It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but the Los Angles Rams stacked a second straight win on Sunday, knocking off their housemates, the Los Angeles Chargers, 24-9. L.A. evened their record at 4-4 and while the offense is struggling with finding depth to move the needle for injured playmakers, the defense is developing contributing backups.
One such player is edge Wesley Bailey, an undrafted Rams rookie from Louisville.
Bailey’s college profile read as a highly athletic prospect with NFL frame, length, and
motor, but raw technical skills and an unrefined toolbox of moves. L.A, started him out slowly, active but only a couple of special teams reps in Week 1, then a lane opened up for him with the Myles Garrett injury. Bailey has made the most of the break.
On Sunday he had his biggest workload of the season, 32 reps (52%). For the day, he logged five tackles, a pressure, and had the sweet fourth quarter strip sack. You can see his growth in both game logs and on the field, consistently getting more reps and incrementally adding production. Still in the learning phase, he’’ll need to get get better at setting the edge and dropping into flat coverage, but his twitch and effort clearly stand out on film. He’s proven to be a solid value at the league minimum salary.
Here’s a review of the snap counts from Sunday. Players, their snap counts and percentage of play time in bold.
Quarterback
Matthew Stafford (54, 100%)
Stafford really appears to be bothered by pass rush pressure this season and it seems out of character with his fearless, gunslinger nature. He was effective on the quick underneath throws, but when forced to hold the ball and read, struggled with accuracy. The Rams have to figure out a way to allow him time to stretch the field and not let the passing game continue to be compressed.
Running back
Blake Corum (17, 31%)
Kyren Williams (37, 69%)
Another ham and egg performance, the duo combined for 27 carries, 129 yards, and two touchdowns. Both have over a 50 percent success rate for the season. Through Weeks 1 through 6, Williams was the clear RB#1, getting 70% of snaps, 64% of touches, and 65% of yards. Now it appears that the two are alternating full drives, while KWill is still getting more snaps, Corum’s touches and productionare very similar.
Wide receiver
Puka Nacua (52, 96%)
Konata Mumpfield (27, 50%)
Tutu Atwell (21, 39%)
Jordan Whittington (4, 7%)
CJ Daniels (2, 4%)
Nacua (368) passed Robert Woods for #9 on the Rams all-time receptions list. Atwell contributed an explosive play. Completed or not, the Rams should throw 2-3 of those per game, if only to loosen up the underneath areas. Mumpfield continues to be a non-entity in the passing game, getting the bulk of snaps, but few targets and even less production. Whittington’s offensive reps continue to trend down. Daniels got to mop up work as the Rams went into victory formation.
Tight end
Tyler Higbee (45, 83%)
Davis Allen (40, 74%)
Max Klare (25, 46%)
Tight end usage flip-flopped at halftime. Rams used multiple tight ends on 25 percent of reps in the first half and upped it to nearly 70 percent in the final 30 minutes. Blocking was the word of the day, the unit was targeted only four times with three catches for 28 yards. Higbee had a couple of concentration penalties. Watch replays of the Rams touchdown runs, Allen is a part of most of them. Klare received substantial worthwhile reps, mostly blocking, but he did get out on a few routes.
Offensive line
Alaric Jackson, Steve Avila, Coleman Shelton, Kevin Dotson, Warren McClendon (all 54, 100%)
52.6 percent of their designed runs coming out of man/duo blocking schemes, highest in the NFL. On those plays, the Rams put up Top 10 in yards per carry, success rate, and explosive run rate. Early in Sunday’s game, the line gave up a lot of pressure, but settled down in the second half. Coming out of the gate with a stronger commitment to the run game could help alleviate this.
Special teams
Shaky at best, but with nothing glaringly damaging. This may be the best case scenario for the rest of the season.
Defensive line
Braden Fiske (45, 74%)
Aaron Donald (40, 66%)
Ty Hamilton (25, 41%)
Tyler Davis (20, 33%)
Larrell Murchison (19, 31%)
The Rams defensive line is doing quite well making up the voids of Kobie Turner and Poona Ford. Some of it is the level of competition, but good work is good work. Donald is getting into game shape, his pressure and quick pressure rates are rising weekly. Fiske appears to be getting more pressures. Hamilton has raised his play time in three straight weeks and looks sound, particularly when lined up as a nose tackle. Davis’ reps went down from the past three weeks. Murchison’s usage has been edging up since being called up from the practice squad.
Edge
Byron Young (46, 75%)
Josaiah Stewart (34, 56%)
Wesley Bailey (32, 52%)
Darryl Peterson ( 15, 25%)
Young was quieter than normal, but Stewart played better than he has in weeks. Looked very active and provided some nice pressure and run stops. Bailey looks to have distanced himself as E#3. Peterson had a big jump in snaps, but didn’t record a stat.
Off-ball linebacker
Nate Landman (42, 69%)
Omar Speights (35, 57%)
I thought Speight played well for the second week in a row. Landman didn’t have the green dot on Sunday, wonder if this is a one-off occurrence or if the Rams see that subbing him out for big dime personnel groupings is a better against short passing offenses.
Safety
Kamren Curl (61, 100%)
Quentin Lake (61, 100%)
Kamren Kinchens (33, 54%)
Jaylen McCollough (15, 25%)
L.A. is using dime personnel (six defensive backs) packages at a league-leading 43 percent. Lake is lining up primarily deep or at linebacker and playing less in the slot this year. The Rams are doing a good job of getting him lined up against tight ends, a matchup that he’s best suited to. Curl quietly is third on the team in tackles and tackles for loss. Kinchens had a season low in snaps, while his play percentage is down this season, he brings excellent tackle production per snap. McCollough’s snaps were down as well. It makes sense to sub him onto the field for either of the linebackers in any down/distance situation with four yards to go.
Cornerback
Trent McDuffie (49, 80%)
Jaylen Watson (41, 67%)
Josh Wallace (41, 67%)
Emmanuel Forbes (17, 28%)
L.A. has really leaned into using man coverage at 37.6 percent, second most in the NFL. How good have McDuffie and Watson been? Both are in the NFL’s Top 5 for least completion percentage allowed for cornerbacks. What’s really outstanding is their ability and willingness in run defense. Wallace got beat for an explosive, but over his 2026 body of work has been solid. Forbes has found a role as a backup in the the new-look secondary.
Going forward
Hard to argue that the Rams have turned the corner. In the midst of a five-game weak spot in the schedule, they are 2-1 and need to finish this track at 5-1. Next Sunday, the Washington Commanders, on their home turf, should provide a test. Standing at 4-4, fans will have to stay optimistic and watch the standings/playoff seedings. Parity will keep the wildcard openings within reach, but the Rams will have to stack wins, ugly or not.
