Ep.573: Can Sean McVay's Rams stay UNDEFEATED in London?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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 this
Friday night to preview the rams upcoming matchup against the
Jacksonville Jaguars in London. That's right, the Rams will be
playing that London slot this Sunday morning, this very early

(00:25):
Sunday morning. Jake, it's gonna be I believe, six thirty
in the morning for our friends on the Pacific Coast,
it's gonna be eight thirty am where I live, nine
thirty am over where you are in the East Coast,
and it's gonna be great. It's always fun to watch
your team in primetime, and even though it's early, it
always does feel kind of like a special little tree

(00:46):
right to see your team playing overseas and a unique
environment for the fans over there, to get to be
exposed to your team. Just kind of a cool ordeal.
But obviously for people who are not early morning risers
and for people who might be having a late Saturday night,
not ideal, but nevertheless that's what's happening. Jake. Looking at

(01:08):
this matchup over in London, against these Jacksonville Jaguars, who
I think have surprised a lot of people this season.
I think they've really outperformed expectations, at least in the mainstream.
They've been playing very well. I mean Trevor Lawrence, who's
had his ups and downs in his career, has really
come through in some of these big games for them. Jake,

(01:31):
looking at this matchup, what do you think the story
is here?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, it's a wild matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
The Jaguars are way better than I think many of
us expected them to be, even though I will say,
and this is a little caveat here, you might not
know some people might I have gotten every single pick
right this year for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I have predicted
their entire season correctly for six games. Yes, that includes
upsets against the forty nine Ers, losing the Seahawks, beating

(02:00):
the Chiefs, losing the Bengals. Yeah, so they're gonna you know,
you already know where I'm going with that, But yeah, yeah, right,
I can't say that for other teams, right. I think
I'm owening six for quite a few teams in this league.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I don't know. It's been a tough year to predict.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
You should have just quit while you were ahead. You
should have just set the Jaguars and then like not
gone into that.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, well that's that's part of like, you know, the
humble brag, sure, but also bring to earth.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, I'm a believer in self scouting, you know, yep,
I get it. The Rams are two and.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Two in London, by the way, all time, but they're
two winner with Sean McVay and believe it or not,
Sean McVay has outscored teams fifty seven to ten. And
the last time the Rams have played an AFC team
in London the only time they faced that team. Let's see,
I can't do math that well, we'll say two. I

(02:55):
guess we could say two years later, two years later
in the Super Bowl. That's right, they played the Bengals.
And then two years later they played him in the
Super Bowl. So this a preview of what's to come.
Who knows, But no, all jokes aside. You know, London
has been kind of a home for the Jaguars, the
second home. They've had eleven games there. They're six and five.

(03:17):
Most notably, they just recently beat the Bills and the
Falcons in twenty twenty three, so it's been a year
away from London. It's gonna be interesting to see the
fan turn out Alexis, But I think the big storyline
in this game is the familiarity factor. You got Liam
Cohen the teacher versus the student, Liam Cohen the student

(03:39):
the teacher, Sean McVay former off that's a coordinator.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
And then you have, of course whose name. I don't
know why.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
I always forget this guy's name. I talked about him
all off season, the general manager. He was with the
Rams organization forever.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Oh yeah, I forget his name too.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
James Gladstone. I always forget this dude's name. I don't
know why. I said his name a trillion times. They
can't even tell you how many people asked me to
come on their show to talk about James Gladstone before
he even interviewed with their team.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
That said James Gladstone. We got that out of the way.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
I always call him Jimmy by accident. Well, and I
don't think he goes by that because.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
He does, like to some people. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
It's not public knowledge though, so like I have no
reason to be calling him Jimmy Gladstone. Yeah, but I
either forget or call him Jimmy. But you're right, it
is James Gladstone.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
I mean, I don't know, put some flair on it,
you know, I don't know, but Jimmy Stone's good lord.
So I want to rectify a mistake I made in
my last because I did a preview video.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
I do a preview video of every episode, and I.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Was just basically ranting and raving about Brenton Strange. I
can confirm I now know he's on the IR. I
don't know how I missed it. I guess I just
got into the tape and I was all excited and everything.
From a football perspective, yes, Breton Strange is not playing.
He's a stud by the way, stud, But we won't
get into that. Alexis. There's a lot of different things

(05:11):
going into this game. But I think the most important
thing is they're both four and two, and they're both
teams right now that people kind of want to project
their insecurities on about the season. And what I mean
by that is I keep hearing ooh, the loser won't
make the playoffs and the winner will. It's like, I
don't think it's that deep. I think it's two good
teams that are playing each other. The Rams get a

(05:33):
chance to head into the buy at five and two.
But if they do head in the buy at four
and three, they had they went into the by in
twenty twenty well, yeah, twenty twenty three at three and six,
and I thought the season could be over. And then
you know this the one in four start or whatever

