The Los Angeles Rams picked up a much-needed victory in their 35-21 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Advancing to 3-4 on the year, the team will attempt to get back to .500 next week when they play the Los Angeles Chargers.
Here are five takeaways from Sunday's win in Vegas.
Shula had the perfect approach and adjusted without issue
Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula made it clear. He was not going to allow the absence of Poona Ford and Kobie Turner to affect the team, and his player positioning was excellent throughout. The defense did allow Tre Tucker to pick up yards, mostly on two plays, but Shula took away the underneath and dedicated resources to defending the run, trusting his injured secondary to come through.
His approach schematically eliminated Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer from the game,
holding the Raiders to six points through three quarters. Shula knew what he could live with, and once the Raiders finally got some momentum – aided by injuries – the proper adjustments were made. Understanding he had a lead to play with, he let Las Vegas punch itself out to secure the W.
The most impressive part? When the Raiders got the ball at the Rams' 30 in the third quarter, the Rams surrendered 5 yards, forcing a turnover on downs. Impressive stuff.
More Speights
Omar Speights was spectacular, finally looking like the player we'd thought he'd become after his rookie season. His work with Shaun Dolac became the remedy for replacing the injured Nate Landman. Speights was great, and his work as a coverage defender was impressive. We need to see more, but it might be time for the linebacker to cut into Landman's snaps.
Speights was playing on the front foot, and he can hunt down ball carriers effectively. Perhaps that could help ease the defense's troubles against mobile quarterbacks, and maybe more snaps from Speights will be the key to get Landman's effective back to the levels he used to perform at.
No Adams, no problem
The Rams offense was humming throughout the game, outside of a lull in the third quarter while up three scores. Once the Raiders looked like they were about to make a comeback, the offense shut that idea down.
They had 386 total yards. Three ball carriers, seven different pass catchers. Ball distribution at its finest. Sean McVay heard the noise; now we have heard his response.
Corum, then Williams
Blake Corum got the first carries of the game, which came on the second drive of the afternoon. We have to wait on the reason, but the results speak for themselves. The Rams set the tone with Corum on the ground, as the third-year player was even more explosive than we thought. Corum finished with 17 carries for 93 yards, while Williams had 16 carries for 99 yards.
Both had a rushing touchdown, as McVay may have found his offensive innovation for 2026.
Special teams once again
Even in multiple-possession wins, the special teams continue to struggle. If they are able to, they should just kick the ball through the end zone on kickoffs, because their coverage team gives up big returns over and over.
They did recover the onside kick to ice the game, and Brandon McManus made all his point-after attempts, so they've got that going for them.
They also surrendered a first down on a fake punt. Yeah, this is going to be something the Rams are just going to have to live with until, well, you know.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: 5 takeaways from Rams' 35-21 win vs. Raiders in Week 7
