Ep.576: Do the Rams hold the key to an UNSTOPPABLE offense?

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 to
Jake ellen Bogan, and we are coming to you live
tonight to recap our Rams win against our division rival,
the San Francisco forty nine Ers on Sunday forty two
to twenty six. Jake, it's always nice to get a win,

(00:22):
but it's even better to get a win when it's
against your division rival, especially division rival who has also
been competitive in the NFC West. So every win counts
in this division this year, right, and so to be
able to even the score with them after we lost
to them earlier this season is huge for the Rams record. Also,
it wasn't that we just won. We dominated this game.

(00:46):
And people can say what they want about that game
and who was playing and who was healthy, but listen,
we played a similar forty nine Ers team earlier in
the season and lost, so we came back fresh, ready
to go and absolutely dominated both offensively and defensive. Lead Jake,
it was so fun to watch this game and you
were there. What were your thoughts?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
It was great? That was awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
I mean it felt like I felt like I deserved
that after going through whatever the hell you could call
that shut down, that meltdown in week five. I mean, clearly,
the Rams are the better team. They were better week five,
they were better now, they were better when the forty
nine ers were healthy. They've always been better. I think
it's kind of funny and I just, you know, I

(01:32):
just laugh, like you have to laugh at this point
when people are constantly bringing up injuries. And I saw
you liked my tweet on this, but I'm just to
the point I'm tired of the excuses. I mean, say
what you will, not the biggest Lions fan, but how
many injuries did they have on their defense last year?
Was it like eight or nine? Yeah, so they found
a way. And it's like the forty nine ers have

(01:53):
been finding their way. But you can't just keep using
that excuse. The Rams dominate the series. There are four
one in their last five games against the forty nine ers,
and we're constantly talking about how they have injuries constantly,
So at some point or another, you are who you
are and the forty nine ers, whether it's the training

(02:13):
staff that they've recycled about three or four times now,
or it's Kyle Shanahan who's the common denominator. Does he
put his players through, you know, too hard of a practice?

Speaker 1 (02:23):
You know?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Is he too tough on them? Does he give him
too much of a workload. I think that there's an
answer somewhere in there, but that's well beyond my pay grade.
Has nothing to do with why the Rams won this game.
They won this game because the forty nine ers could
not stop their thirteen personnel grouping. They were able to
move the ball down the field. I still think the
defense did a nice job all things considered. Mac Jones

(02:46):
wanted to get rid of the ball quickly. But Alexis,
this game was fantastic to be at. You know, I
thought Levi's was pretty cool. We were in this two
fifteen section where it is on the visitors' side, so
you get at caked by the sun and that's why
I have a sunburn.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
I'm covering up right now.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
But you know, aside from that, I mean we got
like free food they had like this club is like
all you can eat, free food, free drinks, which is
really cool. And I'm just gonna say this, the Santa
Clara forty nine er fans are a lot nicer than
the La fans. I'll tell you that right now. The
LA forty nine er fans are not fun to be around.
I know, I sound like I'm clumping in. I have

(03:25):
met nice forty nine er fans on both sides, but man,
even the forty nine er fans on my flight. That's
a whole other story that we will not get into.
But yesterday traveling was quite the feet there. But the
point is I had a great time. Shout out to
Chris Zephyro, who's you know sponsored you know the Downtown
Rams live during the draft. You know he sent me

(03:49):
out there. I had a great time. I met all
sorts of all sorts of people. Tuna first in Tuna,
Pierce de Luna really appreciate him, got a chance to
meet him, saw my friend Alan, some other people as well, Julian.
It was great, And it was great because this is
one of those games where say what you will, everyone

(04:11):
is lying through their teeth when they say they want
a close game. They don't want a close game. You
want a close game for a game that you have
no interest in. That's what you want a close game for.
You don't want a close game. You want games like
this where you're just in control of the entire time,
and you don't have to stress it. And when you're
watching Rams football most of the time, you're gonna have
to stress it. So we'll take this all day, Alexis.

