Ep:549: Rams remain ONE spot out of the NFC Playoffs following win over Patriots

Jake and Alexis recap the Rams win over the Patriots. Use the code "JKBOGEN" to play $5 and get $50 instantly. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/JKBOGEN Be sure to follow @DowntownRams, Alexis Kraft - @TheAlexisKraft and Jake Ellenbogen - @JKBOGEN on Twitter Check out Alexis Kraft's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpO4UFq8EQlrPr3NH6Ai7DQ

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
All right, guys, welcome back to Downtown Rams. As always,
I'm Alexis Kraft, join here with my co host Jake
ellen Bogan, and we are coming to you with a
special live episode. That's right if you are watching us
right now. This is live. For anybody who is going
to listen to audio later, we're providing that context. But

(00:23):
we are coming to you live to recap the Rams
win yesterday against the Patriots in Foxboro twenty eight to
twenty two. Jake, this was a game that I think
most of us thought we were going to win. You know,
the Patriots have had a really really brutal season. You know,
they're now three to eight after their loss yesterday. They've

(00:44):
really promising young quarterback and Drake May, who I know
you and I both really like. But we certainly had
high hopes going into this game that the Rams will
pull out the win, and they did. And we're going
to talk about all the things that contributed to that
win in a second. But Jake, first, you have a
message for us I do.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
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(01:25):
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Speaker 3 (01:31):
Let's just say it was at two fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I don't actually remember what the thing was, but if
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play at least a five dollars lineup. All right, yeah, Alexis,

(01:58):
this game was very interesting because it's one of those
things where you look at the record New England's three
and seven, right, and obviously, you know, everyone just kind
of assumed the Rams were gonna win this game. But
at the same time, I don't want to take any
credit away from what New England has done. Since Drake
May has taken over. Drake May is a very good

(02:19):
quarterback already. He is going to be around for a
long time. And we're not surprised by that, neither you
and I are a lot of people in the comments section.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
I'm sure or not.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
He's a very good quarterback and he is just getting started.
He didn't start the full season. They've had some injuries.
They've had a lot of injuries on the offensive line.
So this Patriots team, albeit they were three and seven
going in this game, I thought they were a little
bit better than that.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
And I thought their defense.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I was really impressed with what I saw against the
Bears the week prior, when I went back and watched
that tape. They had twenty nine pressures on Caleb Williams.
They had I think eight sacks in that game. So
to see what the Rams offensive wine did in this one,
you know, going back to the rookie bow Limmer at center,
going back to war mcclennon junior, who filled in nicely

(03:09):
against the Seattle Seahawks at the end of that game.
This was like, again, I understand twenty twenty two. I
was really frustrated by this game, being close because it
shouldn't have been. But I just want to give props
to the offensive line. I want to give props to
Matthew Stafford. I want to give props to Blake Korum
and Kyra Williams, two guys that, unfortunately both were given

(03:30):
pressures according to PFF, i'd push back.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
I disagree.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
I tweeted out both of those pressures came on plays
where you had just in you know, odd rush essentially
where you have two guys coming at you and you
only have one guy in pass pro in the backfield,
and so essentially, what are you gonna do if you're
Kira Williams, if you're Blake Kream you have to step
into the face of pressure, but you can't block two guys, right,

(03:56):
So they were both given pressures for that. I thought
that was ridiculous. Great stuff out of Pukinaku and Cooper Cup.
I'd like to see a little bit more of like
a diversified approach in the receiving game. I did love
the Kobe Parkinson touchdown. I like the way they used
too to out well to kind of open up the
rest of the field. But it's weird, even though you

(04:17):
know they had four touchdowns. It just feels like this
offense isn't quite where you want it to be. And
I know that sounds weird saying that, but it's just
this a weird year, Alexis.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
It really is when you watch this team.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
This is a defensive team right now, and the offense
scoring four touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
That's great. I hope they build off it, but it's
it's just been weird.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Like Kyra Williams was averaging five point seven yards per
carry and only had fifteen touches, right, So I look
forward to them building off this because they got the
offense going again. But again, like twenty eight twenty two,
it was weird for this game to be close because
and I do think you know that one call on
Jared Verse obviously kind of changed things. But I was

(04:58):
surprised that this wasn't like thirty eight fourteen ball game,
because that's what I felt like I watched.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
About you, Yeah, I mean the Rams. I think it's
kind of been the same story for them this season,
where it's like they don't get going until later in
the game, and there's pros and cons to that. I mean, obviously,
big con is if the other team comes out and
scores a ton and the Rams are constantly playing catchup,

(05:25):
and we've seen it not go their way a pro
is like, okay, they seem to kind of get the
worst of it out of their system in the beginning,
and then it can only go up from there. I
do want to say, for everybody watching right now this
is live, it is really bad weather where I'm at,
and so my connection is very poor. So if any
of this comes through choppy, it's definitely my fault. I apologize,

(05:49):
so hopefully you can all hear and see me. Okay,
my internet is totally fine. It's just the weather's screwing
up everything in my house right now. So from that, yeah,
you know, you bring up kind of the run game,
and you know Kyron Williams and Blake Koram. I think
one of the things that we all would like to
see a little bit more from this offense is more

(06:09):
of a balanced offense. I think what happened is it's
so exciting to have the passing game be good again.
Right You've got kup in Nukua back and they are
so dynamic and they allow Matthew Stafford to do so much.
In a way, it kind of can become a little
bit like we're forcing the pass at times, or we

(06:30):
were becoming a little bit inconsistent of mixing up the
run in the pass, and then you can you know,
Stafford was really really good yesterday, obviously, but what we
saw a little bit yesterday and also with some other
games this season is the past being super forced, where
then we're all sitting there frustrated, like Kyne is making
those good runs right, like he's getting the positive yardage,
why are you not using him? And I felt like

(06:51):
we saw that a little bit yesterday. He had a
lot of success aside from a few plays where you know,
the defense, you know, blew it up. He had a
lot of success on the ground and I would have
liked to have seen him get the ball more. But
it's hard to complain about that when the passing game
is working right, and when you're playing a team like
the Patriots, you're going to be able to throw all
over them. So I can see why maybe the run

(07:13):
game wasn't utilized as much, But I would hope that
going forward it just becomes more of a balanced approach
and we don't get away from the run game because
I think as we all know as Rams fans, McVeigh
his instinct is to always get away from the run
game even when it's working. And I could see with
having Cup into kupa back and the success that they're

(07:34):
having that maybe we just stop the run game, and
then I think that could come back to bite us.
But yeah, I was really really pleased with what I saw,
you know yesterday. Again, you know, the offense I think
is just inconsistent. It might have to do with the
offensive line. You know, yesterday, I felt like there was
just a lot of plays where maybe we overst we underestimated,

(07:58):
you know, the coverage or you know, something like that.
But I felt like Matthew Stafford, who started the game
yesterday with a couple big misses, right, you know you
look at that first you know, offensive drive. He had
some big misses, but then as the game went on
he was like electric. I mean four touchdowns, oh yeah,
and a couple of big throws. So he clearly worked

