After another of what seems like countless special teams gaffes, the Los Angeles Rams let the Buffalo Bills gallop right past them for a 37-34 win on Monday NightFootball at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium. The game proved to be an advertisement for today’s NFL, how explosive plays can either set or change the tone of the outcome.
Although the Rams used a grinding offensive attack to methodically move down the field, accumulating 78 offensive plays and 33 first downs, they had only five explosives. They all came
on pass plays, all in the the last half and overtime. Overall in 2026, L.A. sits 17th in explosive offensive plays. Conversely, the Bills played to form, 1st in NFL Explosive Play Rate. They had 10 offensive explosives on 57 offensive plays, mixed evenly between run and pass with an 11th coming in the return game.
Th Bills didn’t drop any bombs on the L.A. defense, their big plays arose from identifying lanes and and open field running. Whether it’s patient quarterbacks when the Rams pass rush doesn’t get home or backs/receivers that get the ball in space, all can apply pressure to the limited athleticism of L.A.’s linebacker and safety units. The Rams defense is 25th in explosives allowed.
Here the snap count review from Sunday, players their snap counts and percentage of play time in bold.
Quarterback
Matthew Stafford (82,100%)
Played well enough for the Rams to win, too bad the outcome wasn’t put in his hands completely on the overtime drive. Staff had been lights out in the fourth quarter, 11 of 13 for 119 yards, as the Rams posted 20 points. Last week vs. Philly, it was 13 of 17 for 149 yards and two scores.
Running back
Kyren Williams (60, 70%)
The Rams offensive braintrust decided again, that 50+ passes was the path to victory, so Williams never got into a groove as a run threat. He was pointed out for a couple on nice pass blocking reps and made an amazing catch late. On the Rams final scoring drive with 30 seconds left in the game, L.A. had third and seven from the buffalo 10. Stafford threw behind Williams, who had circled out of the backfield and the running back reached a hand back and snatched it in.
Blake Corum (22, 27%)
Actually did some damage as a receiver, hauled in three of four targets and had very nice 34-yard catch and run at the end of third quarter that led to a score in the fourth. On the Rams first drive coming out of the half, he was wide open in the flat with an open field to the end zone, but Staff, under pressure, overthrew him.
Wide receiver
Puka Nacua (70, 85%)
Hard to predict how bad this offense would be, if Nacua went out for a long term. His physicality at the catch point and ability to plow forward with yards after the catch is quite amazing. Week in, week out, just a stud.
Davante Adams (60, 70%)
This strikes me as the exact role that you can envision the older version of Adams in, as a complimentary WR#2. Adams route-running savvy is still top notch and can create separation, particularly near the goal line. There are times though, that he can mail it in running routes when not the primary target.
Tutu Atwell (32, 39%)
Second highest snap count going back to October of 2024. It’s not just fans, even the national broadcasters spoke of the need to get Atwell’s speed into the game and cited McVay as saying he wanted him as a bigger part of the offensive plan. He caught a single short out and ran a lot deep clear out routes, but was never targeted deep.
Jordan Whittington (11, 13%)
Basically invisible, subbing in for Atwell in running situations. Did tote five kickoffs for an average of just under 28 yards per, over the Rams season average of 25.
Konata Mumpfield (6, 7%)
Came into the game nicked up and was in and out, likely the same shoulder problem.. I guess the Rams figured that an injured Mumpfield was a better fit into the game plan than rookie CJ Daniels.
Tight end
Tyler Higbee (55, 67%)
Sipping from the Fountain of Youth, Higbee’s playing his best football in years. The Rams are lining him up in the slot or outside at 44 percent clip and he’s responded with a catch rate of 80 percent, 14 of 20 receptions for first down and the highest depth of target for his whole career.
Colby Parkinson (53, 65%)
Obviously gutting through his injury, just two short targets in a Rams game plan where the passing offense was all underneath. Is going with a player of Parkinson’s talent level and limited by injuries, a better choice than giving your Round 2 draft pick some needed time on the field? This is one of the questions that needs to be asked when you start 2-3.
Davis Allen (41, 50%)
Made two outstanding clutch catches to go along with his usual blocking duties.
