In what was a quick turnaround after a big win over the Arizona Cardinals, the Los Angeles Rams hosted the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football in Week 14 in a rematch of Super Bowl LIII.
Luckily, the result was much different this time around as the Rams dominated the Patriots in every facet of the game, cruising to a 24-3 victory to improve to 9-4 on the season.
It was an all-around performance for the Rams, scoring a touchdown on their opening drive and then never looking back. Here are my observations and analysis from the victory:
Sweet sweet revenge
Leading up to this game, everyone in the Rams organization, including Sean McVay and Aaron Donald, downplayed the Super Bowl rematch aspect of this game, and for good reason. Seeing as that it’s a new season, there are plenty of different players on each side and dwelling on the past won’t help the Rams moving forward.
For the Rams players that are still around from that Super Bowl season though, there is no doubt that getting a little revenge and essentially knocking the Patriots out of the playoffs had to have been sweet. I know it was for us fans.
Oh hi, Cam Akers
The real story of this game on the field though was the production of Cam Akers, who for the first time this season was a true workhorse for L.A. and had a career night.
Akers got going early, busting out a 35-yard run on his first carry of the game and never looking back. He finished with 29 carries for 171 yards, which was the most for a rookie running back in the NFL this season and most for a Rams rookie since Jerome Bettis in 1993. Akers also added two receptions for 23 yards to cap off his big night.
Now, I’m not going to take a victory lap here because I have been saying all season that Akers should get more looks. I understand why it took this long. Not only did he deal with a chest injury that forced him to miss a couple of games early in the season, but he is also a rookie that had no offseason program, a limited training camp and no preseason due to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.
So while to me, it has been clear all season that Akers is the Rams’ best back from a talent standpoint, there is also no doubt that he was behind two returning players in Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown when it comes to learning the playbook, blitz pickups, etc.
We’re in the homestretch of the season now though, so hopefully this performance will propel Akers to more carries moving forward. The Cam Akers era is officially upon us.
Aaron Donald is the Defensive Player of the Year…again
We’re truly running out of adjectives to describe Aaron Donald. He put up 1.5 sacks against the Patriots, which gives him a league-leading 12.5 for the season. That is so crazy to think about considering he is an interior lineman and is double or triple-teamed on nearly every play.
His impact goes way beyond just sacks though, and that was evident on Thursday night. The biggest play of the game for the Rams defense came on a 79-yard pick-six by Kenny Young early in the second quarter, extending the lead to 17-0.
While Young will get the glory for that play, and deservingly so, it was also Donald that helped make it happen. He read the screen pass perfectly and grabbed Patriots running back Damian Harris at the line of scrimmage, which forced Cam Newton to make a quick and wild throw right to Young, who took it the other way.
After the game, Jalen Ramsey interrupted Donald’s interview to tell the world that he is the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and he is absolutely right. Barring something crazy happening to finish out the year, Donald will win it for the third time in the last four years. Absolute dominance.
Don’t leave us, Brandon Staley
As far as the Rams’ defense as a whole goes though, Brandon Staley is the man responsible for that. The first-year defensive coordinator was an unknown commodity when McVay hired him, but that is no longer the case as he is already rumored to be in the mix for head coaching jobs this offseason.
It’s hard not to see why when the Rams’ defense, which was middle-of-the-pack a season ago, ranks first in the league in yards per game, third in points per game, first against the pass and third against the run.
While the Patriots’ offense is nothing to marvel over, Staley had them figured out all night, allowing just three total points and shutting them out in the second half.
While obviously I would respect Staley taking a head coaching job this offseason, he has been so incredible and we’re just getting to know him so I definitely hope he sticks around for at least one more year.
Is it better for Rams to not win NFC West?
This isn’t an observation from Thursday night’s game, but now that we essentially know the Rams will be making the playoffs (they have nine wins and will get their 10th next week against the New York Jets), it’s time, for me at least, to start looking ahead to the postseason.
So here is the current dilemma for the Rams: Is it better to win the division, which means they will be at home in the first round against a formidable opponent like the Seattle Seahawks or Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Or is it better for Seattle to win the division, which means the Rams will be the five-seed and go on the road to the NFC East winner, which will likely either be the New York Giants or Washington Football team, in the first round?
Now, I’m not going to sit here and advocate for the Rams to lose games on purpose down the stretch so that the latter will happen. I want them going into the postseason playing their best football possible, so I am rooting for them to win out and take home the division title.
But what I will say though is that if the Rams lose to the Seahawks in Week 16 and wind up with the five-seed, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. The Rams are 4-0 against the NFC East this season, and while both New York and Washington are playing better in recent weeks, the limitations for those two teams offensively are like night and day compared to the Seahawks and Buccaneers.
All of this really to basically say that I’m cool with whatever scenario plays out. I’ll never root for the Rams to lose games though.
Up next…
Playing on short rest on a Thursday night is never ideal, but now that it’s over and the Rams dominated while also coming out healthy, it is actually a bit of an advantage.
The Rams now have 10 days between games, which is a huge mini-bye that most teams don’t get at this point in the season. And as previously mentioned, they host the Jets next Sunday, so hopefully they can come out and dominate that game to get their 10th win.