(08:20):
it out and got it out of his system. So yeah,
I you know, to circle back to what your question was,
I do feel like it should have been a bigger lead.
You know, you look at the final score, you know,
twenty eight to twenty two. It don't feel like it
really tells the story of what we saw yesterday. But again,
I think it just goes to the fact that when

(08:40):
we're starting off games offensively, we really look out of
sync and we get there eventually, but hopefully we can
work on that, you know, as the season goes on.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, it was a weird game because well, the Ramsley
had the ball for twenty two minutes and forty seconds.
I just that is not Sean McVay football. That's not
what he's trying to do. Uh So credit them for
finding a way to win a game like that, even
though they absolutely dominated this game. And this actually goes
back to a point that I've made definitely on an
episode in the past. I mean, we've done this now

(09:11):
five hundred and forty nine, so I would assume I've
said this probably multiple times. There is such a thing
as being too explosive, too explosive for your own good.
There were a lot of explosives in this game, and
it was a little frustrating because you know, you have
the Kiram Williams eighteen yard run, and you know pu
Gnakua his explosive thirty seven yard play and you don't

(09:32):
even score on that one.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
That really irked me.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
But you know, a sixty nine yard touchdown at Cooper Cup,
and what those explosives do is it obviously shortens how
you know, long the drive is going to be because
now instead of having to go fifteen plays like they
normally do, it seems like they always have to have
these long, progressing drives. Having those you know, explosives allow
you to you know, get across the field pretty quickly, right,

(09:57):
And the reality of that is when you you have
these explosives and you have a quick touchdown after a
defensive stop, the defense is going back out there. So
you know, it wasn't really obviously it's not a bad
thing because they're scoring points. But at the same time,
I think that's what really contributed to the uh, you know,
the time possession disparity, because this is just not normally

(10:18):
what the Rams, this is not the type of football
they play. You know, the Patriots had the ball thirty
seven minutes of a sixty minute game. That's just not
something that you normally see. So it was a very
interesting game in that sense. Again, really really impressed with
the offensive line. I really want to like talk on
that because there's really not a ton.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
To talk about the receiving room.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
I mean, Pooka, Naku and Cooper Cup you already know
about them. They played great. It's great to see them
get going. Puku and akup A had a little bit
of a scare.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
He's good.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
They didn't really utilize two too out well. DeMarcus Robinson
went from having four touchdowns in two games to getting
two catches for nineteen in this one, so it's a
little weird with that. I like Kobe Parkinson again getting
that touchdown. Hopefully they can build off that and find
something there. But the offensive line, to me was huge.
They only allowed three pressures Alexis only three and that

(11:14):
is the best performance they've had all year. And that's
saying a lot. And we could play the whole well
what if and they what could have been? And all that,
And I'll be honest with you, I'll be the first
one to say I think the Rams absolutely beat the
Dolphins had they run out those five guys that they
ran out on Sunday against the Patriots, I one thousand

(11:36):
percent believe they win that game because a big reason
why they lost that game. When I went back and
I watched the tape. Jonah Jackson just simply is not
a center. And I know that's not like you know,
breaking news or anything. And Joseph Nopum isn't a right tackle.
Nopom has his issues, but I'll tell you right now,
Joseph Nopum. I watched him in person play against the

(11:58):
Giants in a must game to essentially clinch a playoff
spot last year at MetLife Stadium, and he was impeccable
and the Giants have a really good pass rush. So
where did that Joseph Nopum go. Well, he hasn't really
played left tackle. He played left tackle to start the
season and he got hurt. Let's not forget that. So
you have him at right tackle and he looked like

(12:20):
a fish out of water, and then you have Jonah
Jackson at center and this guy snapping the ball over
mcveigh's McVeigh Stafford's head, and I think that was an issue,
you know, And so when you have bo Limmer in there,
this is what I mean when I say it was
a weird day, But there were a lot of good
things to like because for the future, a lexis you know,

(12:40):
Alec Jackson, he's good. I don't know if I'm paying
him big money. Personally, for me, I would like to
have them find, you know, a big time left tackle.
I mean, we've already talked about that, Joe Alt fashion
New We mentioned him multiple times. Nothing against him, but
he's probably gonna want fifteen to twenty million dollars average annual,

(13:04):
and I just don't think he's that type of player.
Steve Auvula for the future, he's getting paid. They're absolutely
gonna pay him. They already have allocated funds for him.
They are very excited about him. He is the real
deal at left guard. But that's the weird thing. It's
like the Rams had this plan that they were gonna
have Jonah Jackson left guard and Steve Ovule at center,

(13:25):
and then right before after paying eighteen million dollars to
Jonah Jackson, right before the season, they decide, yeah, we're
gonna put Jonah Jackson at center. I don't know what
led them to that decision, but I felt like that
was self sabotage. I mean, I don't think they even
realized what they were doing there. And so now you
have an eighteen million dollar offensive lineman on the bench

(13:46):
and you have a bunch of dead money because Aaron
Donald retired and you have dead money for you know,
Brian Allen, right, so and you have the the money
that you know didn't work out with Trey White, So
it is. It does eventually kind of add up where
you're like, yeah, this this team's really good, but like,
imagine how good they could have been if they spent
that better They spent that money wiser. That was kind

(14:09):
of a theme in twenty twenty two seeing them go
out and get Alan Robinson.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
So I guess really what I'm saying in.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
All of this is that you have Ovule for the
future at left guard, you have Bo Limmer at center
for the future.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
I've watched enough of Bo Limmer. He's the real deal.
He really is.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I'm not asking him to be an All Pro, but
he's going to be a pro bowler someday. And I
think Rams fans need to realize he is a very,
very good player. He's well beyond his years and it
doesn't matter that he was draft in the sixth round.
This guy is an athletic freak, but he also is
very football knowledgeable. Okay, when what I see as a
guy that's comfortable in that position when there are stunts

(14:48):
and things get chaotic, he can communicate on the fly.
That was something Jonah Jackson really struggled with against the Dolphins,
and they ate Stafford alive because of it. So you
have him y, you have dots in sided and then
at right tackle. I'm not trying to jump the gun here,
but war mc clennon Jr. Looked really good, like really good,

(15:10):
to the point where I actually forgot he was playing.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
I just kind of assumed it was haven Stein.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Not obviously I knew it wasn't, but like my mind
was just like that right side is impenetrable. Like so
War mc clennon Jr. Another situation we talked about. You know,
you look at Noe Boom at right tackle, fish out
of water. Mcclennon junior at left tackle looks like a
fish out of water. He goes to right tackle, and
now look at the way he's playing. So these these positions,

