The good, the bad, and the ugly from a beautiful OT win

Rams find another rookie standout

Les Snead’s draft hot streak continues, as Kam Kinchens crashed the party in Week 9’s win over the Seahawks. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

There may be more than one candidate for DROY on LA’s roster

Jared Verse once again was an absolute game wrecker on Sunday but he wasn’t the only rookie that stood out against Seattle. Fellow FSU defensive lineman Braden Fiske also created plenty of havoc. He finished the game with two of the seven sacks against Geno Smith. In the back end of the defense Jaylen McCollough got his 4th interception of the year (leads all rookies) while Kamren Kinchens had his break out game of the season with two interceptions which included a 103-yard pick-six that now stands as a record in the Rams franchise. LA’s defense is one of the youngest in the league and after nine weeks they are on track to be one of the best in the NFL. Verse should be the front runner for the Defensive Player of the Year award but if the other rookies on the defense keep playing like they did in Seattle LA might have an argument for a few other players as well.

Matthew Stafford does it again

Was this Stafford’s best game of the season? Absolutely not, but he did what he could with the talent he had. Credit Mike Macdonald whose defensive game plan completed negated Kyren Williams (69 yards on 22 attempts) on the ground while also putting plenty of pressure on the quarterback. Puka Nacua was ejected in the first half after throwing a “punch” at Tyrel Dodson while Rob Havenstein left due to injury in the 3rd quarter. Despite missing some of his key guys, Stafford found a way. His last three throws went to Tyler Johnson, Tutu Atwell, and the game winner to Demarcus Robinson while Cooper Kupp played distraction. Stafford will want a few throws back, but when it counted most he once again came in clutch.

The Bad

Another receiver has career game against LA

For all the great things that the defense did on Sunday there were also some opportunities—one of those comes in coverage. Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished the game with seven receptions, 180 yards receiving, and two touchdowns—one of which sent the game into overtime. Others have had their career days against the defense in weeks past (Jameson Williams in Week 1, Marvin Harrison Jr. in Week 2, and Jauan Jennings in Week 3) so it shouldn’t be surprising it would happen again in Week 9. There is not a “lockdown” corner on the roster, rather there are a number of solid contributors that can make the occasional big play. Les Snead could make a splash before the trade deadline and find someone that scares offenses on the back end. If this team truly has Super Bowl aspirations it might be the addition they need to take them there.

Penalties nearly cost the game

There were definitely some questionable flags thrown in Lumen field this past weekend but there were plenty of legitimate ones as well. LA was flagged eight times for 83 yards but could have been much more if Smith did not take advantage of the free plays the defense gave him. The Rams were caught offsides on defense five times—four of them were declined due to large gains. The offense had their fair share of issues as well and were called for offensive holding four times which killed many of their drives. The mistakes were uncharacteristic with McVay’s unit being one of the least penalized teams in the league but hopefully they don’t begin to trend in the wrong direction with so many young players on the team.

The Ugly

Puka Nacua gets ejected

Puka Nacua’s ejection would have been talked about a lot more if the team didn’t walk out of Seattle with a win. In his post game interview McVay felt confident his record-breaking receiver would learn from his mistake.

“It’ll be a great learning opportunity for Puka. He’s emotional, that’s one of the things we love about him, but he will be able to learn from that.

LA’s depth at the receiver position was on full display after the ejection but it should have never come to that. If there were a positive spin on Nacua leaving early it is that he at least got some more rest after injuring his knee in practice during the week.