Rams battle until the bitter end to claim the NFC West

Weekly snap count of review of Arizona Cardinal revenge game

Although the game went right down to the wire, the Los Angeles Rams hung on and beat the Arizona Cardinals 13-9 and held on the top spot in the NFC West. Since then events have transpired that have secured the crown and cashed the L.A. playoff ticket.

Winning is the best deodorant describes the Rams effort from this Saturday past. The offense could only muster 257 total yards, their third lowest output of the season. and the 13 points scored was also the third lowest.

So the defense must have dominated, right?

Not exactly. The Cardinals rolled to just under 400 yards of total offense, penetrated deep into L.A. territory on five of nine drives, and enjoyed a 37:00 to 23:00 advantage in time of possession. Where the Rams excelled was using splash defensive plays to turn Arizona away.

To start the game, punter Ethan Evans dropped two punts inside the 10-yard line to squeeze the Cards first two drives. As the half progressed, L.A. sandwiched two third down sacks by Braden Fiske and Byron Young around a fourth down stop to kill off three more possessions.

In the second half, the Redbirds scored on their first drive, but Michael Hoecht blocked the extra point. As it turned out, this kept Arizona away from being able to kick a field goal and tie things up on their final two possessions. The Rams used interceptions by Kam Kinchens and Ahkello Witherspoon to choke off the last two drives.

With the Rams usual starters likely getting next week off, the snap count review will get a an infusion of fresh names, but here’s one last look at the regulars. Who played? And more importantly, who played well? Players, their snap counts, and percentage are in bold.

Quarterback

What is up with Matthew Stafford (57, 100%)? He looks off and uncomfortable, leading to many wayward passes. Is it just me or is there a sense of 2020 deja vu? Back then, that Rams offense also became very compressed and predictable as the season wound down into the playoffs.

Running back

The Cardinals were obviously out to make the Rams win by the pass. They were jamming up close, having their down linemen read, and using a lot of run blitz calls into the gaps. Kyren Williams (54, 95%) did yeoman’s work in a tough situation. Blake Corum (3, 5%) had one good run called back, but really doesn’t play enough to get a lather up. Honestly, at this point there’s no reason to change things up..

Wide receiver

In the compressed-version pass game, Puka Nacua (54, 95%) is now the focus, to point of being one-dimensional. Over the last three games, Nacua has 31 targets, while the five other wideouts have 18 combined. Nine of those belong to Cooper Kupp (48, 84%).

It’s almost like WR#3 is irrelevant. Demarcus Robinson (45, 79%) had two targets continuing the downward spiral of production. And no, he’s not in there because he’s a superior blocker. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling for his ouster, but the Rams do have some options here. Jordan Whittington (9, 16%) had his first target and catch since October 6 and in one his smallest workloads of the season, Tutu Atwell (9, 16%) had nary a target.

Tight end

While the four-man rotation of Colby Parkinson (23, 40%), Tyler Higbee (17, 30%), Hunter Long (13, 23%), and Davis Allen (10, 18%) is kind of interesting standing alone, none of them particularly took the bull by the horns and put their stamp on the main role.

Higbee got the start and had a pair of acrobatic catches. Parkinson’s blocking has improved but his pass routes are simplistic and he gains little separation. Long’s snaps are starting to trend back down. Allen got a target down the seam, his first in five weeks, and looked to have a step, but the pass was wild-high.

Offensive line

Not the best of showings for this unit. In run blocking, a lot of the Rams problems were that they were out-numbered. The Cards used a lot of run blitzes and scouted run play tendencies. The pass protection was mediocre, considering how compressed the routes were and how dead-set Stafford was on hitting his first read.

None of the line, Alaric Jackson (57, 100%), Steve Avila (57, 100%), Beaux Limmer (57, 100%), or Kevin Dotson (57, 100%) stood out as having a strong effort.

A word on Joseph Noteboom (57, 100%). He’s easy to be a whipping post, oft-injured, never fulfilled his potential, and over-paid, but he wasn’t the reason the Rams offense sputtered. He came into a tough spot after not playing for over a month. Certainly, four penalties are plenty to get worked up about on their own, but none were “drive-killing”. His body of work was just about as expected, serviceable. Anyone who claims that “Boom is the Rams worst offensive lineman doesn’t remember how bad Warren McClendon and AJ Arcuri struggled when pressed into service. How about Zachary Thomas vs. Cincinnati last year, or (shudder) Bobby Evans in 2022?

Special teams

Ethan Evans (13) stacked another fine effort. Three of his five punts were downed inside the 20 and another went out-of-bounds at the 30 and benefited from an extra 15 yards on a penalty. Two of three kickoffs were touchbacks. Alex Ward (9) was true on snaps and Josh Karty (3) converted all three chances, including a smooth 53-yard field goal as the first half waned. Xavier Smith didn’t get any work on offense, but had stellar punt coverage plays.