(04:32):
This is exactly what the doctor ordered. And finally, the
Rams blowing out the forty nine ers Kyle Shanahan, Sean
mcvain not being afraid to actually blow teams out. They've
blown out teams in three straight games. I don't think
that's gonna happen this week against who I believe is
the second best team behind the Rams in Seattle. But

(04:53):
we'll take it. You know, we'll absolutely take it. And
I'm excited to get more into it. But yeah, those
are my thoughts as I finished this long rant.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, I mean, it just it was such a fun
game to watch. I mean, it wasn't a perfect game.
I don't think any team in the NFL is going
to ever play a perfect game. There were mistakes, we'll
talk about a few of those, but just overall, I
felt like this Rams team came out ready to dominate.
They understood the assignment, obviously. The way that things went
in the first game, they did not forget obviously, and

(05:24):
you know, as I know the fandom hasn't either. And
I think defensively, you know a lot of people are
kind of bringing up some things about the defensive game.
They weren't perfect. I would have liked to see them
pressure the quarterback a little bit more. We could talk
about that, But overall, a much better game from them
against San Francisco than they did the first time that
we played them earlier in the season. Our defense really

(05:44):
struggled against San Francisco in our first matchup, so it
looked like they were ready to correct those errors and
come out and kind of understand what Kyle Shanahan was
going to try to do. Right. As you mentioned earlier,
Mack wanted to get the ball out quickly. I think
the Rams defense a lot more prepared for that this
time than they were earlier in the season. They understood
that was what was going to happen and they were

(06:06):
able to figure it out. So that was really fun
to see. And then offensively, I mean, our offense has
just been so fun to watch when they're in thirteen personnel, right,
I mean, but also just in the past few games,
Matthew Stafford has been incredible. In my opinion, he's the MVP.
I know he is in yours too, So to watch him,
you know, throw you know, for those touchdowns and you

(06:27):
look at who's scored. Like we earlier in the season, Jake,
when we were doing these episodes, we kind of were like,
who other than Puka Nakua and Kyra Williams is going
to score? Right, we were like, we have to start
diversifying who's going to get the ball. We have to
start talking like getting the ball to more receivers and
showing that like more people can be effective in the
red zone. Well, this game, you had a Devonte Adams touchdown,

(06:47):
Poka Nakua, Kyra Williams had two, Kobe Parkinson, Davis Allen.
You're seeing the ball finally get spread out in the
way that I know all of us were wanting it
to be. So it's really really fun that the Rams
have figured out it out. It looks like they found
a personnel that worked for them. The offensive line has
been great, I think, particularly in run blocking, they've looked

(07:08):
really really good. But you know, it's just it feels
like they're all coming together, right. It feels like the chemistry,
like they're finally fighting their stride I'm here in the
middle of the season, so it's really nice to see.
I think we should talk about the offense first, Jake,
while we're at it. I mean, Matthew Stafford listen when

(07:29):
he's we went from, you know, the wondering what was
going on in the beginning of the season to where
we are now. I feel like he has in his
career been one of the most underrated quarterbacks, and I
think even now, with the way that he's playing and
the stats that he's putting up, he's still underrated. He's
having an MVP season. He's leading the league in touchdowns.
If you would have told us that that Matthew Stafford

(07:52):
would be leading the league in touchdowns early on in
the season when we deeply struggled in the red zone,
I don't think we would have believed it. So, Jake,
what are your thoughts on what Matthew Stafford is doing
right now?

Speaker 3 (08:04):
Oh, he's sensational. He's the best player on the planet
right now. He's the best in the world at what
he does. I mean, is Josh Allen more talented because
he can run? Absolutely? Maybe he has a stronger arm
by a little bit, But I mean, I'm just saying,
I think we've literally reached the point where Stafford's gotten
so good. He's the best quarterback in the world right now,

(08:28):
and he's got the ring and he's had to overcome
I was just talking about this earlier today. You know,
he had to overcome the injury to Robert Woods and
not having OBJ for three quarters, and you know, playing
without three of your top tight ends, you know in
Munt and you know, Blanton and Higbee right like that.

(08:50):
That's that's the thing, Like, you know, he's just he's
found a way and just when you think that they're done,
they're three and six, they're one and four. You know,
he's been at the forefront of a turnaround. And I
think Butlexis last year had twenty touchdowns. This year is
twenty five already through nine games, which is wild. But
last year had twenty touchdowns because you know, Kyraen Williams

(09:13):
was toning the rock in the red zone, you know,
and he was so consistent, so efficient. I feel like
now it's going back like where it's like they had
to give Kyron two of those touchdowns in this one
because it's just gotten out of hand where they're just
throwing every time and no one can stop them.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
No one can stop them all of a sudden.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
You know, really what it is is the connection between
Stafford and Davante Adams.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
That's what it is, because we saw them try to
force it earlier in the year.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
I'll tell you right now, if they were on the
same page they are currently, back when they played the
forty nine ers week five, back when they played the
Eagles week three, those games would have been won by
ten plus points. That's truly how I feel. It's not
just that they should have won, they would have comfortably
won with that. So right now Stafford is in his bag.

