Ep.564: Do the Rams have the NFL's BEST defense ALREADY?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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 live after
a week one win against the Houston Texans at so
Far where our Rams won fourteen to nine. And guys,
this was not the prettiest of wins. I don't think

(00:23):
it was how most of us thought the game was
gonna go. But you know what, a win is a win,
and it's week one, so we'll take what week and
get right.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Jake, that is for sure. We'll definitely take what we
can get. That that was an impressive win. I think
in the past, Alexis, I would argue that they've lost
games like this in the past more often than not.
And I thought, Sean McVay, I'm sure you and I
we didn't really get a chance to talk about during
the game. We've both been so busy, but I'm sure

(00:51):
you and I both had an issue with Sean mcvay's play.
WHOA what the hell was that?

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Did you see that?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (00:57):
I did some massive just flew right in front of
my face. I don't know, so.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Sorry, goodness, creation.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Pretend let's just pretend.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
That's thing was that was on a laser it.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, I don't know, and you know what, I've lost
sight of it in my room, so it's somewhere, but
we don't know where in at any moment it could
come back.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
So that thing looked like Caleb Williams running out of
the pocket. That was crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
And on that note, Jake continue, please, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
So I think the big thing here is that they
went fourteen to nine against the team that's very similar
to them. They don't have a great offense, offensive line,
excuse me, but they're dealing. You know, Christian Kirk's out,
Joe Mixon's out. This is a really good Texans team,
really well coached, and I think their defense took away
a lot of the things the Rams wanted to do
coming in. But when you're able to win a game

(01:53):
like that, and we could talk about the officiating, we
can talk about, you know, the fumble and how this
probably should have been maybe a twenty one, twenty four
to nine game, but the reality is it was fourteen
to nine. They come away with the win. They start
off one to zero, something they didn't do last year,
something they didn't do in twenty twenty two. So you know,

(02:13):
this is a big deal and I thought it was
a huge win because I thought the defense kind of
established themselves. As you know, we have the prompt for
today's today's live stream. Do the Rams have the NFL's
best defense already? I don't know if I would say
the best, but they're definitely in the top five right now,
I think so.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Through one week, I mean, we were definitely gonna talk
about the defense, and you and I were both very
excited about the defense going into the season. And spoiler,
I did hit one of my predictions right with the
four sacks.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Did they get fun? Oh?

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, So I am very hyped about this defensive line.
I guess I should say at least but yeah, Jake,
you want to start by talking off talking about our defense.
But first, actually, before we get into that, you've got
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Speaker 2 (03:08):
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Speaker 1 (04:01):
And with that word from the sponsor, Yeah, I was
gonna say, do you want to talk about our defense
first or offense? Because you know, I think on both
fronts there was a lot to be really excited about
and there also was a lot, you know, that could
be cleaned up. It's week one, right, I mean that's
gonna happen. You're not gonna come out and play perfect
game week one. You hope you don't, because usually if

(04:22):
you're at your peak week one, things usually go downhill
from there. So you like to kind of work these
things out week one. But Jake, let's talk about the defense.
Let's talk about the defensive front. Jared Verse was getting
the Aaron Donald treatment. I don't know if everyone else
picked up on that. But if you have some free time,
go to like Twitter if you're you know, still on

(04:44):
Twitter or Instagram or TikTok or wherever you get your
like clips from games, and just look up how they
were double teaming and triple teaming Jared Verse in Week one.
That is respect that he earned last season, and that
is something that it's going to happen every game this
season for him. He's officially kind of entered that rank

(05:05):
of player, but even then, he had a lot of
moments where he was still getting the pressure. He didn't
end up getting a sack, but you know, he was
at least getting the pressures. And I think that as
the season goes on and he works out how to
kind of handle those double teams, those triple teams, maybe
he'll call up his friend Aaron Donald again. Who knows,
he'll start to be able to get home and work

(05:26):
through that. But Jake, what were your thoughts on the
pressure that our defensive line was able to put on
to CJ. Stroud and particularly Jared Verse Because a lot
of people I think had some criticisms for him about
not being able to kind of get the sack. Right,
you know, he's getting the pressures and not the sack.
But I think there's a lot of context there that's needed.
So what are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, I thought, you know, the defense looked outstanding. Jared
Verse got a lot of flak, but Jared Verse also
had a twenty eight percent win rate. And I understand
this is not the best offensive line in the league.
As matter of fact, this is probably one of the
worst offensive lines in the league. I feel for Houston.
They lost Jake Andrews. I mean, a lot of injuries

(06:09):
going on right Cam Robinson went down. But here's the
big thing for me is how consistently the Rams are
getting pressure and you don't notice that at home unless
you're looking for it. Because CJ. Stroud and this game
plan was about the quick passing and that's just the

(06:29):
reality of it, right, because they knew the way to
shut down, you know, or neutralize a really good pass
rush is to get rid of the ball quickly. And
I felt like I was watching the Rams Raiders game
in twenty eighteen. I don't know if I brought that
up on our show last time, but I did. I did. Yeah,

(06:50):
I felt like I was watching. I was like, oh, okay,
I think we know the game script now, yeah it was.
It was tough, right because you know now you're not
going to get those sacks. However, there were a few
plays where CJ. Stroud went you kind of extended, and
I think you got to give the secondary a ton
of credit. The defensive line is great, there's no doubt