(05:54):
to last year. This is a team that we know
Sean McVay is going to have him ready to play
in the second half. But if they already have a
good head start and you're talking about already having four
wins potentially five, you have to feel good about where
the Rams are at in that sense for sure.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
And you know it is going to be really interesting,
you know, seeing this matchup. You know something that we've
talked about and I think just a lot of people
have talked about this season, these London games have been
really weird, and I want I want to preface that. Yeah,
I mean every every game in London has just gone
so bizarrely this season that I'm going to preface this

(06:34):
episode by saying that, because we're going to analyze this
and talk about this as if that's not the case,
but there's a very high possibility that this game starts
in Jake and I kind of like metaphorically look at
each other and are like, it's already. It's just like
gotten really weird because it and it makes sense because
you're in a different country, right you're overseas. It's difficult

(06:57):
enough to get ready to play an NFL game just
in general. Now you're at the time difference, different time zone,
jet lag, environment, routine, all shaken up. So just would
be remiss if we didn't mention that the London games
have just been an absolute crazy show so far this season.
But Jake, looking at our matchup against the Jaguars, let's

(07:19):
start by talking about our offense, because I think the
big story right now with the Rams offense is Puka
Nakua is out. He will not be playing against Jacksonville,
which is obviously a massive loss. He's our you know,
wide receiver, one one of the best players in the offense,
you know. Right now, I think he's obviously Stafford's most

(07:40):
comfortable connection receiving wise, and he's not going to be
out there. So that's going to really I think, kind
of test this Rams passing attack and see Okay, can
Stafford connect with Adams more? Right? Like, they have their
moments where you know, they they've had some really good
plays together where that chemistry feels like it's there, and
then there's other times where it feels like Stafford and

(08:01):
Adams still are not on the same page. Stafford's overthrowing him,
you know, behind him whatever. Right, So I think the
natural instinct for that RAMS receiving game is going to
be for Devonte Adams to step into that role and
for Stafford to be targeting him the most. But also,
you know, then you look at Kien Williams, I'd say

(08:23):
he's been the next guy in the receiving game. I
mean quite literally, you look at you know, receiving numbers
and receptions. You know, Kien Williams has come up big
in the receiving game. Do the RAMS rely on him
more in Pukunukua's absence, you know, maybe they look to Kien.
Maybe they keep trying to get Jordan Whittington involved, right,
you know, see what he can do in that receiving
game to to at well, whenever we've targeted to to out, well,

(08:45):
he's done great things. So hopefully, you know, the RAMS
continue to build upon that and get him involved. He's
going to be playing since seems that his injury is
behind him. Tyler Hibby got more involved last game. Right,
maybe we look at Ferguson. Hopefully we say it every episode,
where like Terrence Ferguson, please use him, and then the

(09:07):
Rams like use him on like a jet sweep, you
know what I mean. It's like, let's really use him, right,
Let's actually throw it to him in the red zone.
We want to see that kill me as a fan base. Yeah,
that was a brutal play call, which we talked about
last episode.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Just I watched Did you watch that in All twenty two?
By the way, did you get a chance to?

Speaker 1 (09:25):
I didn't watch that. No I didn't, But I mean
I just.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Actually he missed his block entirely. He had the block
and he just didn't see it. And then he like,
that's one of those plays where I don't fault him
when he's hee in that situation unless they have been
going through it the whole week. And if that's the case,
I don't know what else to say. But not ever
put in that situation, the block is made. You watch

(09:51):
Cooper Cup in the Super Bowl and fourth and one
he has to get that yard against the Bengals, and
there's no hesitation, he just it's all one motion. He goes,
he hits that you know, the spot where he's supposed
to hit, and then he does like a spin move
and gets tackled and gets the first down. I mean,
I don't know if I'd be comfortable watching that run

(10:12):
again in a serious spot.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
So yeah, I thought the play call. I didn't hate it.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
I just he looks slow because it's not that he's slow,
He's got build up speed, but I think he looks
slower because he was hesitant. That has to be something,
you know, like if you did that with Kyra and Williams.
Obviously he's a running back, they would suspect it. But
if you had like his vision and like how quick
he is, like the quick trigger in his brain, boom.

(10:40):
And I'm not calling t Ferg slow, but I'm just saying,
like that's one of those plays where it doesn't matter
how good you are in that moment you have to
make a cut on a dime. You have to make
a decision. He didn't, and so that it looks like
he's slow and he gets uh yeah, he ends up
getting tackled, So that was frustrating.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, I just didn't love that play call with him. No,
I agree and just it just yeah, I mean, we
want to see him being thrown to in the red zone.
We want to see him being utilized as that kind
of receiving tight end that he was drafted to be,
right or that we all thought he was absolutely and
hopefully the Rams in London can continue to utilize him
and you know, just spread the ball out more. You know,

(11:20):
pukin Aku is out. You know, we can't force the
ball to Puka anymore. We're gonna have to get some
other guys involved, you know, hopefully, Like I said, that
connection with Adams Uh feels a little bit more fluid
and feels a little bit more accurate this game. But Jake,
looking at this offensive attack, right, we mentioned that pookin
Akua uh is out and looking at you know, I'm