(15:38):
I understand. You see tackle, you see tackle, you see guard,
you see guard. They're not as interchangeable as maybe you
would like. Some players can do it, but it's like
I would, honestly, and I know this sounds crazy, but
I would compare it to left handed, right handed batters
and switch hitters.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Some guys can switch hit.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
I know, I have no idea why there's no way
I could switch hit some bat right, some bat left.
But you're not going to take a right handed hitter
who's never hit left handed and have him go on
the on the other side and hit left handed right.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
You're just not not in the major leagues.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
And you're not gonna have a right handed hitter or
a left handed hitter who's never done both, be a
switch hitter right. You're just not gonna do it. That's
what they're essentially forcing nopem to be. That's what they
were forcing Aleric or not Alric, but Warre McLendon and
so I just really thought that you saw a really
good balance on that offensive line. They need to roll

(16:37):
with this the rest of the year, and I think
they can really build off, you know, the way that
this whole the continuity of these five, I think they
can really do that. Of course, you're gonna get Rob
Havenstein back, so you know you're not gonna have McLendon there,
But that's a really good sign that you have a
guy like that in the back.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
So McLendon Dotson.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
You know, of course bo limmer in Jackson, Jonah or
not Jona Jackson, Alerc Jackson. And I'm not gonna say
it's the best starting five in the league, but I think.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
That's top I would say it's top ten.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
I would say that, let's address because I've been watching
the comments and a lot of people are asking what
do we do with Jonah Jackson? What does that look like?
Because now you've got, like you said, eighteen million dollars
sitting on the bench. Yeah, I mean, what do we do?
We take another game and try to move Jonah Jackson around,

(17:36):
We try to put him back at you know, guard,
I don't know what the answer is. I just know
that he is being outplayed and he really struggled against Miami.
I don't know if you have any thoughts about that,
but you know, I think it's tough when you're in
a situation where you've given a guy really big contract
and immediately he isn't playing. Well.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, it sucks, but they've also been through this. Like
they give out bad deals, they do, they also make
really good signings. I thought they got Cameron Curl on
an absolute discount. I don't know how they got him
the way they did. But yeah, they I mean the
Alan Robinson deal, they had Robert Woods. I think they

(18:22):
really wanted to diversify the receiver room, which is funny
because I think they kind of missed the plot there.
I had no issue with them getting Robert Alan Robinson,
but getting rid of Robert Woods felt like a mistake.
And sure enough, you know, Cooper cup gets hurt and
all that. But the reason it's funny, and the reason

(18:43):
I bring it up is they're doing the opposite Alexis.
I was actually just having this conversation with Blaine and
you look at the offense and I think maybe the reason,
like and we were just talking about this, the reason
they stall out they have so many of the same pieces.
I mean, I know that they went into it with
the approach like Kyra Williams Blake Korum, but they're very similar,

(19:06):
you know what I mean, Like, you're not getting you
don't have that four to two, four to three Davon
a chain that you can put in and he's just gonna,
you know, guns blazing, he's gone, he's running for an
eighty yard touchdown.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
You don't have that on the roster, right, So that's something.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
But then the wide receivers Cooper Cup and Pook and
a Coop are like the same type of player. And
then you have two two out well who could be
your Brandon Cooks, but you don't use him as such.
And then DeMarcus Robinson is just kind of like a
very very very discounted diet version of pookin a cou
and Cooper Cup.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
Right.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Also, so like yeah, you know, sorry, my my connection
cut out. I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
No, no, you're fine.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
But somebody in the comments, you know, brought up like
Jordan Whittington, how Jordan feels very very simil alert of
pookin Akua, right, you know, you look at and and
you know they have some slight difference in my opinion,
but theoretically, yes, they are like very similar. I've always
viewed Jordan Wittington as like maybe I don't know if

(20:14):
Deebo Samuel is there right comparison, because they are are
so different, but likes of like a like a Swiss
army knife type in my opinion, is how I view
Jordan Whittington. But that also you could argue, you know,
some people might see pookin Nakua that way or like
a little bit of like a budget Swiss army knife,
you know, and pokin Akua. So you're right, the diversifying,

(20:37):
you know, the talent thing might not always be like
the Ram's strength, even though they might try to make
it that way. You know a lot of people have
been bringing up like the Blake Korum thing, right, and
they will like that's forever going to be a conversation
until Kiraen Williams contract is up. But we see what
the Rams want to do there. But yeah, you know,

(20:57):
I see a lot of that discourse. I saw some
of it today, I think under Blaine's tweet, you know,
kind of about Kien Williams and everybody's like the discourse
between oh, you know, like Korum was drafted to be
there if Karen got hurt. They drafted Koram to do
exactly what Kileen Williams does. There's not a contrast there.

(21:18):
They're the same, you know, running back, Kien I can
do a little bit more in my opinion, at least
as of right now. He's far better in pass protection
than Blake Korham as well. So that you know that
that's why that you see Kyen is the number one
guy still. But you know a lot of people are
like looking at the draft next year and they're like,
we need to draft that home run hitter running back, right,

(21:39):
we need to get the guy that's like super fast.
And I'm not against.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
That, sure, but like you have to, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
I don't you drafted Korum, And I also don't think
you can let Kyroen walk. He's still in the team
next year, by the way, But you know, I think
you have to keep unless Iron has a major drop
off next season, which I don't foresee. I mean, you know,
he's basically exceeded everybody's expectations so far. I think you

(22:11):
have to keep Kyram Kiren because of what he does
for this offense and allowing it to be so balanced.
But then you also have to keep Lake Korum because
you drafted him in the third round and you're gonna
have to start using him or you know, I just
think you have to. I mean, you can't not use
a third round pick like that. So I think the

(22:31):
disc course about running back is a little mute, like
it's not it's fun. But I don't think, you know,
I think people who think that the Rams are going
to go out and spend a first round pick on
a running back next year. I just don't think it's happening.
It would make absolutely zero sense. It's not a big
enough need. So yeah, I mean the conversation about the
Rams drafting players that are all like is certainly one

(22:53):
to be had. I just don't know how important you
know it is. You know, there's not much you can
do about it at this point. So yeah, the Jonah
Jackson thing we covered. Looking at the comments, I think
we addressed kind of the Jordan Winnington comparison. Do we
want to talk about defense.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Now or Yeah? No, I think we're gonna on that.
I mean, the tight ends.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
To me, that's tight end might be their biggest need,
because if you're going to have like this non diversified
approach on your offense, then you're gonna need And again
I'm gonna use another baseball analogy with the because I
already saw some people like, oh, I like that. You know,
for instance, like the Yankees wanted Blake Snell and they

(23:39):
wanted Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who ended up going to the Dodgers. Right,
They didn't sign anybody after that, but they offered both
of them contracts, which means that they've shown that they
have allocated funds to pay a pitcher.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
So at some point I'd have to imagine they're going
to pay a pitcher.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
The reason I say that is because with the Rams,
for instance, when you go out and you express something okay,
like yeah, sometimes you can change your mind, but the
Rams told you or they didn't tell you. I reported it,
and so did Jordan Rodrig Last year, okay, they tried
to trade up for Dalton Kinkaid. I remember you and
I were live and I got the report. I got

