It was more stressful than anticipated, but the Los Angeles Rams were able to pull away and defeat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17.
Matthew Stafford’s turnover issues nearly cost them the game as the quarterback committed another three mistakes, two interceptions (one that was returned for a touchdown) and a lost fumble. However, Stafford rallied on the final Rams drive where he found Odell Beckham Jr. on a pair of clutch throws that put them up 20-19.
Aside from the offensive struggles, tension on the defensive side also flared up early as Jalen Ramsey punched Taylor Rapp after what seemed to be a miscue early in the game, via NFL analyst Warren Sharp:
Jalen Ramsey throwing hands on his teammate pic.twitter.com/j0t4LiLA4M
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 2, 2022
While it is never encouraging to see teammates fight on the field, head coach Sean McVay seemed unbotherewd by the incident, via Cameron DaSilva of USA Today:
“It’s two great competitors. They both want to do right,” he said. “There was a little bit of a mixup. It’s just like anything else. You got any brothers? You ever get into a fight with your brother? Yeah you did. And so they moved on and they kept it going. I don’t think it affected our ability to move forward. These are two guys that love football. They love one another. There was a little bit of a mixup and any time you care about each other like that, you keep it moving and I thought that’s what we did.”
McVay also acknowledged that the two players did not need to be separated and likened the incident to families fighting:
“No, these guys are grown men,” McVay said. “If you guys heard the stuff that I say on the headset during the games, it’s way worse than smacking another player. This is an emotional game. I always tell people, ‘I can’t promise it won’t happen again but I can always promise to apologize.’ These are things that happen. We’ll keep it moving. These guys love one another and I think this is part of what families go through.”
It was surprising to see Ramsey get so heated early in the game, but it goes to show how seriously he takes each defensive snap. Fortunately, Ramsey and Rapp had no issues the rest of the afternoon and the Rams moved one step closer to clinching the NFC West title.