(11:42):
pulling up now the Jaguars, you know, depth chart and
who's going to be out there for them. You know,
they've obviously got like Trayvon Walker, right, he's healthy. I
know that he was battling some injury, but it sounds
like he's going to be out there josh Heinz Allen.
You know in that passing attack, Devon Hamilton on the
end your ear, Devin Lloyd is going to be out.
It sounds like, which is that's huge in Yeah, I

(12:09):
mean there that that is a huge loss for the Jaguars.
And then you look at that secondary. You know they
got like Andrew Winguard, Jordan Lewis, they traded for Greg Newsom,
which was such an odd trade to me that that
is the way last.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Week what Greg news did? Uh I the sixty one
yard to JSN, that was Greg Newsom. He played seven
snaps and they're like like as soon as they saw
him in there, they're like, Okay, this dude doesn't know.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
The playbook yet, let's just attack them. So maybe the
should do that.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, maybe the Rams are going to try to pick
up on that as well this week. But Jake, I
feel like I I like the Rams chance at a
passing attack against I do too Jaguars, you know, when
you know, I look at that pass rush and kind
of their interior and you know, up front, I think
they're strong, and so I think that targeting those the

(13:03):
kind of weak spots at corner for the Jaguars might
be the Rams move. So yes, Poukinakua is out, but
all of those guys that we just talked about, see
what they target them used to to out well in
the long receiving game, right, get Terrence Ferguson involved. I
think that we're going to be able to test the
secondary of Jacksonville. And like we've mentioned, you know, they're

(13:25):
traveling as well overseas. It's it's going to be a
weird environment for both teams. I think teams are going
to be slightly off a little bit and go ahead,
you know, test them out. I mean, I don't know
what your thoughts are on that, but I think when
I'm looking at how the Rams offense is going to
attack Jacksonville, I'm thinking that Stafford could be in for

(13:47):
a big day.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, I mean, you know, looking at the corners. Monterrek
Brown is somebody that I've liked for a long time.
I think he's playing pretty well. And I do think
Jordan Lewis is playing pretty well. This is a guy
that James Gladstone has wanted for a while, like even
back when he was with the Rams, and so he
becomes available and they go out and get him and
the thing about Lewis is you can blitz him. He
can play the run well, but to me, like when

(14:12):
they signed him, they signed him to be that do
it all slot corner, not necessarily play on the outside.
So he's had to play on the outside, and that's
why they're like, Tyson Campbell, you're not really cutting it
for us right now. You're you're struggling this year. And
keep in mind, it's kind of a new regime. It
is a new regime, not kind of, it's literally a
new regime that didn't draft Tyson Campbell's so they move

(14:32):
on and they clearly identified Greg Newsom as somebody that
would make a lot of sense, and now they can
move Jordan Lewis in the slot. Here's the thing, though,
it's too early. I don't believe that they can do
that yet. And you also have Travis Hunter, who, by
the way, he's not just a novelty out in folks,
he's played one hundred and thirty nine snaps out wide
at corner, so you know you're gonna see twelve in there.

(14:54):
Eric Murray's an absolute talent, you know. I really like
the way he plays. I think he's better than Andrew Winger.
To be honest with. But the one that I'm really
interested in on that defense is Ventral Miller. And the
reason being is I thought he played really well when
Devin Lloyd went down with the injury, filled in and
it's in the middle of the game, So like, how
does that look when people have the you know, tape

(15:16):
on him and everything. His tendency is what have you?
Foyer Luacun is one of the best tackling linebackers out there,
simply put. And then Dennis gard Deck because they run
more of a base four to three old school Saint
Louis Rams style, Dennis gard Deck they can use him
because keep in mind, you remember him last year he
was an edge defender for the Cardinals. Uh and he

(15:38):
was just really a pass rusher. But he's got you know,
he's got some skills where you know, you could play
him at sam linebacker. You could also blitz him, or
you could just line him up off the edge. So
he gives them kind of some versatility. And then you mentioned,
you know, Davon Hamilton, that is their top run defender.
And I'm gonna say it because no one else has

(15:59):
said it. This is the Hamilton Bowl, Baby, It's tie
Hamilton versus older brother Davon Hamilton. I knew you would
like that because you like those things. Well, there you go,
there's the storyline for you. It's the Hamilton bros. Going
at each other in London.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yep, hey, family can go out and see the Hamilton bros. Right,
nice family trip to London.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Takes a lot of jerseys, Like one can have the
road looking ones, the other one can have the home.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
It's it's right there, it's easy.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
We love it. It's such a good story, right, Yeah,
it's great. But yeah, I think we're in agreement kind
of of what this could look like for the offense
going against this Jacksonville defense and.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Space by the way, fourteen Yeah, yep.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
And I want to talk about our defense now, yes,
because our defense has been kind of the unsung hero
of the season. I mean, and I'm maybe unsung isn't fair.
I think a lot of people have given credit to
the defense. But you know, there's been a lot of
games where our offense has stalled out. We've struggled in
the red zone, We've made a lot of special teams