(24:18):
the deats that they were trying to trade up for
Dalton Kinkaid and Miles Murphy. I don't know why Miles Murphy.
Nothing against him, but Dalton k kid would have been nice.
He looks really good on the bills. Then the next
year happens this year, and we're talking about Brock Bowers,
and they really wanted to move up and get Brock powers.
But guess what, they didn't get a tight end. They

(24:42):
went out and they signed Colby Parkinson. So people use
that and they'll throw that in the discussion. And what
I would say is the draft happens after free agency
so they had David Allen, they had Hunter Long, they
had Kolby Parkinson and Tyler Haigbee on the pup list. Okay,
and they still wanted to draft Brock Bowers. So I

(25:03):
think they have to look at that in the draft.
I do, And I mean this is why I was
saying that they should have gone out and gotten David Njoku.
I think if you're gonna keep this offense the way
it is, and I'll tell you right now, Cooper cuts,
Cooper cup is gonna have to take a pay cut
because that is a huge deal and I know the
Rams don't want to continue paying that. So if he

(25:26):
wants to stay, that's gonna be something that they have
to figure out. Whether it's fair or not. That's just
the way football works, but that's gonna have to be something.
But if you're gonna keep this the way it is,
I really feel like they need a tight end that can,
you know, help over the scene, that can really kind of,
you know, mess with a defensive look because right now,

(25:46):
no defense. And Colby is a friend of this show,
He's been on before, and we love, you know, I
love Davis Allen. I know, you know I can say
that you guys saw me react when he was drafted,
But no one of those guys are like keeping defensive
coordinators up at night when you're having a game plan

(26:07):
for Brock Bauers, George Kittle, Dallas godd or Cole Kment
just any of those type of you know, tight ends,
Tucker Craft, they keep you up at night because they
are so explosive and they break tackles. They're really hard
to bring down, and they make plays after the catch
and the Rams don't have that. A guy gets hit,

(26:29):
Trey McBride, good one. A guy gets hit and he's down,
Like I love Davis Allen, but how many times have
you seen him get hit in the you know, the
thigh pad and he.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Goes down instantly. They don't have a guy right now
that's gonna break those.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
So I know Higbe's under contract another year, and I
love Higbee, but we don't know what kind of Higbee
he's gonna be when he comes back. So I do
think that if you're looking at the draft, because I
know a lot of people are asking about that, to me,
tight end is their biggest issue, you know, as it
stands right now.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Now.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
To be fair, though they have two tackles that are
going to be hitting the open market in Nopu Meitt
and Alec Jackson. So as of right now, they have
most of their twenty two starters coming back. But let's
be honest here, they won't have their left tackles, so
left tackle, tight end, and I guess linebacker, but I'm not.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
And we're going to get into the defense now.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
I really just don't like being critical of this defense.
I think that they have been carrying the load here
and I'm just so impressed with the way they've all
grown up so quickly. This is a defense that I've
said so many times, you know, I saw like a
broken record. But they were counted out as soon as
Aaron Donald retired. And it's just week in and week out.

(27:46):
Where were these turnovers last year? Can you imagine that
they just got one of these in the Lions game
in the playoffs. It seems like every week now since
the buye they get a turnover. It's unforced fumble, it's
an interception, it's cam Kinchin's coming up with it, it's
Brandon Fisk, it's these rookies. This rookie class is crazy,
just like the class previously. The reason why teams are

(28:07):
trading all their picks away is because they can't draft
on the level of the Rams on day three, and
the Rams just continue to find these guys and it's
really impressive. So, yeah, alexis, what were your thoughts watching
this defense work? Because I just I know a lot
of people were very critical of, you know, the way
some of those drives went down and the discipline or
the lack thereof. But you held dermandre Stevenson to three

(28:30):
point seven yards per carry on twenty carries, right, and really,
Drake May while he looked really good, the only way
that the Patriots had a chance of winning this game
is dinking and dunking to essentially mitigate the pass rush.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
And that's what they did.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
They slowed down the pass rush, and shocker, this is
what teams have been doing since Aaron Donald. So I
think it came full circle for the first time all
year we saw it. This team has gotten back to
where they were with Aaron Donald. It took more than
one player to place in, but they're back to where
they were.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, I just want to again apologize guys that my
connection is so bad. I know that the screen keeps
freezing on my end for YouTube, So people are just
like seeing me stuck in place. I promise I am alive.
It's just my connection. For whatever reason tonight, I think
it's because it's raining super hard and storming. It's really bad.
But Jake back to, you know, the defense, I just

(29:30):
think we're seeing a defense that gets better and better
each week. You know. Listen, they had moments against the
Patriots that I didn't like, particularly, I think in the secondary.
You know, I think right now, the biggest weaknesses on
this brand's defense I think is corner and linebacker. That's
not a secret. That's kind of been the story, you know,

(29:51):
for the entire season. I think, you know, we can
say that they need to improve there, but also point
out that they've made some good plays. You know, Rose
Boom has made some really bad plays this season, but
I feel like in the past few games he's really
stepped up and had some good reads and made some
good plays. You know. The defensive front, I mean, this

(30:11):
defensive front is phenomenal, Okay, I mean what the two
rookies and Jared Verse and Braden Fisk are doing is insane.
Kobe Turner is playing super well. When you throw Bobby
Brown in there, he's playing very well. Even the rookie
Tyler Davis. He doesn't get a ton of playing time,
but I've liked what I've seen from him. And then
you look at Byron Young and as well, you know,

(30:35):
on the edge, I mean this, this is a really
really good defensive front that could definitely benefit from a
stronger linebacking core. That's no secret. And then I think
the secondary is you know, a little bit hot and cold.
I think you know, I've seen We've seen some plays,
you know, from the secondary that have looked really good.
I mean Cameron Kinchins, right, you talk about that game

(30:57):
ending interception at the end of the game is what
everybody's going to talk about when they think of Cameron Kinchins.
But he's also become a really solid tackler. I think
he's improving in his reads. I mean, you and I
were both very critical of him when the season started.
He did not play well. He wasn't ready. He kind
of got thrown into a bad position, you know, I'll

(31:18):
give him that, But I think he's really improved as
a season has, you know gone on. You know, Kobe
Durant has looked really good and you know, Cameron Curl
is so fun to watch tackle. We said it a
million times, but he's so fun to watch play. So
this defense looks really really promising. They do have a
lot of work to do, you know. Like I said,
you know, I think they're missing that true corner one

(31:42):
that I would like them to have that I think,
you know, if it's me right now and I'm drafting
in the first round next year for the Rams, I'm
going corner or offensive tackle personally, like a true left
tackle or corner. That's for a different show a different time.
But you know, the defense, I I thought that they
looked really good. I like that people are coming around

(32:02):
on the defense. They have been keeping us in games.
I mean period. I mean this has been you know,
the story of the Rams this season has been the defense,
and the offense is now getting healthy and they're getting there.
But I feel like if anybody has just been critical
of the defense to maybe take a step back and