(10:01):
And the great thing is he had to go through
a season where at the beginning the pressure was getting there.
He's just getting rid of the ball quickly. He was
already used to not having this absolutely shut down offensive line,
and now the offensive line still not on that level,
but they're healthier, and he already has those habits, you know,

(10:23):
kind of ingrained in his brain.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
He knows when he needs to get rid of the football.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
He has the internal clock and what you know, coach
Bill Belichick said I thought was great on one of
his podcasts. You know, he's like, look, you know Matthew
Stafford is more wise than he's ever been. And when
you factor that in, it's like, okay, yeah, you have
the talent, but now, age thirty seven, you know, you
know what works what doesn't work, and you've seen, you

(10:49):
know a lot of what works, and you've already won
a super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
It's only going to make you a better quarterback.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
And you know, naturally what you're seeing as Stafford isn't
really falling off either. I mean, he's getting better with
age because he's still the same you.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Know, talent, arm wise and all that.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
But now you're factoring all those years of going through
every single type of circumstance, good or bad. He has
seen it all, and so you're starting to see a
guy who's more confident than ever before. He always has been.
But the way he delivers the football's pinpoint. Very limited
turnover worthy plays this year, but even when he's thrown

(11:27):
them only two interceptions. He's a gun slinger. It's not
like he's dinking and dunking his way to twenty five
touchdowns and two picks. No, he's going down the field.
You know, he's hitting you know DeVante Adams on that
twenty yard dig route. You know, he's going deep to
Puka Nakua, you know by the pylon, you know, fifty
yard bomb. You know, he is testing defenses and he's

(11:49):
not turning the ball over. And I think that's the
beautiful thing because when you have a franchise quarterback that
is a gun slinger and is known as somebody that
can throw three hundred yards plus a game and throw
all over the yard, but he takes care of the football, Well,
now you got somebody who's practically virtually unstoppable, and that's
what we're seeing with Matthew Stafford.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, he is so fun to watch this season. And
I think that you know, with our wide receiver duo
of Adams and Nikua, who are also just fun to
watch in general, you've got that trio out there and
it's great. And now you're seeing you know, you obviously
have you know, Kien Williams in there, or you get
you know, Corum involved as well, and then you have

(12:33):
a steady run game. But you brought up a good point.
You know, part of this has been that Matthew Stafford
is now allowed to kind of thrive in the receiving
game in a way that he wasn't really last season
because in the red zone, like you said, it was
like you kind of just ran out with Kiri and Williams.
They couldn't do anything else, you know, at certain points,
and that was a big point of frustration, I know
for the fan base. And I think we kind of

(12:54):
started this season a little bit that way. I mean, yes,
we started to and O, but we started to see
kind of like those old hauntings of like red zone
errors kind of creep up again and we're like, we
can't do this again. We can't just rely on the
run game in the red zone, right. So it's been
really really nice to see the Rams get involved more
in the passing game and diversifying the ball. But yeah,

(13:18):
I don't know if you have any other thoughts, you know,
in the offense, I just think, look at all those
tight ends. I mean we've talked about it before. Earlier
in the season. We were like, oh my god, utilize
the tight ends, right, Utilize Terrence Ferguson out there starting right.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah. I think.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
That after watching that game, I knew coming in. I
mentioned it thirteen personnel throughout the week, but to see
them orchestrate the way they did that is why I
named this podcast episode Do the Rams hold the key
to an unstoppable offense? They're running an old school thirteen personnel.

(14:01):
This is old school football, and they're modernizing it to
the point where they're scoring over thirty a game since
they switched to it. What we're seeing is an unstoppable
Rams offense. Davis Allen barely had fewer snaps than Pukanakua.