(17:07):
mistakes unfortunately, as is a story this season, and the
defense has really stepped up in a way that has
kept the Rams kind of in it right in the
defense going against this Jacksonville Jaguars team and Trevor Lawrence
in London is going to have to do the same thing,
you know, I think, right, and we're gonna see guys
like Jared Rivers and Bayron Young hopefully get in there

(17:29):
and be able to attack Trevor Lawrence. And you know,
Omar Spates is going to be back right at linebacker,
so you know he'll be out there. Jake looking at
Jacksonville's offense. You know, we talk about Trevor Lawrence, and
I think that you know, I can be fair and
say that I kind of was. Maybe I don't know

(17:50):
if sevas out in Trevor Lawrence, but you know I
haven't always given him his credit where it's due, right,
I've been a little unfair about him at times.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
I don't think you don't think so.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Well. You know, you know, Travis Etien running back, UH
is going to be out there. You've got Brian Thomas, uh,
Diamie Brown and then Travis Hunter, who he talked about
who's kind of been splitting UH time between you know,
receiver and corner and obviously is a very promising rookie
for that team. What do you think the emphasis is

(18:23):
going to be for this Rams defense facing this Jaguars offense,
who has really surprised this season, including myself, has you know,
gone out there and they've played really well. But what
do you think the Rams are going to do? Do
you think they're going to try to because in my opinion,
I think you have to shut down the passing attack
with Trevor Lawrence Etten is not they haven't really done

(18:45):
much right And I.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Don't know, I mean it's slowed down a little bit,
but I think.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
As of late, but yeah, you're right as of late.
And I say this as an Eten fantasy owner. Jake
and I are in.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Aynas back this year.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
I would say I just typically a teacher and student, right.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
And also and also they do abandon the run. And
also Brian Thomas I like him a lot. I have
no reason to be throwing that out there. I just
like him a lot. I think he's a great player.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
A fan of Hunter.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
I like Travis Hunter too, but I feel like Brian
Thomas is getting over it, like gets overlooked because of
the excitement factor around Travis Hunter, But like Brian Thomas
is very good and I really liked him as a
prospect too, So I'm just making that statement just to
say it because I feel like he deserves it. But Jake,
what do you think the offensive game plan is going

(19:42):
to be for Jacksonville going against the defense?

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think when you you look at
Jacksonville their offense, they have serious deficiencies going into this game.
Trevor Lawrence has not been good. Trevor Lawrence won the
game against the Chiefs in front of everyone, and now
everyone's gonna think that he's some good quarterback.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
He's not.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
He is a roller coaster. He makes good throws, he
makes wow throws even but he's very inconsistent. He has
eight touchdowns, he has five interceptions. He's got eight turnover
where he plays according to PFF three big time throws.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
He leads the league in drops.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
I don't believe that those throws that are dropped are
good throws. So the decision making has always been a
big issue with Lawrence. If you rush him, he really struggles.
His average time to throw is two point eight seconds
and Matthew Stafford's just for comparison. Obviously, they're different players,
but for comparison, we're talking about Matthew Stafford in the

(20:42):
two point fives. So I just think, like the biggest
takeaway I took on tape was that, you know, this
Jaguars team is legit. They're a good football team. They are,
but Trevor Lawrence cannot push the ball down the field.
He is a tempted eighteen passes that were twenty yards

(21:04):
or more.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Alexis.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
Guess how many he's completed of them?

Speaker 1 (21:10):
Oh you want me to guess?

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, just take a guess, Just tell me to say it.
Four yep.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
I mean he's got a thirty three point three passer
rating when targeting deep down the field. He even in
the intermediate part, which we're talking ten to fifteen range,
ten to fifteen, seventy five point eight passer rating. So
I think this is a great matchup as long as
they don't play him like they played Mac Jones on

(21:38):
Thursday Night Football. If they forced Trevor Lawrence to have
to make decisions, it's gonna benefit them. And if they're
able to get after him, it's only gonna bete because
if they speed up his clock, he's not gonna do anything.
So this is where this happens, right the offensive line.
The offensive line just gave up thirty nine pressure to

(22:00):
Seattle thirty nine. Now, Robert Hainsey, I'm pretty sure he
played at he played at another game, right, yeah, yep.
So Robert Hainsey did not play last week and Jonah
Mannheim did and he was not at all good. He

(22:20):
had as many pressures given up in that game as
Hainsey has given up all year. So it's great that
Hainsey's back for the Jaguars. Here's the problem the tackles.
How does the center impact those guys on the outside.
They just got bullied, and you know how they got bullied.
They got worn down over the course of the game,
you know how, because Seattle doesn't just speed rush you,

(22:43):
They power rush you, which wears you down. It's it's essentially,
instead of just trying to throw haymakers at the head,
a boxer is just hitting you in you know, the body,
and you're taking all these body blows and eventually you
just break down. They're the less sexy thing to do,
but over the course of a fight, you're gonna fall.