(07:11):
about it. But nobody was worried about the defensive line.
All I kept hearing all off season is how bad
this secondary is, how unproven the secondarrea is, how there's
such a liability. They're why people weren't picking them to
win this division preseason. Well, the reality is just because
you don't know who they are does not make them bad.
Quentin Lake is very good. Cam Curl's very good, right,

(07:34):
They have really good safeties. You look at Cam Kinchins
had a hell of a play in coverage, had some
really nice tackles. Really like what I saw out of
Kinchins in year two. I'm expecting big things. Tank McCullough is,
he's used on the blitz. You can already see the
wrinkles being added to this Chris Shula defense in year two,
which I absolutely love to see. He was a rookie

(07:55):
last year. A Lexus, and I thought they did a
nice job for the most part against the Lions, but
they weren't, you know, the team they wanted to be.
They end up going out and getting a Kello, They
end up getting Darius Williams back from ir That was
not the defense that we were supposed to see. And
I thought he did a really nice job in that
game against a high powered Lions team to start the year.

(08:17):
But can't forget about the corner speaking of a Kello, Witherspoon,
Emmanuel Forbes, Witherspoon, Durant, these guys all stepped up. So
on the off chance that CJ. Shroud had to roll
out of the pocket and make something happen, it was
with his legs. He wasn't really able to extend plays.

(08:38):
And if he had to extend plays, it was because
the secondary did such a great job. But when you
have a secondary that does a great job, and then
you have a defensive line that's doing a great job,
and you have a linebacker in Nate Landman, you have
another linebacker in Omar Spates, you start to wonder, how
the hell can I go against this team? And the
reality is the Texans just really couldn't do anything against

(08:59):
this defense. As matter of fact, they didn't even get
past the fifteen in this game. They were left out
of the end zone and it was just an absolute
dominant performance by the Rams defense. I'm very excited for
them moving forward. But back to your point, I think
people need to stop looking at the box score with sacks.
There's too many metrics out there to just go buy sacks.

(09:21):
At this point, Jared Verse played a hell of a game,
and more importantly than just the pass rush, Alexis I
noticed some serious development and improvement in the run game,
and that is the big thing with Jared Verse. I
think he was good at it, but he looked a
lot better to start this season.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, I think, you know, just a lot of context
obviously needed there with Jared Verse. And that was also
the same criticism people had when he started his rookie
season out of him right as they said he was
getting all these pressures when he's gonna start getting sacks,
and the sacks ended up coming, right, you know, he
built his way there, he got there. This was another
added element of having those double teams and triple teams,

(10:03):
So now he's got an additional thing he's got to
work through. I'm not worried about it. And I'm also
not worried about it because you've got guys like Braiden Fisk, Punaford,
you know, Tyler Davis, who, by the way, had a
sack yesterday. You know, you have these other guys on
the defensive line that are going to be able to
produce if Jared Vers is not able to. But also,
as we learned last season, and it's very obviously seems

(10:26):
obvious to say, when you have a guy that's pressuring
the quarterback like Jared Vers, even if he's not getting
home to get the sack, it opens up the door
for other players to which we're going to start seeing
a lot of. So everybody's going to be able to
feast on that defensive line. So I'm really really excited
about it. Glad that you know we shouted out Tyler Davis.
Obviously really really cool for him to get the sack there.

(10:48):
Ending this note about the defense, I think we should
talk about Braden Fisk's fumble recovery, which was massive in
terms of the game plan. I mean, obviously fumble recovery
great right just in general, but it was such an
athletic move and just like when you rewatch it in
slow emotion, just for a guy that big to make
that football play incredible and it just so speak to.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Just like hungry, hungry hippos just snatched it back. It
was crazy. I don't think I've ever seen. I'm glad
you brought that up because that kind of gets lost
when you talk about the punch that was absolutely insane.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Well, it was one of those plays where it took
it was there was two stars. It was Landman and Fisk, Right,
you know, you had the punch, which is brilliant, and
then you had the quick agility from Brandon Fisk to
go ahead and snatch that up and get the Rams
to recovery. So yeah, I mean again, fourteen to nine game.
You know you see that on paper, You're like, eh,
not great, right, but you look at kind of the

(11:47):
nuances of that game and these moments that were so critical,
it was great. It was really fun to see, and
I think that this defense is only going to get better.
Just remember we guys, you know, everybody's coming hot with
the criticisms. I get it, but like this was a
very very solid performance against you know, C. J. Stroud
is not a bad quarterback, and they do have a

(12:08):
lot of you know, granted young receivers on that team,
young stars in that team, but good players. So I
was really impressed with our our defense. And somebody in
the chat just pointed out Joe Siah Stewart tipped pass.
That is true, Yes, that did happen. I remember watching that,
So Jake, before we kind of get into our offense

(12:30):
and how we you know, our thoughts on the offense.
Is there anything you think we should wrap up talking
about defense? Maybe anything that we'd like to see improve
in week two?

Speaker 2 (12:41):
It's hard to say improve. I thought this was a
spectacular game from them. I'd like to see more Deswan
Johnson because he was inactive healthy scratch. They went with
LARRYL Merchison over him. Only played one snap, by the way,
But I'd like to see Desmon john get an opportunity
because his toolbox is there. I think he could be

(13:03):
used as a rusher. Tyler Davis, welcome to the sack party. Right,
just went through a full NFL season no sacks, first
game of his second year. You could tell this guy
means business. He's a good player, really good player, really
good against the run as well. Poona Ford speaking about
really good against the run. What a pickup. He looks

(13:23):
really good. When you lose a guy like Bobby Brown,
you need to go out and you need to add
some beef in the trenches, and they did that with
Poona Ford. So love what I saw from Ford there.
He also had two pressures in this game. Had a
sixteen percent win rate, which is pretty good from the
interior speaking a win rate. By the way, Byron Young,
how about his twenty two point seven percent win rate.