(14:22):
You know, like what this does on so many levels.
First off, it's week eleven. In week eleven, when you
start running thirteen personnel and you have three tight ends
and you're using them more than anybody in the league. Now,
defenses are not equipped to defend it. There are defenses

(14:42):
that they don't see thirteen that much. They see thirteen
personnel at like a ten percent clip against a team
that actually runs it like Seattle. The Rams are doing
it at it like a fifty to sixty percent clip.
The Rams just ran thirteen personnel the second most since
twenty six this past game. So what this does is

(15:03):
now it puts defenses in a really tough spot because
they don't have the personnel grouping to coincide that you
can't just be like, oh yeah, we'll just throw Luke
Gifford out like whatever. No, because these guys aren't built
to cover these tight ends. That's another thing. There's so
many layers to this, so I really want to delve
into this so people understand. Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen, Terrence Ferguson,

(15:28):
Tyler Higby. None of them are better than brock Bauers.
None of them are better than Travis Kelce, George Kittle,
Trey McBride, insert your elite tight end there. But all
four of them together, when included statistical not they can block,
they can catch, they can make plays after they catch
the good athletes. What this does now is essentially you

(15:50):
don't need an elite tight end because you're running thirteen.
You're basically just taking guys in and out. Out of
the four. All these are playing, and they all have
their strengths and their weaknesses, but they all can do it.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
So here's the deal. When you're running thirteen personnel, only
one wide receiver and one running back can be out
there at the time. Now, that's also another thing. You
get a running back and a wide.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Receiver, So don't make it sound like they just have
three tight ends out there and they can't do anything
after that.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Think about this.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
You could have the most athletic group that they're gonna
be looking at right. You could have pokin Akua, who's
like another tight end if you will. You could have
Terrence Ferguson, Tyler Higbee, and Kolby Parkinson, and then you
could have Kyron Williams at running back. So what are
you defending if you're you know, if you're a defense

(16:45):
and Stafford has such a quick trigger and he has
multiple arm angles and armslots that he can really get
the ball in any which way, what are you defending?
Are you gonna defend pokin Akua? Are you going to
defend Parkinson? Are you gonna defend Higgbe? Are you going
to defend Ferguson? Are you going to defend the slip screen,
the kyrone. There's so many different ways to go about this.

(17:08):
On top of that, that's if you know they're throwing,
who's to say they're throwing? Most defenses are gonna assume
they're not throwing. When you're in thirteen personnel, it's a
heavy run personnel offensive set. So what that does is
it just puts all sorts of different things for a
defense now in their mind to think about DeVante Adams

(17:28):
isn't out there. So people be like, well, now they're
not as potent because they don't have a situation where
Adams and pook are out there. But here's why thirteen
is great. You don't have to have Pooka out there
every time. You could have Knate Momfield, which they did.
You could have Exavier Smith, which they did. You could
have Jordan Winnington, which they did. The point being is

(17:49):
this is going to help on so many levels. Not
only does it create another dimension for a team to
worry about, to create, to spread out your offense, create
mismatches because all these guys can play, but in addition
to that, it's also going to keep Pokinakua, Deavonte, Adams

(18:09):
and so forth healthy. It's going to keep them fresh.
If you're not following along, guys. The Rams have clearly
shown us that they care about keeping their players fresh.
It's why we saw Blake Korum and Kiraen Williams practically
splitting the carries. Is Blake korm a better running back
than Kyroen, No, but they're splitting carries because right now

(18:30):
they want to keep Kyen fresh and look at you know,
Davonte Adams, he doesn't even play more snaps than Davis
Allen in this game. Now I knew something probably had
to do with the fact that they were blowing him out,
but still it's very interesting. So now you don't have
to have Devontae Adams playing sixty snaps a game. You
don't have to have Pooka Akua playing sixty snaps a game.

(18:50):
Everybody in that running back room, wide receiver room, and
tight end room can get opportunities, and all of these
guys can make things happen when you have an MVP
quarterback in Stafford. So Alexis there's a lot of good
that's coming from thirteen. No one else is really running it.
We've started to see. We knew that coming into this year.
The Rams wanted to run more twelve, which is a

(19:11):
two tight end set, but the thirteen here has been
just absolutely dominating teams. And yeah, it might piss you
off if you're a fantasy owner of whoever, but Kolbe, Parkinson,
Davis Allen, Terrence Ferguson get used to it. You're gonna
see these guys spread out very often. And you know
you got Matthew Stafford who could deliver the football. So yeah,