(23:04):
Right now, this is what happened, Walker Little, He gave
up five six pressures in that game. Anton Harrison gave
up four. Walker Little has given up five sacks all year.
Four of them were in that Seattle game. Guess who
plays just very similarly as far as a pass rush,

(23:25):
the Rams very power driven. Verse gonna beat you at
the bowl rush Byron Young. He's an old school pass rusher.
Can you win with speed? Absolutely, He's a great athlete.
So is Jared Verse. But they're going to beat you
at that bull rush. So is Brighton Fisk, So is
Kobe Turner, right, so is Poona Ford. So I that's

(23:48):
the thing, Alexis. I think they're gonna wear this this
offensive line down. And then when you wear him down,
you got Trevor Lawrence who takes forever to get rid
of the ball. So I don't I don't think this
is a good matchup at all for the Jaguars offense.
If they can run it, they got a shot. If
they can't run it, it's gonna be tough. I do

(24:08):
expect them to be able to run the football, though,
because I think ETN is having that good of a year.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
These guys can block.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
Up front from a run perspective, But right now, I
don't trust them at all in pass pro not at all.
I mean McCarry's giving up a sack. Anton Harrison has
isn't given up sacks, He's just giving up a lot
of pressures. And Walker Little is given up five and
Ezra Cleveland's given up two. So that left side, and
by the way, that is the blind side for Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
I think it leaves him wide open.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
And honestly, at that point, it's not like you have
Stafford back there who can get rid of the ball
lightning quick Lawrence is. When I watch Trevor Lawrence, I
see Jared Goff and I see something like the good,
like he can make those wow throws, but I also
see the bad. And that's how like Jared Goff is
last year in LA That's what I see.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
So that's what the Rams are facing.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Well, I I certainly agree with a lot of that,
and I think that you know, the pass rush for
the Rams, I'm hoping can really get after it. And
you know, in London's calling right, let's do it do
it over over in London, and everyone wants to perform
on prime time as well, But that kind.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Of leads us like London when in London.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Oh yeah, win in London. Man. I'm so jealous of
everybody going to this game because a lot of people,
a lot of our listeners from the UK, which we
have quite a bit, which is awesome, a lot of
people and when I made that five hundred episode video
for the show, we had a lot of London listeners

(25:48):
my videos for.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
That, which is we wanted to see them. I got
opportunities to go, but I don't want my passport, so yeah,
that was my thanks what three four months to get
a damn passport in this country?

Speaker 1 (26:01):
So yeah, I would love to go, maybe the next
time the Rams are there. I mean I want to
go in general, but I'd love to see the Rams
play over there. But Jake, getting into our predictions, uh
for the game, yes, let's we might have touched on
them a little bit. Do you want me to go first?

(26:22):
Do you want to go first?

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Up to you, I don't know. First, I want to
steal your thunder. If you're.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
You're on a roll, I'll go first. Why not because
I'm saying this because my uh, first prediction has to
do with that pass rush that we just talked about. Ok,
for the Rams, I'm predicting Jared Verse two sacks. I
think I feel like the same thing happened to Jared

(26:52):
Verse this season that happened last season. Rites Oh, he's
not getting sacks quick enough or right or whatever whatever.
And he is the type of guy as the season
goes on, he's just been getting more and more hot, right,
And I think that he's again London's calling right. We've
been talking about it these bizarre London games, and it's
not really a bizarre idea for Jared Verse to get
two sacks. He's incredible. But I'm just gonna call it.

(27:14):
I think that he's going to have two sacks. I
almost went with three, but I'm not trying to be ridiculous, Okay,
that we're gonna say two, maybe two and a half compromise.
I'm changing my own prediction. Jared Vers two and a
half sacks, right, I think he's going to have a
big game. Well, my next prediction is also defensive. Because
we talked about Trevor Lawrence. We talked a little bit

(27:36):
about the indecisiveness, maybe lack of accuracy at times. I
am predicting Quinton Lake interception again that one. I'm going
to do another Quenton Lake interception. I just think that
Trevor Lawrence, you know, if the Rams are able to
pressure him the way that I think that they're going
to be able to, I think he's going to make
some of those bad decisions and so I think the

(27:58):
very least somebody's getting an interception turnover. But I feel
good about Quentin Lake. I feel like he really, like after,
he's really come into his own this season. He got
the interception, he's gotten the funnel recovery, right, like, let's
let's keep it, keep it hot for him. And I
think that he's gonna get an interception this game. Third
prediction will go offense this time. This might be bold,

(28:20):
but I'm saying to to out well two touchdowns, damn okay,
And I think they're both going to be long plays.
I think it's gonna work, and I think they're gonna
do it again. And I think the Rams are finally
where's wood that I can knock on, right. I think
they're finally gonna wake up and realize that they need
to start utilizing too too out well more. And I
think I'm not going to keep saying London's calling, but