(32:24):
be like a lot of games that the defense have
kept us in when the offense did not show up,
particularly when there was a ton of you know, struggle
and struggle on the offense. So yeah, I liked what
I saw. I mean, I think Jake, Jared Verse, and

(32:45):
Braiden Fisk are creating arguments for themselves for defensive player
of the Year. Probably more so Jared Verse, but Braiden
Fis looks really good. I mean, they both look really,
really good. And I do appreciate when people call back
to our draft stream about these guys because I called
Jared Verse and I called Braiden Fisk.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
You do so I have.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
I will put it on my tombstone. I don't like
to be like and I told you so, person, but
I do appreciate, you know, the messages about that. I
am glad that you and I Jake stuck by Jared
Verse when everybody was trying to taunt us at the
beginning of the season about him. We were like, just wait,
it takes more than three games. It takes more than
four games. So yeah, I really like watching this defense play.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Oh, I mean, there's so much fun to put it
into perspective, the pressures per pass rush snaps on the
rams this year, Jared versus at a point seventeen, Byron
Young is at a point fourteen, Michael Hoyt is at
a point eleven, Braiden Fisk is at a point twelve
and Kobe Turner is at a point eleven.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Let's just put this way.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Anything point ten or above is considered good, anything below
that is considered below average. Aaron Donald last year at
a point one four, Byron Young had a point zero nine,
and Hoyt at a point eleven. This is deadly stuff,
I tweeted out earlier today, and I just don't think

(34:18):
people understand how freaking good this pass rush is. And
I don't think people understand, and I'm gonna do it.
I've had this kind of love affair for him. There's
something about an underdog, but there's also something about a
player that just gets a lot of flack that is
easy to root for, and that is Michael Hoyt. I

(34:41):
just think Michael Hoyt is an absolute baller. If I
was less need right now, I'm negotiating a contract to
try to keep him in LA. He's twenty seven years old.
You found him. Let's be honest here when it comes
to Michael Hoyt. The only reason he was a UDFA

(35:01):
is because he came out of Brown and that year
COVID happened, so he didn't get a chance to go
to a Pro day he didn't get a chance to
play at a Senior Bowl or East West Shrine Bowl
or a Hula Bowl or whatever bowl. Okay, he didn't
get any of the college All Star game opportunities. All
he got he had to literally do a virtual pro day.

(35:21):
He had to take video of himself doing a pro day.
That is all he had and his tape. So what
you found is a lot of these NFL teams back
in twenty twenty, they pivoted pivot to all of the
all of the Power five schools, right because everyone saw
Power five schools, everyone saw a college foot because fcs

(35:44):
didn't play really and those schools didn't play, but the
Power five schools all played. And so a lot of
NFL teams were just going to draft the Power five
school prospects. And that actually led to you know, this
player and Michael Hoyt, who's just an athletic freak show.
It led to him being you know, undrafted, and the

(36:07):
RAMS found him and I was messing around with the
relative athletics score and because they never put it in there,
so I took all of his numbers. Do you realize
when people say, because they say all the time he's
on he's he's unathletic, he can't cover well, you're asking
him to drop into coverage and it's quarters coverage. So

(36:29):
they were getting mad at him for allowing that, but
it's like there's all this open grass. The entire point
of this by having this type of coverage, as we
saw in the Super Bowl, Jared Goff was like totally
just a deer in the headlights, you know, against quarters
coverage and Bill Belichick and the Patriots. The whole point
of it is to force you to second guess things right,

(36:51):
either make poor decisions or hold onto the ball, and
it allows the pass rush to get there right.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
So that's why they.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Were going after you know, they were going after Drake May.
They were throwing that quarters coverage and making him have
to really think about where he was going, and that
forced them. Unfortunately, when you're playing quarters coverage and their
plan is already to just dink and dunk, you're going
to give up a lot of yards, You're gonna give
up a lot of catches.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
So a lot of people are getting upset about that.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
But I thought they did a nice job of keeping
everything in front of them. When it comes to Michael Hoyt, though,
this is a player Alexis if you took his athletic
profile coming out of Brown, And this is why calling
him an on athletic player just tells me you don't
know football. Michael Hoyt would be the seventy first percentile

(37:40):
wide receiver athletically of all and going back to like
nineteen eighty seven, of all of the athletic scores that
are in the Relative Athletic Score database, he'd be in
the seventy first percentile as a wide receiver. I mean,
he's an insane athlete. As a tight end, he'd be
in the ninetieth percentile. A defensive tackle, he's the ninety

(38:01):
six percentile. So like you see now, like okay, this
is really freaking good defensive end. He's the ninety third
percent tile linebacker, ninety first percentile. This is a crazy athlete, guys,
an absolutely crazy athlete. He ran a four to one shuttle.
He's insane. So he played fifty snaps on Sunday, And

(38:24):
it tells me that over time, Michael Hoya has really
turned himself into something on this team. And you could
say he's replaceable and all that, and you don't need
to bring him back I disagree. I don't really think
his role is replaceable because I think he's so different
than what anybody would do to replace him. You have
Michael Hoyt. Now, he has eighty five pressures in four

(38:45):
seasons with the Rams. They've paid him a total of
five million dollars. They've gotten eighty five pressures out of
a UDFA, out of Brown for five million dollars, they've
gotten eighty five pressures. They've gotten around six teen sacks, right,
and this guy just continues to be consistent and help.

(39:06):
And because he gets dropped into coverage and he's the
odd man out and you get him one on one
with a Dallas Goddter, he gives up a lot of
yards on that and then people are mad at him.
It's like, no, no, you don't understand. He is a crazy athlete,
crazy athlete. And what we're seeing with this defense and
the change that they made is that now they're rolling

(39:28):
with Byron Jung, they're rolling with Jared Verse and Michael
Hoyt all on the same field at the same time.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
It's their cheetah package.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
And I just absolutely can't get enough of it, and
they can't either.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
They're having a lot of success.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
When they get into that package, they're forcing a lot
of pressure. Michael Hoyt is very important to what they're
trying to do, and I just want to give him
that credit because I don't think it's talked about nearly enough,
and people need to stop hating on this guy because
what he's doing is incredible. I mean, he is an
absolutely freakish athlete and he allows you you can play

(40:03):
him right up the middle and he could be kind
of like that linebacker, a blitzing linebacker. He could be
on the outside, he can play in the trenches as
a defensive tackle.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
He is a freak.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
So I'm really glad he's on the RAMS because I
think having him be in that cheat of package, which
you couldn't utilize earlier in the year because Darius Williams
was hurt and Trey White was playing corner. Now you
can utilize him and your defense is starting to look original.
It's starting to have a different flavor than defenses in
the past. And that there lies why after the bye week,

(40:39):
the Rams are one of the best defenses right now
in football.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
I agree, and you know, like we've touched on, I
just this defense is so fun to watch and they're
creating their own identity. You know, A big thing that
you and I talked about in many episodes is how
it was going to take a while for this defense
to kind of build chemistry with each other, regardless if
they played well or not. There's just so many new faces.