(13:44):
He looks a lot better this year.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Now.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I understand it's early, but Byron Young got the sack,
it seems like there's more to his arsenal. Love what
I saw. And then, man, I'm not saying that I'm
gonna be right about this. I was just really laying
the information I heard, although I was very high on
number fifty three because of that. But last episode I

(14:07):
spoke on what I was hearing about Nate Landman, how
much they were just gawking over him, you know, in
this this training camp and practice period and how he
became a leader and he's only been with the team
for what five months? So to see it come to
fruition That was a big deal for me. As you know,

(14:28):
I'm a very show me, don't tell me type of person.
And I've said this now multiple times, show me state Missouri.
But you know, I think when we saw Nate Landman
on Sunday, we saw a guy that the Rams could
theoretically bring back on a contract extension. We saw a
guy that'll likely be a fan favorite for the rest

(14:52):
of the year. That to start off your career with
the team in your first ever game and have ten tackles,
that's great, and that you know, locked down and coverage,
that's great, especially when he wasn't considered a coverage linebacker.
But to see what the land Man, as they put it,
I don't know why they called him that. The way
they said his name was hilarious on the broadcast, but Landman,

(15:15):
to see what he did on that final drive, the
punch out, that's what they brought him here to do.
That's something he does that is different from everyone else.
That's something he does that was not on this roster before,
and it's it's out there. We talked about last episode,

(15:35):
you're talking about us forced fumbles. He for six fumbles
the last two years. I'll tell you right now. I
bet the Falcons wish they didn't let him go. But
that's neither here or there. Rams defense flying high, feeling good.
Next up, you got a rookie quarterback in Tennessee. We'll
see how that goes down.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Well, yeah, I think that, you know, I just I
really liked what I saw from the defense, and I
think they're only going to get better as the season
goes on and we get further into it. So really
really impressed with our defense. So let's talk about our
offense because I think that this is a little bit
not even really a little bit. I mean, I think
it's what surprised people, right, I mean fourteen to nine game,

(16:17):
you come in with a high power offense of Matthew Stafford,
Devonte Adams, Pukinakua Kien Williams. I think people were expecting more.
And I will be honest, I think I underestimated the
defensive front of the Texans. I did. I know that
we talked and we in our preview episode we kind
of talked about their good pass rush and everything, but

(16:38):
I just think overall is a defensive front. I know
we both really thought that, like Kiraen Williams would have
a big game, right, became really apparent to me early
on that the run game was going to struggle. We
kind of came out tried to run the ball. We
weren't winning that battle. You know, the run blocking from
the defense was really good. I didn't think our offensive
line really did great, honestly in for the run game,

(17:02):
so that was a little bit concerning. I felt that
we had a lot more success when we were targeting
guys downfield, so that kind of early on, I think
that the game playing, the game plan changed. But again,
you know, Jake looking at kind of the way that
this offense played, I mean, pookin akuah, great, we knew
that that was going to happen. He's he's very clearly

(17:22):
Matthew Stafford's favorite target off the bat. And that's okay.
I know that there was all these things about DeVante
Adams versus Pook and a Coua or whatever. It's like
Matthew Stafford and Pook and a Coua have had a
really great connection since Nika's rookie year, right, I mean,
this is that's his guy, So that's not at all surprising.
I thought, you know, obviously he had early on, he

(17:42):
had some miscues with Vante Adams, but then they started
to heat up a little bit. I thought Kiren did
did alright with what he was given there. There was
wasn't a lot of lanes there, you know, available for
the run game. It just wasn't happening. He did get
that touchdown of fourth down, which, by the way, gutsy
call on fourth No, it ended up working, but in hindsight,

(18:06):
that is a crazy call to make on fourth down.
But that just I think speaks to them.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
That's not Sean mcvagh last year. I'm sorry, that's at
a pitch.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, a pitch on fourth and goal is crazy, but
it it. But it worked, so we'll take it. But yeah, Jake,
you know, what was it that you thought prevented this
offense from I think they seemed a little off, at

(18:37):
least in the first half. And it's not entirely surprising
that they seemed off, and we did have some offensive
line injuries. I think that Stafford and Adams might have
needed a few snaps to uh figure it out. But overall,
I mean, there wasn't really one thing that was like,
oh my god, this is going wrong. It just kind
of was like, you know, they weren't finding it again.

(19:00):
I also think that the Texans defense, I do have
to give them credit. I think they played a lot
better than I think a lot of us gave him
credit for.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
I don't think the Rams expected the Texans game plan
because looking at it, I don't think they expected them
to stack the box against Karen Williams because most teams
don't do that. And we're talking, I mean they stacked
the box against Karen Williams. We're talking what twenty two
percent of his carries were stacked boxes. That I wasn't

(19:33):
expecting that. I thought guys like will Anderson, obviously Daniel Hunter,
they really showed out. Aziz al Shaer was really good
as well. And I thought Tim Settle and Sheldon Rankins
did a nice job in the trenches. Actually, Rankins ended
up with the most pressures with five in the interior.