(19:32):
alexis thirteen personnel. That was my biggest takeaway from Sunday.
That was the most excited I think I've ever been
because you can see Sean McVay and it almost felt
like Kyle Shanahan didn't buy that McVeigh was going to
stick to what's working, because he doesn't.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
McVeigh is sticking to what's working.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
And guess what Before I send it back over to you,
Nick Muse was just picked up today on their practice squad.
I thought this was very interesting because he's a very
athletic tight end. Had a one point six to three
ten yard split very good. I believe it's like eighty
to ninety percent tile for tight ends, and this is
like a six foot four to two hundred and fifty
five pound tight end who benched twenty seven on the

(20:13):
bench press, very high percentile there, so he's strong. The
reason I bring this up you might not see him,
but the point of doing this it tells us one thing.
They're gonna stick to thirteen personnel. They're using all four
of their tight ends. This is how you create depth
issues if you use all four of your tight ends
and one guy goes down. Now you can't run your

(20:34):
offense the way you're trying to run it. You can't
just rotate because now you don't have a rotation. You
only can use if you go thirteen personnel and one
of your tight ends is injured. Out of the four,
you have to use all three every time. I think
what's allowing the RAMS to do what they do is
they're able to rotate between those four. So insert Nick
Muse now who's on the practice squad, who signals he's

(20:56):
gonna learn this offense, and he signals that the RAMS
are curious about this. This isn't just a fluke, This
isn't just a you know whatever, It's not for show.
They're serious about this action speak loud than words. When
you pick up another tight end, you add him to
the building. There's a reason for that. They're going to
be predominantly a thirteen personnel offense, and I'm very excited

(21:18):
about it me too.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
It's really really fun to watch, and I think you're right.
I think all signs point to the RAMS continuing to
run thirteen personnel, so that'll be really fun to see.
Switching over to the defense, Jake, as I mentioned, earlier.
They didn't have the best showing against San Francisco the
first time that we met this season. I think that
was kind of a point of surprise from everybody. I mean, Shanahan,

(21:41):
you have to give them credit where credit's due. It's
pretty good at his system for his quarterbacks, and he
made sure to get the ball out quickly for mac
Jones when we play them, and that kind of tripped
our defense up. They got gased, they got tired. It
wasn't something that they looked really prepared for, understood what
was happening. That was not the case this game. I
thought the defense looked really well. It wasn't a perfect

(22:03):
game from them. I think that, you know, there was
times the game or we saw the forty nine ers
offense start to get a little bit more hot. They
had George Kittle this time. He obviously is a very
good player. They were able to feed him that was
able to give our defense fits at times. But overall, Jake,
I just think all things considered, I don't have too
many criticisms on the defense. I think pressuring the quarterback,

(22:27):
you could make the argument that the pressure wasn't where
it needed to be, But at the same time, mac
Jones was still getting the ball out pretty quickly, So
it wasn't it was very similar to when we played
them the first time. In essence, it wasn't. You know.
I get that people are like, why didn't we get
more sacks or why was mac Jones not hit? You know, right,
but like he was getting the ball out so quickly
that it wasn't really there just wasn't really a lot

(22:49):
of opportunity. I felt like, you know, for them to
get a sack. I don't know if you have any
thoughts on that, but I understand. I understand the point.
I wish we would have got more pressures, but I
also just think specifically the forty nine ers plan was
to get the ball out as soon as possible.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
No, I completely agree, absolutely, one hundred percent. So that's
the thing is, like I understand people wanted more sacks,
but like you got to understand when guys are getting
rid of the ball that quick, I mean, it makes
it difficult. And so you know, typically speaking right Mac Jones,
he's getting rid of the ball at a two point

(23:25):
eighty three second clip, which is I mean, that's not
like wicked fast, but you know, it's still fast. I
want to see real quick what he is for the year,
because Mac Jones for the year, so actually he's just

(23:48):
getting rid of the ball quick. In general, he just
gets rid of the ball quick. So yeah, when you're
getting rid of the ball that quick, it makes it tough.
And I feel like it's different with the Rams. When
they play the Rams, there's more of a concerted effort
to be locked in. And you know, I saw an

(24:10):
interview with George Kittle saying, oh, you know, every time
it's like Rams week, my my wife will come in
and wake me up and tell me, you know, get
locked in. It's Rams week. You know, it's like it's
a they they treat the RAMS games differently, which I
think you and I could totally see just by the
way that they play the Rams. So I think that,
you know, it's different, like, you know, when they played Tampa,

(24:33):
you saw Mac Jones hold the ball a little bit longer,
you know, instead they're more locked in. So yeah, it
is what it is. But I'm not too worried about
the sacks. I've always said I'm not too worried about
the sacks. You know, I think that a lot of
in a lot of ways, the pass rush could have
been better, but I'm still really not worried about it.