(41:04):
There's so many young guys, and I think what we're
seeing as this season goes on is not only are
they playing better because they're building chemistry and you know,
they're they're learning their roles. You know, more and more
is there. They're building a defensive identity and they all
seem to have their role kind of locked down, and
they're all having more fun, and they're all playing a

(41:26):
lot better, and we are all having more fun watching them,
which I sure always enjoy. But Jake, in kind of
closing out this up with the episode, I think we
should talk about Joshua Carty because I've seen a lot
of comments asking us to talk about Joshuacarty. I guess
so the questions are kind of like, what's going on

(41:48):
with Joshuacarty. I don't know that we can pinpoint specifically
what's going on with him. I'm not particularly worried about it.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
Not.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
I think, you know, I think what we're seeing. You know,
we've seen some bad kicks. I don't know that all
of them have been his fall. I'd have to go
back and watch some. But Jake, I think that we
talked about this. I'm like freezing on when we talked
about this. Was it two episodes ago where we talked
about Joshua Carty and we were telling everybody like, you know,

(42:24):
so I don't know.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
Sorry?

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Good, Well it's funny because, well, first off, did you
see the US Open this year?

Speaker 3 (42:33):
I think it was this year? Yeah, it was this
year when Bryson dis Shamba won.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
But Rory McElroy had a putt that was like from
me to the microphone, and he missed it, missed to
win the US Open.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Did you see that? I don't.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
I didn't. I didn't watch the US Open, but I did.
I feel like I remember hearing about something like that.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
I'm a Bryson Deshambo fan, and so I was very excited.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Although I like ry McElroy. But the point here is
that Rory McElroy missed a chip shot. They call it
a chip shot. What did this rookie attempt a chip
shot field goal? Right, and he kicked it off the upright.
So my father actually sent this to me in a

(43:23):
text earlier today, and I thought it was really good.
The most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL
has a eighty nine point three accuracy rate. Carty is
struggling air quotes needed at eighty percent after his first
twenty kicks. By the way, the all time leader kicked
eighty two percent in his rookie year. Our best kicker

(43:46):
last year was at seventy five percent, and Matt Gay
was at eighty percent last year for the Colts. Let's
not overreact. And by the way, Matt Gay was a
seventy seven percent field goal kicker his role year. I
absolutely do not understand how people could be out on

(44:07):
Josh Carty. Get over yourselves for real, How on earth
can you get on Josh Carty. Josh Carty is the
reason you had points last week against the Dolphins.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
He had every single point.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
He actually hit the other field goal and bo Limmer jumped,
so it backed them, you know, backed him up after
he drilled the fifty two yard and he missed the
fifty seven. Josh Carty literally scored all the points against
the Dolphins. The last thing I'm doing is throwing shade.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
At that guy.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
And I guess, really, alexis my issue is we've seen
Sam Sloman, Sam Ficken, Cairo Santos, Kai Forebath, like Lucas Haversik.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
What do you want to go back to them? That's
my thing.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Like you know, if Josh Cardy was kicked, you know,
fifty percent of his kicks, right, I still would I
still would be against getting rid of him. You invested
in him, You still have to give him time. But
he's hitting eighty percent of his kicks. He's been great
this year. He's got a leg where you know, people
might not know that, but in pregame if you pay attention,

(45:23):
I've had these videos sent to me. He's bombing seventy
yarders through the uprights in pregame, so he can do it.
He's got the leg, he's got the accuracy. He was
tough as nails at Stanford. Like you know, we were
both high on Cardy. I wanted Cardi since November last
year when I watched him at Stanford, Like, I'm gonna.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Stick by him.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
But it's not just because I liked him initially. It's
absolutely insane to say that they have a kicker problem.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
They don't have a kicker problem.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
He missed a chip shot field goal, just the same
way Rory McElroy missed a chip shot putt. Okay, this happens.
These are professionals. They mess up. I mean we see
all the time. Do you see Alvin Kamara, who's like
one of the greatest receiving backs ever.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Do you see him drop that?

Speaker 2 (46:09):
Like obviously I know you did because you're an Alvin
Kamara fantasy owner. I saw your tweet about Taysom Hill
and I don't even I think I do have Kamara.
But that infuriates me too. It's like the most bush
league thing ever. But anyway, the week prior when they
beat the Falcons, like and of course, oh is it?

(46:30):
Greg Olsen was on the call and he was comparing
it to Aaron Judge dropping a pop up in the
World Series, which of course I just I had to
hear that.

Speaker 3 (46:38):
But there you go, another example.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Aaron Judge drops a soft liner that you'll never ever
see him drop again.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
It just happens. These are professionals. You have to actually
go out and do it. Like they lost to the Dolphins,
a lot of people didn't think they do it like
they lost to the Dolphins. The Dolphins went out and
beat them. It happens, and you know when Alvin.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Kamara will this is one of the greatest receiving backs ever,
and they throw it. Car throws a perfect pass and
he's like sixty yards downfield and he just drops it.
And it's just a reminder that no matter how good
you are in this league, there's always humility. Okay, you're
always you're always human, and you're always going to be

(47:21):
prone to making a mistake.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
And josh Carty is a rookie. He will be fine.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
And it's absolutely insane to say that we have a
kicker problem. If you want Lucas haverstick back, be my guest,
but personally, I don't.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
If you want Sam Sloman back, you're a psycho.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Yeah, I think it's just it's too early for people
to be acting the way that they're acting about Joshua Carty.
In my opinion, Yeah, you know, he's made some mistakes.
He's a rookie. I think he looks fine, and yeah,
I mean we I do think in the NFL there's
a kicking problem. Is you know, I don't think that

(48:02):
this is exclusive to Joshua Carty. I think that, you know,
if anything what we've seen from kickers in the NFL
this season, it could be worse. It could be much worse.
I mean, we could have Justin Tucker right now, and
never would I have thought that that would be considered
an insult, But I mean, he is. You want to
talk about kickers having bad seasons, Justin Tucker arguably the

(48:24):
greatest ever one of the I mean, I think people
are looking for a reason, maybe to freak out about something.
I obviously I would like Cardi to be a little
bit more accurate, but I don't think there's anything to
worry about. So hopefully that answers everybody's questions in the
comment saying or asking what we think of the Cardi situation.