(19:55):
Now I'll say this, I do think just be being
banged up all game Ovula Dotson, you know, moving bow
limmer around and what. I don't think that's conducive to
winning football. But the Rams found a way to get
through that. It was really annoying because I think they

(20:15):
were about to find something. I think, right after that
Xavier Smith thirty six yard grab, which was brought on
by using two two out well as a decoy and
shading the defensive back over the middle of the field,
thus leaving that corner pocket right near the sideline wide open.
Foreign Exaber Smith. I feel like that point in time

(20:40):
they were about to go on a run, I think, offensively,
and then the injuries started piling up, you know, and
I think that was the issue. And I also think,
let's be honest here, I didn't like some of the
hits on Pukinakua. I'm sorry they picked up one of them.
Don't get me started on Craig rollstat. I cannot stand that, man,
But they picked up one of the flags. And my issue,

(21:01):
alexis is when this guy's constantly having to be taken
out of the game due to an official penalty or
official review right to make sure he doesn't have a
concussion and all that, it ruins the flow of the offense.
I mean, it's like saying Todd Gurley in twenty seventeen,
who was the engine to the offense. All of a sudden,

(21:22):
you're just like, yeah, we're gonna take Todd Gurley out,
and you know, evaluate him for a concussion. Well, now
your offense is going to run differently. It's like Kyra
Williams in twenty twenty three, who was the engine of
that offense. You're just gonna take Kyra Williams out. You
saw what happened with no Kira Williams. They went one
in three. So you're just gonna take him out and
now you have to figure it out on the fly.

(21:42):
It's like last year. You know you're just gonna take
Jared Vers out of your defense. Well, now it's a
completely different defense. So the idea that I don't want
to say the Texans were headhunting because that kind of
is a negative connotation and you know, makes it sound
like I think that they're a dirty team or I
think that Demko Ryans is a dirty coach. That's not

(22:04):
the case, but on those you know, few plays, you know,
I felt like they were pretty dirty, and honestly, it
was really frustrating because I think two of the three
were called and then picked up. And so if you're
going to allow them to do that, well, now guess what.
Not only are they getting away with it, but now

(22:26):
Puka Nikua is on the sideline and He's how you're
running your You're running your offense through him. So that
was that was my thing. I just after further review,
I feel like the Rams offense was starting to get going,
and then there's injuries, and then there's Pooka, and you know,
I think there was a lot going on, and that's

(22:49):
just one of those things where you just find a
way to win and get out of there, right. It
just it was a tough day. Uh not everything was
going right on offense. That said, do you know what
was going right on offense? I'll tell you Matthew Stafford.
He looked outstanding, as good as ever, really, because what
Matthew Stafford did in this game is face pressure on

(23:09):
forty percent of his dropbacks. Understand how insane that is.
But when people try to compare him to Aaron Rodgers,
I don't get it. Aaron Rodgers has no mobility anymore, none,
Like if he tries to move, he's probably gonna knock
himself down to the turf. Matthew Stafford can still move
in the pocket. Is he gonna be like what we

(23:29):
saw with Caleb Williams last night in the pocket? No,
he doesn't need to. He has these subtle movements. He
can orchestrate pocket movement well, and he can manipulate defenses
with his eyes, with his arm angle, and then of
course with his legs. And that is what Matthew Stafford did.
And he was in his bag. We got no look passes,

(23:50):
we got you know, the bootleg, throwing off his you know,
throwing against his body. This is still one of the
best quarterbacks in the National Football League. I think he's
one of the best quarterbacks to ever be on a
football field. The things he does are so taken for granted,
and I just thought today, you know, that game was

(24:11):
just another one of those. Okay, yeah, he can really
just do whatever he wants on a football field. It's
a thing of beauty to watch.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
No look past see that clip.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
It shouldn't look that easy. He makes it look so easy.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
No, it was. It was really good to see Matthew
Stafford out there, especially, you know when you talk about
how kind of disjointed the offense got off the bat
with the offensive line and kind of having to change
the game playing a little bit. You know, when you
have a guy like number nine leading the offense, you
feel better and things tend to go better, right, so yeah,
Matthew Stafford looked great. Obviously, his connection with Nikua is

(24:47):
still there. I think him and Adams are going to
heat up. Let's talk a little bit about the run
game a little bit, because I mean we already talked
about Obviously, Detectsins did a lot better against Run that
we thought they made it. Getting a run game going
pretty difficult wasn't much there. But I did see a
lot of people talking about the workload between Kyron and

(25:10):
Blake and Jarqus Hunter was inactive, So I personally, you know,
so you had that, I personally wasn't expecting that. And
then if you want to lead this into a conversation
about Cody Strader, you and I I figured because you
and I both feel very similarly about Cody Strader and
the way that that situation was handled. But first let's

(25:33):
talk about you know, I guess if were you surprised
by the workload shares at running back, because I wasn't.
I think this is kind of what we expected. I
know a lot of people thought that there'd be more
of a split, but I just think when you when
you look at kind of what the Texans were doing
and how difficult they were making it. You have your

(25:53):
the guy that you trust out there, right, you have
your running back one. I think there was a lot
that Kyrien did. I think it was too plays into
the game that Kyrien upended who was it on pass pro?
Did you see that? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (26:07):
I I'll say this, I thought he was. He was
fifty to fifty in pass pro in this game, and
I actually.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Some moments, you're right.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, I noticed something. I think he's a little bigger
in his lower half. I think, you know, middle of
the season, I think he's probably gonna slim down a
little bit, but I think he's still getting you because
he's it's a different body. I don't know if you
notice that it's a different body with Kyen Williams. He
looks a little bit bigger, he's quicker. But I think
it's also kind of like marrying the you know, the