Offensive line
Alaric Jackson, Steve Avila, Coleman Shelton, Kevin Dotson, Warren McClendon (82, 100%)
The run game was primarily between the tackles. Even though it wasn’t particularly effective, the big guys have generally done well run blocking, allowing the least amount of stuff/loss plays (34.8%) in the league. Throwing 50+ passes is exorbitant even for the pass-happy Rams, the line was pretty good pass blocking against an aggressive Buffalo blitz program, only allowing a 22 percent pressure rate. Next Gen Stats recorded the Rams with 4 of 12 passes completed under pressure.
Special teams
Sniff, sniff. That’s the tell tale odor of a dead animal in the wood pile. Placekicker Harrison Meevisis the first to go, but the smell lingers. Now, more importantly, what’s the plan to clean up the rest?
Defensive line
Kobie Turner (43, 67%)
Aaron Donald (43, 67%)
Braden Fiske (26, 41%)
Poona Ford (29, 45%)
Tyler Davis (21, 33%)
Ty Hamilton (7, 11%)
Not the best showing for this unit, Buffalo also uses a lot of three tight end formations and came in to run the football. They did, to the tune of 234 yards. The Bills never went away from what worked, even into overtime. Against a running QB, lane discipline is paramountand too often the Rams interior left huge gaps for Josh Allen to traverse.
Edge
Byron Young (55, 86%)
Josaiah Stewart (53, 83%)
Wesley Bailey (16, 25%)
Desjuan Johnson (4, 6%)
Quiet getting after the passer. For the game, Bills’ QB Josh Allen had nearly three seconds in time to pressure percentage on passes, even though he couldn’t get deep and had to take the underneath stuff. Stewart seemed to get locked up regularly by the opposing tackle and lost contain. Young was close to making a couple more sacks with backside pursuit, but couldn’t close the deal.
Off-ball linebacker
Nate Landman (57, 89%)
Good on him to know that Bills RB James Cook has been a fumbler ( most in the NFL from last year on), the punch outs were big time plays. Landman has an old school, tough guy game between the tackles. However in space, he lacks move skills and is exploitable. In over his head in pursuit of more agile offensive players and certainly to spy active quarterbacks.
Omar Speights (23, 36%)
Trending down. Although his play time was up a few from last week, his total was the second lowest since early in his rookie year.
Safety
Quentin Lake (64, 100%)
Kamren Curl (64, 100%)
Kamren Kinchens (36, 56%)
Jaylen McCollough (1, 2%)
It’s easy to Monday morning quarterback, but Lake reportedly wasn’t able to practice all week with a bad hip and was a game day decision. I realize he’s a team leader and the Rams depth is thin, but you start and give every snap to a player not known for his athleticism and has a hip impairment against a team with high-end explosive play strength? He didn’t play up to par and was exploited. Curl had a nice tackle for loss, as did Kinchens. McCollough is still trending downwards.
Cornerback
Trent McDuffie (64, 100%)
Jaylen Watson (64, 100%)
Josh Wallace (34, 53%)
What on earth was Watson thinking when he made that interception? Poor situational awareness to dance around like that, looked like he was trying to burn clock rather than find running lanes. At the first glance it didn’t mean much, but it did cost the Rams offense another two or three plays and an opportunity to put points on the board right before the half.
L.A. has moved to more man (27.4%) as their primary coverage. On Monday night, coverage was pretty darn good, Bills QB Allen had to scramble on nearly 30 percent of his drop backs. The negative side to that was Allen had 107 yards rushing on those scrambles. Some of the penalties were a bit ticky-tack, but in today’s NFL there should be weekly reports on the tendencies of officiating crews and you have to adjust. It’s tougher sledding when playing a lot of man-type coverages.
Moving on
Another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. The big story that seems to be expanding exponentially is of course, special teams. It lays at the feet of Rams head coach Sean McVay, his decisions and arrogance about the importance of them have come home to roost. Since 2021, McVay has a special teams -70.87 EPA (Expected Points Added) metric, worst in the NFL. It was -13.1 against Buffalo.
As tough as the loss is to swallow, the Rams go on five-game run of lower rung teams, the easiest schedule in the NFL over that stretch from Week 6 to 11. Arizona Cardinals (twice), Las Vegas Raiders, LA Chargers, and Washington Commanders. Winning out could reset the season at the bye week and get the team straightened out for the league’s hardest schedule down the stretch run. Today, Defensive-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) still gives the Rams a 58.2% likelihoodof earning a wildcard berth in the playoffs. The fat lady is not singing, but fans sure do want her watching the Rams special teams.