(28:44):
like this is the the vibes are weird. We're going
over to London, the vibes are weird, teams are trying
weird things over there, like let's do it like, let's
get to too out well involved. So that's my third prediction.
Fourth one because we've kind of been doing this lucky
like fourth one and I feel like I have to
keep it up. Fourth sidebar prediction. I'm gonna say Terrence

(29:05):
Ferguson touchdown. And that's more just me willing it into
the universe, like I'm gonna make it happen one way
or another.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
It's okay.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
These are bold predictions, by the way, folks, not just productions.
So is it.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, we're doing like bold predictions.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
But not stupidly bold predictions where it's.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Yeah, I'm not gonna say like the Rams are gonna
drop sixty five points, like we're not, you know.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Nothing crazy.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
That your turn.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
All right, let's see Byron Youngs can have two sacks
and both of them are going to be strip sacks.
So that's there, you go. That's bold. Knatee Monfield is
going to catch his first NFL touchdown. That's pretty bold.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
That is bold.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Jordan Wittington is going to catch his first NFL touchdown
too too. At Well is going to, oh, I guess
this is already four?

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Wow, that blew by.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Right, Momfield touchdown, Whittington touchdown. I wish it's so fast.
I wasn't even able to keep up with it.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
To two.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
At Well is going to go for over. Let's say
he goes for over ninety yards and then well, I'll
just say one hundred. He'll he'll get over one hundred
yards and he's going to catch a bomb for a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Perfect.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yep, Wait, didn't you have two two out well two touchdowns?
That's not really Yeah, yeah I did, but I was.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, no, no, no, that's stupid.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
No no, no, So so Whittington and Momfield are going
to catch their first touchdowns of their career.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
Byron Young two sacks, two.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Strip sacks, Rams recover both of them. And Trevor Lawrence
is going to throw three interceptions.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
In this game.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Okay, I like, I would love it, Hey, I would
love it, but I think that's easily feasible.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
I'm sorry, I don't want to be negative. The Rams
are going to intercept Trevor Lawrence three times in this game.
I just come off like a hater of Trevor Lawrence sucks,
so he's gonna throw three picks. No, the Rams are
gonna get three takeaway. Well they've got five takeaways, but
they have three interceptions in this game. Then yeah, I
still kind of feel like it'll be somewhat of a

(31:28):
close game because that's the Rams for you. But yeah,
I'm just gonna say three because if I try to
predict them now that just will be ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, let's get into the score.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, let's get in the score because we have to
keep all this in mind now, Yep. I have to
be honest. I was thinking, I've really gone back and
forth about this, and I always try to be honest
on the show, and I feel like it's disingenuous for

(32:00):
me to predict the Rams win every week, which I've
done so far on this show this season. As of you,
I mean, people go back again, Yeah, they should be
six and oh to be fair, and I always try
to find a couple of games a season where I'm like,
I'm gonna be honest, My realistic prediction is just that
the Rams are gonna win this one because I can't.

(32:21):
I just it's I can't go every single game in
the season. But so I was thinking that this might
be a game that I predicted a Rams lost. But like,
the more I've thought about it and looked into this
and we've recorded, Jake, I think they're gonna win. I do,
I I really I win in you kind of talked

(32:43):
me into it because I went into this episode and
I was like, you know, I look at the data
and I look at what I've seen from the Jaguars,
and I think about the fact that it's London and
that it's weird, and I keep watching all these London
games and they're so insane, and I'm like, this just
feels like it could be not good. But you know what,
But I think you've talked me into it. I do
think it's going to be close. I do want to

(33:04):
say that I think that this is going to be
just one of those games that is really going to
come down to it. But I'm gonna say the Rams
win twenty eight to twenty four.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Oh my god, we almost have the same prediction.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
What's yours?

Speaker 3 (33:20):
I have twenty eight twenty two. Ooh okay, yeah, yeah,
you know, it's London. It's gotta have like some weird
like who scores twenty two points. I mean it happens,
but not very often.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah. I think the Rams four touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Me.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
I already mentioned two of them, right.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
I think, so you kind of whipped through a lot
and then you pull back because.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
You already Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
So Whittington, I'm gonna say, at Well doesn't catch a touchdown,
So I'll go with Whittington, Momfield and two Davonte Adams
touchdowns to keep his streak going when he goes up
against the Jaguars. He had two touchdowns last year in
December with Aaron Rodgers and the Jets. He had two

(34:09):
touchdowns with the Raiders the last time he saw them.
He's had a touchdown against the Jaguars in every single
game he's ever played against them, and he's had at
least over one hundred and forty yards and two touchdowns
the last two games. So I think Devata Adams will
have two touchdowns in this game. I guess that's another prediction.
I don't care either way. Twenty eight, twenty two, twenty
eight to twenty four, the Jags go down and we