(26:37):
feet with the eyes with the body overall. I think
that's something that he's going to have to, you know,
get get comfortable with, because I felt like there were
times where it's like in the past he would trust
his feet and then this time it's like, Okay, I'm
going to take it to the outside again. It's Week
one so that's to be expected. But I think in

(26:58):
this game for the Rams, uh, you know, when you
see the Texans are coming out and they're stacking the box,
and they're like, you're not running the football, you're not
establishing play action. That's not really a situation where you
can justify like getting Blake Koram a ton of carries in,
you know what I mean. So I felt like the

(27:20):
Rams did right by their situation. Yeah, they got Korum
some touches, but you gotta stick with what works, and
you know, Kyron works and this was not This was
not easy. And again people are gonna get on Kyra
Williams three point seven yards per carry. Okay, you don't
win the game without him because the touchdown was I'm sorry,

(27:43):
Blake korm isn't converting that. You want to go back
to the Packers game as proof, let's do that. It's
not converting that fourth and goal. But the big thing
for me is that people get on kiraen Williams for
like his lack of production from twenty twenty three, right,
because he was more explosive if you will. Stat wise,
what I would say is this twenty twenty three, his

(28:06):
offensive line had a bill of health, and they also
got Kevin Dotson injected into them about week five, I
believe week four, and you instantly saw it. Well. Last year,
Ovula went down, Jonah Jackson went down. Jonah Jackson wasn't good.

(28:26):
There were a lot of different things going on. Alec Jackson,
people forgot was suspended the first two games. So aj
R Curry somehow ends up as the left tackle in
the first game of the year. So the Rams they
went through this last year. Now we're hoping it's not
going to be as bad. But it's hard to establish
the run when your two guards are out. It's hard

(28:46):
to establish the run when you're not just having a
backup guard, you're having your center, your backup center playguard.
And I know bo Limmer can do that, but make
no mistake about it, bo Limber is a center, okay.
And so that that's the thing is that when you
have a lot of these moving pieces, it can be
a problem. And I just think that the Rams did
as well as they possibly could in the run game.

(29:10):
And all you have to do, Alexis is just show
that you're willing to run the football and you can
get some yards and then that opens up play action
and then Matthew Stafford is just it's dagger, dagger, dagger,
And we saw that. And I give Sean McVay a
lot of cret. You mentioned the ball Z, you know,
fourth down call. I'll talk about the ball Z third
down call. In the past, Sean McVay would have just

(29:32):
run the ball again, would have punted it back to
the Texans, and the Texans would have gone back down
and that we would have had to see another defensive stop.
And that is not what he did. He decided to
do a rollout play action bootleg and Stafford lofted it
Puka akuas open because he was hiding in the trenches
as a blocker. Another thing he can do that because

(29:55):
he blocks. And there you go. I just I love
the I love the for of that call because you
I don't know if I think you did. Did you
watch Kansas, Missou?

Speaker 1 (30:09):
I watched a little bit of it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
So Kansas absoluttion have won that game just by giving
up six hundred total yards of offense. But their coach,
and I love them, but Lance Leipold decided to punt
the ball and be like, Nope, we trust in our defense.
That has given up six hundred total yards of offense.
We're good. He played not he played not to lose,

(30:32):
not to win. He played not to lose. So I
love bringing this up because it's polar opposite football. Sean
McVay could have played that brand of football, and what
happens in that case, and this is the opposite because
they're on offense. What happens in that case is that
now you're gonna run the football and now you're gonna
punt it back to them and give them time. However,
Sean was like, if that, I'm ending the game. Now,

(30:56):
let's do it. Stafford was ready, Nakua was ready. Everyone
block their assignment and boom, the Rams are one to zero.
We don't have to think. We don't have to sweat
it out again. The defense got their stop and then
the offense came away with their you know, big break there.
That's how it should be. It's that simple. Don't over

(31:17):
complicate it college. I feel like they always do. Sean
McVay used to, but he's learning.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, yeah, I mean I think that you know, obviously,
fourteen points not ideal, right, it got the win. I
mean it was just one of those games and we
kind of touched on that a little bit earlier, like
it was just one of those games that felt a
little bit disjointed from the beginning. Not a crazy concept
for week one. I think the shuffling around on the
offensive line obviously not great, not ideal to get to

(31:47):
have your offense try and heat up. And then I also,
you know, gave credit to the Texans defense played a
lot better than I thought that they would and they
came in hot and swing in So it's just one
of those games. But overall, I think there's a lot
to be excited about an offense. You know, the running
back situation that we were talking about. If you want

(32:08):
to talk about Cody Schrader, because I know that you
said you just wanted to. But before we talk about
Cody Schrader, I was surprised to see your Quaz Hunter inactive.
I just think it was a little it was a
weird It just feels like it's been a weird week
in the Rams running back room because to my knowledge, uh,
dark Quiz Hunter. It was a healthy scratch is what

(32:31):
I'm hearing, So this wasn't like an injury. And then
all of a sudden, Cody Schrader was elevated to the
fifty three, so we thought that, and then then it's
just a strange because then all of a sudden, we
have news today that the Jaguars picked up Cody Schrader.
So I might I'll let you go first, because I
know that you've been chomping at the bit to discuss this,

(32:52):
But I just wanted to set the table for everybody
listening that might not have known kind of the ups
and downs of between Sun and now the Rams running
back room, Jake flora Is Yours.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Love a lot of what the Rams do, but I'm
always gonna keep it real because people legitimately think I'm
a homer. This is an easy team to cover and
be positive about because they've been one of the best
organizations since twenty seventeen. Right, there's not much to really
complain about. That's why when they do something that I

(33:25):
can complain about, I'm gonna complain about it. I'm gonna
be loud about it. Hated what they did with Willie Lampkin.
Now you look, two guards are injured. The Eagles have
them on their ir Yep, the Eagles also because teams
are idiotic and continue to make the reigning Super Bowl
champions better, they don't stop trading with Howie. It is unreal.