(24:54):
You know, Byron Young one of his reps, Kobe Turner playing,
you know, from the interior. One like thirteen plus percent
of is reps. Ty Davis won twenty five percent from
the interior. You know, if you want to say one thing, Jared,
I thought Jared Verse kind of got held in check
by Trent Williams. But I'm not worried about it. I'm

(25:16):
really not. I mean I think that you know, people
are a little overblowing, you know, the Rams pass rush.
I'm really not worried about it. And keep in mind,
this is a team that blitz is one of the
fewest in the league. So that's another thing, Like, you know,
they don't really like to blitz. They blitz at a
thirteen excuse me, nineteen point six clip, which is fourth

(25:37):
in the league for the fewest, you know, and so
that's something to keep in mind. I mean, they really
don't blitz very often, and I think they just wanted
to go more like lighter box. They assumed when they
got the lead, Hey let's just play this thing close,
and you know, let's not give up the big play.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Let's not get him back in this game.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
It's like, yeah, even if you give up a long
drive and ends in a touch, it's like you're still
making him eat up clock.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
The clock is your friend.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
When you're up twenty one nothing, I don't care what
anyone says, right, So that's kind of my thing. I
think that was also part of just the fact that
Rams scored so much. I think they had a completely
different game plan that they switched to after they took
a twenty one nothing lead. That's just my opinion. But
I'm not worried about the defense. I understand what people
say and then they're gonna you know, they also bring

(26:23):
up how you know Brian Robinson ran for five yards
carry and you know what does that look like?

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Is the run game? No?

Speaker 3 (26:31):
No, they they're probably the best run defense in the league.
And Brian Robinson, to explain, was running against lighter boxes.
And so when you have that kind of battering Ram
style that he runs with and you have that body,
it's hard to bring him down. And now you're telling
me you're gonna have just like Jalen McCullough in there,
you're gonna have DB's and you're throwing him at you know,

(26:52):
Brian Robinson, that's what's gonna happen. So I think Kyle
Shanhan knew he wasn't able to do a whole lot
and so he wanted.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
To keep the run game going.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
And when he saw them go into more of like
a lighter front and you know, playing more of that
soft zone, I think he was like willing to actually
start handing the ball off to his better running back.
And yeah, I said it. Christian McCaffrey is not a
good running back anymore. He's a good receiver. He doesn't
run the ball well at all. I mean, we saw
Brian Robinson was clearly better and scored a touchdown because
of it.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Well, before we get into supers, because you've got a
roundtable tonight, yes, so we do have a time limit.
I want to lastly bring up Nate Landman.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Boom.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
The peanut punch he has perfected.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
That's the one punch man.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
He has perfected the peanut punch. Try saying that two
times fast. But I just want to give him a
shout out because he's so fun to watch and he
has he also did it again in the game as
well that he just didn't result in the fumble, but
they showed the replay where he did the punch, but
the the receiver.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Has got it kill right.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
It might have been on Kittle.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
It was on Kittle or McCaffrey. I can't remember. I
think might have been Kittle.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah, I think it was on Kittle, but like it was,
he almost had two. But regardless, he's insane. I just
want to give him a shadow before we got into
supers because I felt like, you know, he's he's become
a really vital piece of this defense and has played
so well for us that you got to even a shadow.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Yeah, no, I get that. I'd give a shout out
to Iman. Emmanuel Forbes was fantastic back to back weeks.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yep, another big game from him.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
And I don't know if you saw.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
I took the liberty of tweeting it out because I
wanted to give him his props. Not seeing enough people
talking about him Emmanuel Forbes, right, get this. So Emmanuel
Forbes the last three games has a twenty five point
eight targeted passer rating, has a forty six point seven
reception allowed percentage. He has two interceptions and two PBUs,

(29:03):
and he's in the top five in pff ranking.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
He's been awesome.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
I saw in the comment section someone asked about Darius Williams. Well,
Darius williams playing time went down because he got hurt,
and then Emmanuel Forbes took over and he's been sensational,
so hopefully it keeps going. I think, see, I have
a feeling Seattle's gonna get the best of him on
a few of them, especially because you know you have JSN.
But yeah, I love what I'm seeing from his overall growth,

