For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Rams have made another surprising climb up the standings as they now sit atop the NFC West following their Week 15 win against the San Francisco 49ers.
The Rams were able to win an ugly and rainy game against the 49ers where neither team scored a touchdown, though no one on the team is complaining at this point of the 2024 season. Los Angeles now owns an 8-6 record and controls its destiny the rest of the way.
Defensively, the Rams were able to slow down the 49ers thanks to a strong pass rush and solid play from the secondary. Darious Williams drew some of the tougher assignments, particularly lining up against Jauan Jennings, but came up with an interception in the fourth quarter that allowed Los Angeles to waste more clock and pick up the win.
Williams explained what he saw on the play and how he positioned himself in time to pick off Brock Purdy’s pass, via Wyatt Miller of TheRams.com:
“He just ran a curl pump. We kind of (had) been seeing it,” Williams said. “I didn’t actually think he was gonna throw it, though, so he threw it up, and I was able to just get my head around, make a play on it.”
With Cobie Durant ruled out for the contest, Williams acknowledged he and fellow cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon knew they were going to get targeted in the passing game:
“We know it kind of comes down to us, right? So San Fran, they like to just kind of set us up, hit a couple big plays across the middle. And our game plan today was just to get hands on, be aggressive as we can,” Williams said.
Williams has been a solid defender all season and is known for being a ball hawk, so it was a massive play to come down with in such a close game. The Rams don’t have a true lockdown corner, but defensive coordinator Chris Shula has done a great job maximizing the pieces on the roster.
Now, Williams and company will be counted on to keep their level of play up when they head back on the road to take on the New York Jets in Week 16.
Rams’ Darious Williams, Kobie Turner and Joshua Karty receive game balls after win over 49ers
Kobie Turner, Joshua Karty and Darious Williams all played key roles in the win against San Francisco and the Rams’ social team released a video of the trio receiving game balls for their efforts.