(33:47):
The Jaguars sent over last year's starting running back, Tank Bigsby,
so they're bolstered, like they got Saquon Tank Bigsby, they
got the kid from Will Shipley, and then they also
have of Oh my god, aj Dillon.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
It's selfish, is what it is. Because if you watched
that Eagles game, Will Shipley is like, I like Will.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Shipley, Yeah, he just he just lost me and you
got me.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Then you go get bigs By, then you get Strader.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Well no, they didn't get Trader. It was the Jaguars.
But I get what you're saying. So so that's the
thing is that the Eagles their connection to it, right,
So the Eagles get Lampkin, then the Eagles go out
and get Bigsby and they're somehow connected to the Rams
losing yet another player who once again they failed in

(34:40):
the management department. Why do I still have any issue
with Willie Lampkin because it was so simple put him
on IR designated to return. You did it last year
with kt Leveston, who they traded away to the Browns
for some reason. You did it last year Okay, you
didn't even have to pick him up off ir but
he's there. He can make it through. You don't have

(35:01):
to wave him. That's what they could have done with
Cody Schrader. I wouldn't be as upset if they didn't
tell us how valuable he was. He was on the
fifty three, he was on the game day roster, he
was active. So we're talking about a guy who they
suited it up instead of their draft pick that they
kept saying was their favorite running back in the draft.

(35:24):
So Jarquaz Hunter goes from their favorite running back in
the draft to yeah, he's not ready. Let's suit up
Cody Schrader off the practice squad. But oh, while we're
at it, let's show the entire league that this guy's
good enough to be on our fifty three. And then, oh,
by the way, we're not going to protect him. So
now everybody that watched his game film can now go

(35:45):
and try and sign him off our practice squad, and
we can't do lick about it. I don't get it.
These are simple things where if I was in those positions,
I would be so like on it with these things.
And these are the things that I do think about
I can't stand that they allowed this. I know it's

(36:08):
just Cody Schrader, but this is now two things, two
instances where you have good players that are now gone.
And I'm just not a fan of losing good players
for free. I'm not a fan.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Yeah, And I think I think, like all of the
comments are like, oh, you know, it's it's Cody Schrader.
He's a third string running back. Cody Strader is a
pretty solid third string fourth string quarterback or running back.
Sorry excuse me. You know, he's a pretty good player.
I think stylistically he's very similar maybe to the Kirne Blake,
you know, archetype, So like, you know, I get that

(36:42):
maybe it's not diversifying the running back room a lot,
but he's a pretty good player. He's a player that
you want on your practice squad. I mean, god forbid
you get an injury to running back one or two, right,
I mean, he's pretty good. But it's also not just that.
It's just kind of the way that it went down
was so awkward to me. Especially you know then, you know,

(37:02):
you don't think that Hunter is ready to be out there,
but you think Trader is, So you're elevating Strader to
to a point where you think that he could play
over the guy you just drafted in the fourth round.
It just was weird. It was just a weird situation.
I felt bad about it because I do really like Strader,
and I also he's another Saint Louis kid. So this
is why I can't. I feel like I can't talk

(37:23):
about it because people think I'm biased, but I do.
I do like him.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
I hate Zoom right now because of what they did
to Kansas, and I'm still pissed. So there you go.
I'm unbiased.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Yeah you are unbiased and you like Cody Schrader. But
it also just it's hurts that he's going to an
NFC contender when the Rams want to be an NFC contender.
And it's also just like the Eagles man, Like I said,
it's so selfish that running back room is just selfish.
Now they've got four guys that are just great.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
You got to be an asshole to win in this league.
I say it all the time, and.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
I feel like we made it so easy for them
with Lambkin and Trader. It is just frustrating the way
that I.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Would be praying every day that they like they keep
picking up guys and eventually they're like, oh, I guess
we have to cut him because they'll go right back
to the RAMS practice squad.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
You know you will, well maybe you never know.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Well, I think he'd go on there fifty three now
because of the too, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Because he well, it is what it is. It was
just more annoying the way that it went down. And
you know, I guess, you know, hopefully Hunter is active
next week because I would like to see Hunter out
there playing. I was very surprised that he wasn't this week,
but we got supers. Let's do it, Deb Banks.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
Deb appreciate you. Hey, Hey, welcome back. Alexis Also, are
you concerned at all about our O line? I feel
Rob has slowed way down. Well, I understand why you
feel that dead, but understand, Daniil Hunter versus Rob Haven's
is never going to be a fair matchup. We're talking
about a Greek god of an athlete versus Rob Hanstein,

(39:08):
who is He's more built to be sturdy than he
is athletic, right, so he's built the last and we
see that right tackle. But we've also seen what happens
when speed rushers go against Rob Hanstein. Throughout his career,
So is he missed a reliable Yes, but also guys
like Daniel Hunter are going to make this dude look really,