(29:33):
and I think the next week is Tampa. So I
think next week and I'm not saying I know anything,
I'm just like trying to figure it out. I think
next week is when we'll get news on a Kellow
and then they'll open up the IR window, and I
think he'll be back.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Two weeks after. I don't think he'll take the full
three weeks.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
So you'll have a corner to quite literally match up
against any type of receiver, because you'll have him, you'll
have McCreery, you'll have Emmanuel Forbes, you'll have Kobe Durant,
you'll have Darius Williams. I mean that that cornerback room
is absolutely disgusting. So yeah, that's That's what I wanted
to say. Give Forbes some credit. He was he was great.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Well, And with that, let's get into supers and real quick.
I see some comments asking if I'm going to be
at the game this week. I'm no longer going to
be at the rivalry game. That is, I was going
to say that at the end, but I'm seeing comments
at it. But I'm no longer going to the rivalry game.
The travel situation has become a nightmare as Jake experience

(30:40):
this weekend, and I kind of made the executive decision
based on what's happening at my airport in Lax that
it was I didn't I don't believe my flight's going
to go through anyway, honestly, but uh, so that that sucks.
I'm really really sad about it. I'm bumped. I've also
just like been sick, So the combination of that and
like me just being so drained and like getting over

(31:02):
being horribly sick just seemed like a really bad combination.
So I'm not I just I don't love that travel situation.
But I will maybe be at so FI later on
in the season, or I will definitely be there if
we make the postseason. Which it's not jaks it, but
I will hopefully be there. So sorry, guys, I will

(31:25):
not be at the rivalry game this weekend. Yeah, no
one is more bummed than me. I think I made
the right choice.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
I get it.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
I mean it's yeah, because I feel like it's only
going to get worse before it gets better with TSA
and all that. Have you ever used clear before you
know that?

Speaker 1 (31:42):
Uh? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (31:43):
They got me through TSA in two seconds.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
It was crazy, right, So that was awesome, And I'm thinking, oh, hey,
I think I texted you. I was feeling good. I
was like, oh, yeah, no no delays or anything. Delay delay, delay,
delay delay, Oh you might miss your connecting flight delay again.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
I was like, oh my god, I alexus. I didn't know.
I think I turned into too two out.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
Well.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
When I got off the flight in Las Vegas, I
had to go across the terminal and get to my
flight to Albany because there wasn't one like left, like
I would have had to literally.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
I know some people like, oh, first world problems.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
You would have had to stay the night in Vegas,
you know, But I'm one of those people. When my
my trip ends, I'm done. I don't want to extend anything.
I'm good, Like my trip was over. I was ready
to go home. Plus some sunburned and I have a colt,
so yeah, the perfect combo. But I had a great time.
It's just I didn't want to prolong it. So yeah,

(32:43):
then they left my luggage in Vegas.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
So there's that's just a mess right now.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
It's just a mess. Yeah, and I you know, I'm
in Chicago and uh, you know the they've it's a
massive airport. There's so many flights in and now, so
it's just so conguest it already. So it's being hit
really hard, and so is Lax obviously. So I was
just like, you know what, I'm not getting good vibes,
and I've been sick to.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
More congested than the Downtown Rams podcast co hosts to
put together.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, ye yes.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Or what's more, what's more congested Downtown Rams right now?
Or all the airports in the United States. Poll will
be up later. No, but all right, we can get
to supers. But yeah, sorry, guys, I'm bummed.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Courtney appreciate the ten. My favorite Jake and alexis the
calm before and after the storm. My question is, how
can our defense slow down the Seahawks offense. Do you
think the Rams draft another tight end this upcoming draft? Yeah,
I'm gonna hit the latter part of this because thank you,
by the way, Courtney, because I love this. I think

(33:52):
the Rams add another tight end. I don't know if
they draft another. What the Rams have done, by the way,
in this thirteen personnel and showing this usage of their
tight ends is they've now become a very intriguing destination
for those talented tight ends that aren't quite top dollar.
I think they could find some steals now in free agency.