(34:32):
march into the bye week and Pukinakua comes back on
the other side of it. Week nine against the Saints hopefully.
I would probably just sit him until the forty nine
er game personally, but.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
That's just me. But yeah, anything else before we grab
a word from Sleeper.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
I know, I think we should hear a word from
Sleeper before we get into some supers.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Yeah. So if you have an already, I don't know
what the hell is up with you.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
It's almost week seven now, okay, Like literally, the link
is in the description below. JKB is gonna get you
one hundred percent match up to one hundred dollars on
Sleeper and for a limited time they are doing a
twenty dollars free entry with no deposit even needed. So
you have it already, Definitely get in on the action

(35:24):
with Sleeper. And if you're one of those people that's
listening to what we're saying and you want to match
what we're doing, well you can do that over on Sleeper.
Jordan Whittington touchdown, Jordan Whittington yards. You could put more
or less if you believe in it, you think, honestly,
I think the most low hanging for ever is Trevor
Lawrence interceptions. You can put more on that, so you

(35:45):
could have more for sacks like what Alexis was just saying,
if you're like, oh, I like what she's saying about
Jared Verse more or less half sack for Jared Verse.
I mean, come on, so you can definitely all check
it out on Sleeper again. Code is JKB link is
in the description below. All right, now we got super

(36:08):
chat time supers. All right, Matthew, thank you, Matthe appreciate you.
A lot of hate for Cardi right now, what does
both of you take? And Stat's side note almost never
post but Ben subs since summer of twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Matthew, I appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
I've definitely seen your name on here before, definitely during
the draft, so really do appreciate it. My take on
Josh Carty is that people are being way too knee
jerk reactionary for my liking. Like I always say, go
back to Lucas Haversack and Brett Maher.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
I liked Maher, A lot of people didn't.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
I didn't like Haversick at all. That was twenty twenty three.
Carti came in last year and was outstanding. Do you
even want to run the risk of having to try
and find an kicker, because I'll tell you right now
everything that's going on with the forty nine ers, and
people just keep looking at the forty nine ers and
they're like, oh, Eddie Pinero. Eddie Pinero has never been

(37:11):
this good as his entire career. So to just assume
you're gonna find just a random kicker that isn't on
an NFL roster right now and it's going to kick
like that dude is kicking right now, you're asking for trouble.
So me personally, I say you ride it with Carti.
Really he shouldn't be on the hot seat. They should
give it some time. The kicking unit has been a mess,

(37:34):
and Sean McVay said, they've really done a nice job
of fixing it up and they're starting to and they're
starting to go in the right direction. Okay, well, now
we got to see how Cardi does. If Cardi still
struggles when the kicking unit looks pretty good and he's
getting protection, well then that starts to look like he
might have some sort of thing going on mentally, then
you might have to move on. But currently, right now, no,

(37:56):
I don't think you're even close to that.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
I agree, it's I think it's hard to assess him
when the kicking unit has just been this poor. I
think that we got to give it time, and you know,
we can have this kind of discussion about does he
need to go or you know whatever. I think later
on in the season, if maybe the kicking unit improves
and special teams improves and there's still this problem. But

(38:20):
I just feel like it's so hard to judge right
now because everything's just been such a mess, and I
don't really feel like most of that is on him.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah, I totally agree, all right.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
I can't agree more honestly, but I appreciate that Matthew
and then other Matthew Matthew ploutin thank you, Matthew. It's
always like I've already lost count, but I think we're
up to like fifty months channel member.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Really appreciate you, Matthew. Good.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Even guys defensively, I think we're good. However, they need
to watch out for Trevor running offensively. Thinking Tyler will
have a good game, hoping it will click between Stafford
and Adams.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
That's the hope. That's certainly the hope, you know.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
I think when you look at Tyler Higby, he's coming
off one of the better games he's had the last
two years now, he's been banged up for most of it.
But yeah, I could see, like that's the thing, like
where Monfield might score the touchdown, like I'm saying, but
I'm not expecting him to have like five catches seventy
yards in a touchdown. I'm expecting to be like one

(39:21):
catch seven yards and it happens on that play. I
think when Pooka's out, they're going to be cautious. They
want to get things going. They want to go to
the right guys. They want to go to the guys
that are ready. And Jordan Winnington might be starting in
this game, and he's going to but if they trust,
you know, Tyler Higbee more, and this is a really

(39:43):
close game, expect Tyler Higby to get a lot of
targets in this one.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
Yeah. Hey, I'm a I'm infamous for the tight end
two touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Bet Yeah, it's true, you are.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
I I have hit an uncanny amount of tight end
two touchdowns. I just hit Pat Fryer move last night,
two touchdowns. So if you guys want my betting advice,
which again is unsolicited and I'm not an expert and
this is just me saying it, if you bet Tyler
Higbe two touchdowns looks appealing. It looks appealing if you're

(40:20):
if you are betting people. I'm just throwing that out
there because I think that he could be a comfortable
connection for Stafford.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
And then we have dtexts here with the five thoughts
on Rams final London today as opposed to flying Monday
like the Jags seems odd and disadvantageous.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Love it.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
I actually like it a lot.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
I think it was smart because keep in mind, for
the Jaguars to have to go to London, there had
to have been prepped after the game, and the Rams
just basically never left Baltimore, so there was never any
of that. They just got right back down a bit business.
It means that, I mean, you saw Sean McVay show
taking place in Baltimore in some like hotel area or whatever.