Defensive line

Braden Fiske (56, 71%) and Kobie Turner (56, 71%), have really been cornerstones on the Rams young defense. Turner’s production numbers mirror those of his rookie season and now he’s the interior player getting all the double-teams. Fiske’s stat line for a rookie is strong, plays in 61% of snaps (650), 43 tackles, 10 for loss, eight sacks, and two forced fumbles.

L.A.’s defensive line proficiency drops steeply after the precocious pair.

Bobby Brown (27, 34%) saw a workload increase, but without an increase in productivity. One good play for him. On a pass play, although stymied at the line of scrimmage. he got those long arms and big paws into the air and deflected a pass. Tyler Davis (26, 33%) also got a rep increase. I’m torn on him, I liked his college film and he’s still a rookie, but he’s been consistently in the rotation since Week 1 and doesn’t appear to be showing a lot of improvement. Don’t see a real strong reason for Neville Gallimore (11, 14%), I think the Rams have better options. For a Round 3 pick, he doesn’t show much of anything. Desjuan Johnson (11, 14%) plays with effort, but is on the small side. It was good to see him involved in stops right at the point of attack.

Edge

The Rams have moved away from using all three edges together on a regular basis. Not sure whether this based on individual gameplans or is a trend going into the playoffs.

Jared Verse (65, 82%) didn’t have a crazy stat game, but was consistently guarding the edge and pushing/collapsing the pocket. Early in the second quarter, did a fine stack/shed move and squelched a fourth down conversion attempt in the red zone. Huge play.

Strong game for Byron Young (64, 81%), he did a fine job of protecting the edge and stayed disciplined in the pass rush. His speed showed in pursuit and did a good job of limiting Kyler Murray off-platform plays.

For those following the Rams closely, it appears that Michael Hoecht (39, 49%) is the odd man out in this unit. Even though his 2024 defensive reps are down, he’s still providing value and splash plays on special teams.

Although Brennan Jackson (2, 3%) was used sparingly, one of his reps was on a goal line front where he slid off a blocker, got some penetration, and combined with Fiske to stone the play for no gain. I will say that I like this goal line formation so much better than the Rams standard 5-2, even if they use an extra edge with their hand on the ground.

Off-ball linebacker

Christian Rozeboom (71, 90%) had his biggest workload in eight weeks and second highest count on the season. 10 tackles for Omar Speights (56, 71%). He not only tied his previous high for tackles, he matched best snap count.

Safety

As has become the norm, the Rams secondary rotation was safety-dominated. They are becoming acclimated to it and for consecutive weeks, have combined for 25 tackles.

Quentin Lake (79, 100%) again did a lot of work in the slot and was on the wrong end of two of the Cardinals biggest gain plays. Kamren Curl (77, 97%) led L.A. in tackles, but missed at least three that allowed Arizona to extend drives. Thursday most egregious being on the Cards only touchdown, he had the bubble screen wrapped up short of the goal line, but slipped off. Ahkello Witherspoon didn’t make much of an effort to help out.

The education of Kamren Kinchens (49, 62%) continues. I really don’t fault him with making the interception, he locked it away leaving no chance for crazy bobble/carom circus catch by the opposition. If blame has to be cast, lay it on the Rams offense for not being able to close out a game. He chipped in eight tackles to go along with the clutch interception.

While reps were down for Jaylen McCollough (22, 28%) this week compared to last, the number is pretty consistent with what he’s done the last eight weeks

Cornerback

Most of the Cardinals pass attack was aimed underneath. L.A. did a good job of keeping Kyler Murray in the pocket and limit his “break down” plays. On one of the few deep shots, Darious Williams (77, 97%) was beaten on a double move, but recovered just enough and the receiver couldn’t reel it in. Ahkello Witherspoon (77, 97%) had a good coverage game, with two important plays in the end zone. One completed pass for mid-depth yardage was a circus catch on a back shoulder throw into sticky coverage. A minuscule number, but Josh Wallace (4, 5%) had his most defensive work since being injured back in Week 8. Interestingly enough, Cobie Durant did not play on defense again, although he did put in special teams work.

Active, but did not play

QB Jimmy Garappolo, C/G Joshua Jackson

Inactive

QB Stetson Bennett, RB Cody Schrader, WR Tyler Johnson, C Dylan McMahon, T Rob Havenstein

Feeling good is good enough

It wasn’t easy, nor always pretty, but in the end, the Rams secured 10 wins and the NFC West crown. A final game in which most of the starters will get a reprieve, and then off into the playoffs. Where it’s best to expect the unexpected.

Expect the unexpected, A perfect way to describe this Rams team and the 2024 season.