should be able to continue to find themselves. They can’t take the Carolina Panthers lightly by any means, but it will be a good first-round game to have.