(41:08):
I like that that they did not waste time. They
were already prepping, and I think that that is key.
So I don't think that that's gonna have anything to
do with what happens on Sunday negatively, and I don't
necessarily think positively either, But I do agree with the
decision they made because you go.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Across the country.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
I mean, yeah, you could have gone to London, sure,
but I think it made sense to just get as
much quality practice and as you could before you went
to London.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
That's just my take on that.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
I disagree. I think they should have gone to London sooner. Listen,
I am not in the organization. There are people that
think a lot harder about this obviously than you know
I do. So you know this, Take this with a
grain of salt. But I just think on a surface level,
it makes more sense to me to get to London sooner.
Get there, get situated there, start practicing there, get your

(42:07):
body adjusted to the time zone. Instead, you're basically spending
you know, you go to Baltimore and then you just
stay in Baltimore, which I guess they're thinking is you know,
you're in one place for longer. But I just think
internal clockwise, I probably would have gone to London after
the Baltimore game. I would have just gone from Baltimore
to London already. But I don't know, it might probably won't.

(42:31):
I don't know if it affect anything or not, but
that's just my opinion.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
They had to give Camden Yards something the house in
October since it was going to be the Baltimore Orioles.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
I mean, you see the Yankee hat over there. I
had to.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Anyway, Yeah, sorry to the Baltimore You know, the Rams
Orioles fans in the area, they do exist. I know
there's a few of them, but yeah, I just I
had to. It's low hanging it, Okay, Matthew, thank you
for the five. My bold prediction is Rams scoring the
red zone three times thirty four to seventeen.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Wow, would love to see it. We got to start
scoring in the red zone.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
Absolutely, I'd love to see that because that's a convincing win.
And right now I think the win that Seattle just
had against them looks so good for Seattle. If the
Rams just ran rough shot of the Jaguars, that would
look like something. And then in addition to that, there's

(43:33):
this kind of overhanging thing where it's like, yeah, the
Rams just don't put teams away and they can't score
in the red zone. It's like if they have a
game like that, man, I think a lot of doubts
go out the window. I think people forget about because
you know, people are still going to talk about how
the Rams lost to some JV team. You know, like

(43:54):
the forty nine Ers aren't a professional football team, and yeah,
I think that would be awesome.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
So do I hope that? Yes? Do I think it? Eh?

Speaker 3 (44:04):
I mean I'm also never going to predict the blowout
ever again because it just never goes well. I predicted
blowouts for the Rams twice. I predicted once against the
Cardinals last year. We know how that went. And I
predicted one against the forty nine Ers this year after
really not predicting it on this show, I went and
did it live in the heat of the moment in LA.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
At the pre show. And yeah, I not never again.
So Deb yay caught alive.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
Thank you for the twenty deb hoping Adams in number
nine connect better. And you know I love Jay Witt
hoping for a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
We are too. We are definitely hoping for that.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Too, And yeah I am hoping for that too, And
just that he gets utilized more. I feel like they
don't utilize him enough.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
Yeah, my uh counting on him and my sleeper fantasy
not our dynasty league. I kind of trade him away
to get Rico Daudell to my brother, but uh, but yes,
I am counting on him in fantasy to step up,
and I I don't know, like I could see it,
you know, from a target standpoint, like catching a lot

(45:18):
of passes. I don't know how big of a day
he's gonna have. Is he capable one hundred percent? But
it's a matter of this is a really good Jaguars team.
This isn't like a pushover Owen six Jets team or whatever, right,
So I could see McVeigh getting really cautious about that.
And while he trusts the wide receivers, maybe they lean

(45:38):
a little bit more on the veterans, like an Adams,
like a Tyler Higbee. Along the lines of what I
was saying before, maybe Colby Parkinson has more of a role.
Who knows, I don't know, but definitely something I'm looking at.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Deb.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
We appreciate you, We appreciate everybody. This has been fun.
I appreciate everybody tuning in. Of course, I know it's
you know, Dodgers playoffs are going on, so thank you
for taking the time to hang with us instead, or
even if you're doing both and multitasking, thanks for putting
us on anyway. But that's all I got, alexis do

(46:10):
you have anything else?

Speaker 1 (46:11):
No, That's all I got. As well. I'm excited to
watch this. It's going to be like a fun, cute
little morning for us all to wake up together and
just like watch the game that early, so that'll be fun.
But yeah, I think that's going to do it for us. Guys.
I hope everybody is a great rest of your Friday night.
As always, if you like what you hear, please like

(46:32):
and subscribe. You can follow us on social media at
Downtown Rams. You can follow me on Twitter at the
Alexis Craft. You can follow Jake at JK Bogan and guys,
As always, stay safe, take care, and go Rams.