(39:29):
really tough, So you know there's that. And then yeah,
Cody Schrader went to the Jaguars.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
I guess that needed to be no, no, I was
I was saying the Eagles. I was saying the Eagles
basically cause this again because they picked up Lampkin, and
then of course they had something to do with this
because they acquired Bigsby, and then that led the corresponding move,
the Jaguars taking Cody Schrader.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Got it.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
I just wanted to.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Hit on the e My brain did a pretzel. But regardless,
I think people are like, I think people are like
thinking we're overrating Trader, which I can I understand. Sorry,
I'm taking away from deb super chat. I do think
it's fair to say that we're overrating uh, over rating
him in terms of like his talent, but like I

(40:19):
also think that, like it is fair to say that
when you look at the rams running back room, he
he is a really good depth piece to guys like
Kyron and Blake in a way that I'm not sure,
you're gonna find.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Elsewhere they value him by calling him up to the
active roster, so like, you know.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Well, it's still just the situation is just so strange.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, I don't I don't like it.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
But whatever, we talked about it back to a yeah,
Dev's question, because it's a really good question. I speaking
for me about the offensive. I think, if anything, I
am concerned a little bit about like the health a
little bit, because you've now got.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
I'm concerned at guard.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yeah, yeah, guard. As far as rob I agree with Jake,
I don't think that's a fair fight. No. Nevertheless, you
know the past rush, I think it might go a
little bit better, you know, against a team like Tennessee.
But I think if everyone can stay healthy, I'm not concerned.
But obviously my heart stopped, right. You see two of
our guards go down week one, and I'm sitting there

(41:30):
going like we haven't even finished a half football yet
in twenty twenty five, and.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah and Pookah, It's like, what the hell, man, I'm.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Not such a weird It was such a weird game,
as we've said.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Just it was Poka Nakua doing his best Kylo Ren
impression with the scar over his eye. That was wild,
not that he was trying to. I mean, I don't
think he's going out there like hit me. But here
we are. Saylor Swift will have the name, Absolutely love
the name. Rams made a splash sign in the midyear

(42:05):
for OBJ won the Super Bowl. Is there anyone we
could acquire? Well, if they somehow want another receiver, And no,
I'm not talking about Tyreek Hill. I would go ape
shit if they if they told us they're looking at
a receiver. Personally, I think the receiver room is totally fine, right, Yeah,

(42:27):
but Jacoby Myers on this team. I don't think people
realize how freaking good Jacoby Myers has been. He's been insane.
And the Raiders is actually kind of the funniest thing
ever because the media was like, hey, what's the deal
because I don't know if you remember Alexis, Jacoby Myers
asked for a trade from the Raiders and they said no.

(42:48):
And then one of the uh, one of the reporters
was like, hey, so about that trade and and He's
just like yeah, they said no, Like was this super casual.
I don't want anything to do with Tyreek Hill because
I watched the way he carries himself and I don't
like it.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
Also, more news came out today.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
There's always news on him. So I don't want anything
to do with the off the field stuff. There it
is again, ye.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
I got to get him after.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
This, so and we agree on that. Typically want to
stay away from that type of stuff, but regardless of
the off the field stuff, because obviously that goes without saying.
I don't like the on the field stuff. I don't
like that. Every time you know he's on the sideline,
he's throwing a fit. There's always drama. I don't want

(43:40):
him anywhere near, you know. I think if the Steelers
go and acquire him, they'd be making a colossal mistake.
But my thing is, I know a lot of people
will be like, oh, come on Tyreek Hill, and the
Rams would be so great and we would fix his attitude.
I don't care. I don't want anything to do with him.
Jacoby Myers. If they were going to go for a
wide receiver, that's somebody, But who do they really need

(44:04):
to add? I mean, that's that's kind of the thing,
is that I when they finished this team and we
knew they weren't gonna get Jalen Ramsey was kind of like, Alexis,
I think they're good. I don't really think they need
anybody currently. We'll see how the season plays out, because
last time, you know, I was like, oh yeah, we
got Robert Woods and Cooper Cup Van Jefferson. Now obj
Robert Woods has gone. The next day, I'm at a

(44:26):
Devil's game and I get this this eight eight am.
I get this text from somebody unknown numbers like uh
you know on Twitter or whatever, was like, uh yeah,
Robert Woods out for the year. I was like, what,
I thought somebody was pulling my leg. Turns out it
was some probably somebody from the RAMS organization. So yeah,

(44:47):
you don't know how things are gonna go down. I
would just say, in this form, this iteration of the
Los Angeles Rams is the best roster they've had in
the Sean McVay era. I really believe that. I think
this team is primed to win a Super Bowl as
long as they stay healthy. Praying for Alexi's health right now,
because I'm worried that this bug is gonna kill you

(45:08):
or something. I don't know, but I.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Am very monitoring the situation. Sorry, finish your thought. I
know that it's distracting people.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
But no, you're fine. So yeah, I mean where that's
my thing, Like this is a great, super appreciated sailor,
But like, where would they upgrade? Because you could say, oh, yeah,
they could get offensive lineman. I see that in the
comment section. Who is trading their offensive lineman? Because keep
in mind, and I want to make this clear, you

(45:39):
might say, oh, a team sucks they trade their offensive lineman. No,
because say the Titans are terrible, right, you would think, oh, yeah,
they're gonna be sellers at the deadline, except for one
little tiny thing. Camboard still has to play. And if
you're gonna put him behind a bad offensive line, you're

(45:59):
gonna get your friend franchise quarterback killed. So it's not
as simple as that. I saw long snapper. Yeah, there's
just right now, there's nobody. The only one I can
even think of that would be available is Jacobe Myers.
Maybe a tight end. Is this the year Kyle Pitts
finally becomes a RAM? I feel like we're constantly heary