(48:48):
I just think, you know, people are being a little
bit dramatic, and you know what, if the struggles continue
every game, if we start seeing this every game, then yeah,
then we can all be like, you know what, maybe
there's a problem. But again, he's a rookie, he's doing fine. Statistically.
This is, you know, not something I think that everybody

(49:11):
should be getting worked up about.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
But hey, he's sixteen to twenty, he's five of six
from twenty to twenty nine because he missed the chip shot, right,
He's six of seven from thirty to thirty nine, he's
two of three from forty to forty nine, and he's
three of four from fifty plus, so he's missed one
in every single like split.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
But that's really accurate.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Like I will take that they lost games because they
didn't have eighty percent.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
They had a sixty percent last year.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
If even Lucas Haversik I think finished his Rams career,
I think he had a fifty percent. So yeah, sorry,
I just it's silly to get on him. It's also
it's early in his career and he's already shown that
he's a leg he's consistent in and the dude is
absolutely fearless, Like come on, so and.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
His I think I said this before in the podcast.
I met his dad in Chicago with the Bears Rams game.
Oh nice, Joshuacarty's dad was was super cool to a
lot of us Rams fans and yeah, I got to
have a good conversation with him and he was awesome.
And he he had flown in from North Carolina is

(50:27):
where Joshua Carty's from. So that's where his family's still at.
So shout out to Joshuaccarty's dad who was really nice
to a ton of Rams fans at the Bears Rams
game and hung out with us for a while.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
And now leave his something alone.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Super cool. Yeah, yeah, now leave his kid alone. God
damn it.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
And can I also add something to that, because yeah,
this is also another thing. Okay, Matthew Stafford doesn't look
at social media. He's a veteran whatever, a rookie mite.
So I was also in this conversation with my father.
He was really into the today, really into this topic
because you know, he's on Facebook and I don't have
to tell you what lies in Facebook, but you know,

(51:08):
he goes back and forth with people in a lot
of these RAMS groups, and there's a lot of really
awesome people in there, but there's also some people that
just have no idea what they're talking about, and they're like, good,
Josh Carty, bro, If Josh Carty, if there's any chance
think about this, take it like this. If there's any
chance that you could kill his confidence by complaining about

(51:32):
him on social media, why would you? What are you
gaining by saying you want this guy gone? Like, really
You're not gaining anything. The only chance, the only thing
that can come of this is negative. You think Josh
Carty's gonna all of a sudden kick better because it's like, oh,
the fans are getting on me.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
No, he's a human being.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
If anything, it would go sideways, right, So I think
the last thing we should be doing is rallying to
get rid of a guy that it had all fifteen
points on Monday night football for the Rams, which was
honestly a pathetic showing, had eight of the Rams twenty
six points against Seattle, had twelve of the Rams eighteen
against Chicago. Like, come on, guys, Like, I mean, this

(52:17):
is what I'm talking about, is that, Like do you
want to go back to Sam Slope Sloman or Lucas
Haversik You don't, So just let this guy do his thing.
I It's honestly silly to me to even debate it
because he's been so good this year in my opinion,
and that kick it sucks and obviously you have to

(52:39):
have it. But at the same time, Stafford, I know
he had four touchdowns, should have had five. He missed
an open Cooper Cup and if he did that, then
you know, Josh Carty's not kicking that field goal.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
And you know who knows.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
But I also, Alexis, I want to get your thoughts
on the secondary because I think we glossed over them
a little bit, and the linebackers, mainly Omar Spates, because
I think we touched on rose Boom. What are your
thoughts on Omar Spates because, like I understand, you know,
he might not have been ready and maybe that's why

(53:14):
it took come long enough. I'm going to actually say
I don't think it was. I don't think it was
that he wasn't ready. I think they just made the
mistake and waited too long. He looks exactly like he looks.
He looks exactly like he looked in preseason. And as
you brought up, rose Bum has played well as of late.
I think rose Bum's played well because Spates has been

(53:36):
on the field, and I was really enthused with the
way they use Spates as Ernest Jones in this game.
He blitzed and he got three pressures in this game
Alexis as an inside backer. So yeah, what were your
thoughts on Spates?

Speaker 1 (53:50):
I like him. I think he looks really good. I mean,
he's not the flashiest type of you know, minebacker that
maybe you know, some RAMS fans when they're thinking of like, oh,
we need to get a linebacker, they're thinking of, you know,
something like that. But I thought that space looks good,
and I agree with you. I think that's also why
Rose Boom is able to have some of these bigger

(54:11):
opportunities and is able to play, you know better. I
still think I would like the RAMS to look into
maybe getting more of a presence, you know, a linebacker.
You know, I don't know that I've seen enough from
Spates to be like that's the guy for the foreseeable future, right,
it's been a linebacker, But he looks good and he
should have been playing, you know. I think this entire season,

(54:31):
I think, like you said, it took way too long,
and get him out there, you know, and if he
can remain consistent and Rose Boom can remain consistent, I
think that's going to quell a lot of our fears
about what's going on a linebacker, because, I mean, to
start the season it was just brutal. I mean, I
don't know that there was a worse linebacking corps in

(54:52):
the league. As you and I touched on several times
when we were doing these episodes at the beginning of
the season. I mean, it's just unaccessible performance. You know,
a linebacker, I think that they're they're getting better, I
don't know that they're where we would like them to be.
You know, I would say, still looking at this defense,
I think linebacker and cornerback are our two biggest weaknesses.

(55:14):
So you know, I think it's better. I definitely think
that out of all the guys we have, spates is
the answer, you know, having out there. As far as
corner like you brought up, I you know again, you know,
I don't know that the secondary is as strong as
maybe we all would like it to be. I like,

(55:34):
you know, what's going on. You know, Kobe Durantz looked
really good, Karen Curls looked really good. But you know,
since I don't know, I don't know is the question
how I think they look in general or what I
think they should be doing, because those are two different.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
Well, I mean, it's really just kind of addressing because
I think a lot of people were really underwhelmed with
the corners. But I just think it's really hard to
like judge corners when they're playing in zone coverage. The
way they were, and I feel like a lot of
fans want to judge them like this is bump and

(56:15):
run man coverage. They're not doing that every play, And
you know, I just I feel like especially that touchdown
on a Kellow. I mean, he's playing off man. The
safety's supposed to be there. He leaves, so he has
no help. He's also playing outside leverage. The receiver goes inside.
This is all part of the play because they're playing

(56:36):
quarters coverage. And so because he had no safety help,
he had to break on the ball and he almost
got there. And so you know, people are like, oh, yeah,
he got burned. Well, I've never heard in a million
years up until yesterday, getting burned on a slant. I
don't know about you, but I have never heard that
in my life.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
But I thought there was a lot.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Of that where like fans were like really upset, you
know about like the way they gave up some of
those catches, and it's like that's the defense they were in.
Like they were playing quarters pretty much the majority of
this game, and you have dinks and dunks left and right.
And I have no judgment towards the Patriots because if
you want to beat this Rams defense, especially when they're

(57:18):
put up twenty eight points. In the offensive side of
the ball, you have to dink and dunk. You have
to slow down the pass rush because they tried to
run the ball twenty times. I will add with Ramandre Stevenson,
who's very good. Then once again, no one's talking about
They're just saying these running backs are mid and everything
is mid and Saquon Barkley's going to roast them over

(57:38):
and open fire. But I keep watching this Rams run
defense and they continue to hold you all these running
backs down. So I've done you know, I've done a
lot of research on this, and I've been really impressed
with what I've seen out of this defense, kind of
changing everything about them except the pass rush. They always
had that, but the pass rush has gotten better. The

(57:59):
run defense is night and day. They were the worst
run defense before the bye. Now I think they're one
of the best over the last five games. But when
it comes to you know, the these corners going back
to that, Alexis Akello, Witherspoon gave up forty yards, Spates
gave up thirty three, Curl gave up thirty three, mcculluff

(58:20):
gave up twenty nine, Hoyt gave up twenty eight, Durant
gave up twenty seven, Quinton Lake gave up twenty seven,
Darius Williams gave up twenty five, Kinchins gave up fourteen,
Rose Boom gave up fourteen, Young and Verse gave up six,
and Hummel.

Speaker 3 (58:36):
Gave up zero.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
This is what happens when you're playing quarters coverage.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
Like that's not a bad day at the office at all.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
And I just feel like people want these corners to
just intercept everything that goes their way and pass break
everything that goes their way, and that's just not grounded
in reality. The reality is that's a really good day
at the office. The Rams had a really good game.
The twenty two points shouldn't have even happened because they

(59:06):
get a stop on that third and eleven and the
Jared verse and I disagreed with the call, but regardless,
the Jared Verse penalty that gives them an automatic fifteen.
That continued that drive that they ended up scoring on
to our friend Vederian Lowe, but it continued that I know,
of all, I can't all people.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
To do it. They had to throw it to a
downtown Rams.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Guest an offensive vinement and it was against the Rams, Like,
of course, right, but yeah, good for him. I was
happy for him, to be honest with you, because I
felt really good about them winning anyway. And it's like
the touchdown already happened, and I was like, oh, it's
Vadarian Low.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
I even tweeted it out.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
But that that play, that that third down and then
you know the penalty, because I mean I thought Sean
Smith's crew was abysmal.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
It just really bad.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
But that, you know, calling that on verse, whether you
agree with it or not, that extended a drive in
which they had negative yards at that point. They were
third and eleven, and basically they got penalized because they
forced a fumble and it caused this giant scuffle. And
then of course, first you know, lightly has his hand
on the back of a guy's neck and kind of

(01:00:23):
you know, takes him back off the pile a little bit,
which happens all the time. They throw a fifteen yard penalty,
and now the defense that just got to stop is
giving up a touchdown on the other end. So I
don't think that twenty two points was truly what we watched.
I felt like this really was like a thirty eight
to fourteen ballgame.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
That's how I felt.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
And I think a lot of people have said the
defense looked really good, but I also seen quite a
few people that said, Wow, the defense has.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
To be better than this, And I'm like, I don't
know what you want.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
Like if the leading like the most yards that anybody
in your secondary or your linebackers whatever get up as
forty yards, that's a really good day at the office.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
Like, I'm not complaining about that at all.

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
Yeah, you know again, I think that as the season
goes on, I think people are getting more and more perspective,
particularly about the defense, and it's not perfect, but it's
getting better. It's all you can ask for. And I
think that they're resilient as hell, which is important, you know,
to have. You know, they make their mistakes, but I
think they're working through it and enclosing, Jake, I am

(01:01:31):
going to show off my hoodie to everyone who is
watching on YouTube right now live. I was telling Jake
that I'm going to get flamed for this hoodie, no
pun intended. This is basically I am an adult version
of Hot Wheels with this on. But I like it. It's

(01:01:52):
a black hoodie with like pink flames on it, and
I don't care what anyone has to say, so so
feel free to bully me for it. I was like,
I'll proudly show this off. There are matching sweats that
came with it. But I told Jake I didn't get
the matching sweats. That would have been a little obnoxious.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
But I looked like a mass car driver.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
Yeah, I mean I already, like I said, I look
like a Hot Wheels car with this on. But I
do like it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
You look like I mean, I already said it. You
look like Jeff Gordon.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
People can see there the flames. This is intense. This
is very intense. But everyone's always commenting on my hoodies
because I'm always wearing some variation of a hoodie.

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
So uh yeah, yeah, I was.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
I was telling Jake before the show, was like, I'm
definitely gonna get bullied for this, so I'm just taking
it into my own hands and saying I don't care.
Just what I tell Joshua Cardy if all of these
people want to bully him.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Uh yeah, I've worn some.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
I've worn some. I mean I wore a Kermit the
Frog shirt. No one evens out anything, so like, you know,
it was just a meme shirt, but like, yeah, people are.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Way nicer to you about your fashion than they are
to me.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
I do have good fashions.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
I feel like I have. I don't know that I
would say I I have good fashions in particular fashion sense,
like a very specific I don't know if it's popular
or not, but I'm always in the same type of
attire when we record this show.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Yeah, all I know is when I broke out the
card again and the turtleneck, this freaking comments section.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
Was like oh, it was like, I'll do it again.
I'll freaking do it again.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
I just want to I want to show up to
record one of these one day, just full GoF like
I want to put like I want to do eyeliner
and like black eyeshadow, and I want to be like
wearing like maybe like just like all black and like
a ton of chains, and I just want to see
people say, well, I guess now they would because I

(01:04:03):
just gave it away, or.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
Like you're trying to run for office.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
I love a good pantsuit. I don't care what anybody says.
I have a really, really good blazer that I love.
I don't have the pants. I wear it with a dress.
But there is something about a power suit that makes
me feel very powerful. Like if I put on a
pants suit with like heels and I'm walking down a hallway,
I am like, there is nothing I cannot accomplish today.

(01:04:33):
I mean, I especially you know, hair done, makeup done,
power suit, you know, pants suit, whatever you want to
call it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
I wore a suit right on one of our episodes recently.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
You did you when you came from the wedding and
we had to recur or it was rehearsal dinner. I
think gives a rehearsal dinner. Sorry, not the wedding. It
came from a rehearsal dinner and I we had to
record and Jake was in a full on suit and
I've court this was in a hoodie and I was like,
oh god, we look I look so like.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
It's just the brand that I don't know way back. Yeah,
I don't know. It just works. Yeah, it's like the
whole opposite thing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
So that is very true. But yeah, I think that's
gonna do it for us. Guys. Thank you so much
to everybody. We have seven hundred and forty people watching
live right now. Thank you to everybody who who's watching
us live. Thank you everybody listening right now, not live,
but when this drops on audio. Hopefully we did a

(01:05:40):
good job of explaining what we were seeing in the
comments verbally, because we're trying to work on that so
that way people who are listening don't feel left out.
But guys, as always, you can follows social media at
Downtown Rams, you can follow me on Twitter, at the
Alexis Kraft, you can follow Jake ad JK. Bogan and guys,
we're going to be recording the preview for the Eagles

(01:06:02):
game on Thursday night this week, so we will be
live Thursday night because Jake is going to be at
the Eagles versus Rams game, so he's traveling for that,
so he'll be gone Friday, so we're recording a day
earlier on Thursday night, so be sure to look out
for that. Be sure to look out for Jake if
you're going to be at Sofi Stadium on Sunday. But guys,

(01:06:24):
until then, as always, stay safe, take care and go Rams.