(46:20):
about Kyle Pitts. Is this the year? I don't know,
they're running twelve personnel, So maybe they do go with
a tight end. Maybe they want to upgrade that position,
I don't know. But as far as defensive line, like
who are they gonna go out? Like I saw somebody said,
yeah they should get a I forget his name, but
they were they were talking about a defensive linement. I'm like,

(46:41):
where is he gonna play? You know what I mean?
Like they're they're they're stacked.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Yeah. I there's no one in my mind off the
top of my head, like a trade target for the Rams. Now.
I'm not saying that there isn't somebody that would improve
this RAMS team. Of course there is. Yeah, there's got
to be somebody out there if I really sat down
and thought about it and like that's who the Rams
should go out and get. But it's not really a
thought on my mind right now. And also it's like

(47:09):
week one exactly. You know. I think if we see
maybe week three, I'll assess and be like, all right,
this is maybe what we need to do, uh, you know,
what we need to improve on. But yeah, I don't
think this this team, thankfully, isn't a spot where we're
like already having to be like all right, here's where
we need to upgrade, Here's where we need to upgrade.

(47:30):
And you know, kind of go down the list, so
we'll see. Also, it would be so weird for us,
I feel like to trade for Kyle Pitts considering we
need the Falcons to be really bad, Like, I just feel.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Like, I guess taking away Kyle Pitts would make them worse, like.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
But yeah, because we would have to like what would
we be giving I guess would be the question.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
I mean, anything more than a fourth row. Well, you
can't give it a fourth round pick because you traded
that to draft Ty Hamilton, which I'm definitely not better
about him not playing anyway, I'm not happy about it,
but we move Uh, yeah, it would be a fifth
rounder or less for me, I'm not trading anything more
than that for Kyle Pitt's money. And he's also a

(48:16):
free agent after the season. So yeah, I think Myers
is probably the only one that I could even think
of right now that's genuinely available. Like I saw there
were people like what about your real Peppers? Not in
our comment section, but I saw that on Twitter. Great
player really liked the player? Where the hell is he
gonna play? Where find me? You can't like people will

(48:41):
say like, oh, yeah, secondary we need need who what
do you need it at secondary? You know, what, what
do you need at corner? That's the thing, like I
can't like you can, I don't know. I just that's
just my take on it.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
But yeah, you got seven minutes, Jake, because it's a
round table. So we Oh my gosh, the bug came back.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
That's so ridiculous. This is so the fact it shows
up so well on camera is so stupid.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
The fact, I know it's like the fact that it's
just it's a cartoonishly big bug. But overall, you know, Jake,
I think you know, my closing thoughts kind of on
the game is that, you know, I give credit to
the Texans. I thought that they fought a lot harder
than I thought. I think I underestimated their defense, so

(49:40):
that's good on them for that. I think that, you know,
the offense struggled, but I think a lot of that
had to just do with these weird nuances throughout the
game that probably started with the offensive line. And I
think that you know, that, combined with the Texans defense
that was playing really well, it was harder to score
than maybe we thought. But I didn't see anything concerning

(50:03):
out of the Rams. I thought they fought really, really hard.
I was really proud of this team. And we're gonna
have a much different matchup next week against the Tennessee Titans,
and we're going to talk about that Friday night. But yeah, overall, hey,
starting out Week one with the W.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
We'll take it. No, we can't complain excited to talk
about the Titans on Friday. That is not going to
be an easy game. I'm here to tell you before
we head out of here. Titans are for real. Defensively,
Denard Wilson is their defensive coordinator. Lexis. I don't know
if you remember Denard Wilson was on that Jeff Fisher

(50:41):
staff in Saint Louis, so Sean McVay didn't retain him.
I don't know if there's any bad blood there, but anyway,
but no, that that defensive line or that well, the
defensive line, but the defense overall. Really impressed with what
I saw on tape. I actually really like, really liked
what I saw from the Titans. Gave Bo Knicks fits.

(51:02):
Now Stafford is a astronomically leaps and bounds better quarterback
than Bo Knicks, but could be some problems. Jeffrey Simmons
gave the Rams fits in the Super Bowl season. Titans
won that game. Titans won their last meeting. The meeting
before that, the Rams beat them to essentially clinch the
NFC West for the first time since two thousand and three.

(51:25):
So there's some interesting matchups there. But cam Ward, I
don't know what you did, my guy. I have no
idea what you did to piss off the scheduling crew.
Cam Ward facing the Broncos defense with that altitude in
his first ever start, the Rams defense, the Colts defense,
the Texans defense, all back to back to back to back. Stupid.

(51:49):
It's so dumb. So yeah, the poor guy, he's gonna
grow up very quickly. I like Ward. I think the
Rams will end up winning. Like, I'm not worried about that,
but yeah, I like him. But I'm just saying that
Titans game is not the cake walk that some Rams
fans will be saying it.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Is, and we will talk about it Friday night. Guys.
Appreciate everybody for tuning into the live episode. Appreciate everybody
who's gonna be listening later via YouTube or podcast streaming services.
As always, if you like what you hear, please like
and subscribe. You can follow us on social media at
Downtown Rams. You can follow me on Twitter at the

(52:28):
Alexis Kraft. You can follow Jake at JK Bogan and guys,
we'll be back at five pm Pacific time eight pm
Eastern on Friday night. But until then, as always, stay safe,
take care, and go Rams