(34:15):
They could literally be like, hey, look what we have.
We have a factory here. Literally, you come in, you
can block, you can catch, You're gonna get used. So
that might be you know that, But I see what
you're saying. I mean, they definitely, you know, could end
up drafting somebody. I don't think they'll draft anybody super high,

(34:35):
you know, I don't think they're gonna get anybody like Ferguson.
But then you don't even need to. I mean, there
are always tight ends that fall through the cracks. I mean,
George Kittle was a fifth rounder, you know. But uh yeah,
and then the question is, how can our defense slow
down the Seahawks offense. Great question. If the Rams can't

(34:57):
stop the Seattle Seahawks run game, it's gonna be an
interesting thing because the Rams have yet to play a
game where a team really was able to run the football.
The Colts, I guess, were the closest, but even still,
it wasn't like Jonathan Taylor was breaking off twenty and
thirty yard runs every which way, So it would really

(35:17):
put the Rams in an interesting spot. I guess what
I would say is this, the Rams need to continue
playing their type of defense. If they try to play
bump and run. Seattle has too many guys that can
win off the line of scrimmage. I don't know if
Tory Horton's gonna play. If he does, he can win
off the line of scrimmage, so can JSN Cooper Cup
to an extent, and of course Rashid shi Heat. You know,

(35:39):
so there are still guys Cody White can do it
as well, and they're tight ends. I mean, we saw,
you know, Arroyo is a guy that you really liked
in the draft. Alexis and Elijah o'royo we saw, I
think against the Texans or the Commanders I can't remember
which one. One off the line of scrimmage took the
top off the defense and caught a bomb. That's what
they can do. They're explosive, really keen on explosives. The

(36:01):
Rams are an explosive offense that is also fine going
seventeen plays, seventy five yards and a touchdown. You know,
Seattle doesn't operate that way. They are really reliant on
the explosives, so it'll be interesting to see. I think
the best way to slow down the Seahawks offense is
obviously to eliminate the explosives. The Rams defense is top

(36:22):
five in the league in doing that, and I think
you're really gonna need to keep JSN somewhat in check.
But what I would say is you go back to
that Vikings game last year against Sam Donald, you know,
at SOFI and the regular season game. Donald played well,
but the Rams were keen on letting Justin Jefferson get

(36:44):
all his yards as long as it wasn't a touchdown.
And I honestly think that really helped them because when
you just are like, oh, yeah, they're gonna keep going
to Justin Jefferson all day. But if you can score
and the Rams scored thirty in that game, and you
can hold all the other guys in check. Well, eventually,
you know, you can force the turnover. And that's you
know what I think the Rams might try to do.

(37:06):
They might just be like, yeah, JSN can get his yards,
if they're empty yards, it's not gonna matter. You can't
give up the forty yard play. You can't give up
sixty yard play. It seems like he has one of
those every single game. But if you're letting him have
ten ten, ten here, ten, they're eight there, seven there,
that's fine. That's what the like I said, that's what
the Vikings do with Justin Jefferson, and the Rams won

(37:28):
that game by ten.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
That's kind of how I think I would slow him down.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
We'll see, I.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
Am an agreement. I'll have an agreement with that, and
so we have other supers and we have like eight minutes.
But I I agree. I think I'm you know, you
got like JSN obviously big problem. I am very curious
if Tory Horton plays. But also remember they traded for Shihi, right,
so you talk about explosiveness. I think that this game

(38:01):
is going to be a battle of the offenses. Truly.
I think that we're in for like a very high
and we'll talk about it obviously more in depth on Friday,
but I feel like we're in for a very high
scoring game. So I think that these teams are actually
pretty similar to each other in a lot of ways.
So I'm I'm curious. I mean, the defense plays our
offense in practice, right, so I think they're going to

(38:24):
be seeing a similar a similar thing against Seattle.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Saylor Swift love the name. Love seeing
the tight ends cook or linebackers scare me. Tackling is
going to be important this Sunday. Lambman makes great plays,
but you definitely miss some. I think you're being a
little hard on the linebackers. I thought they played very well,
but I get what you're saying. I think from that perspective,
that one play in particular where you get Landman out

(38:50):
kind of you know, all alone, and was it tong
just that scored the touchdown.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Ferrell?

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Oh it was Luke Ferrell. Okay, yeah, that play. It
just felt like.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
I actually said something to Chris to the effect of,
I don't think that should go on Landman. And the
reason why is I think at a certain point, when
the quarterback has held the ball that long, you've done
your job in coverage. Anything after twelve seconds, like, you've

(39:25):
done your job in coverage at that point, that's on
the pass rusher not getting there. So I do think
the pass rush was at fall for that. But anyway,
Zaylor's back at it. Thank you for the five. Also,
penalties stayed pretty clean Sunday. Got to keep it up discipline.
Our secondary's biggest test is the Seahawks. It's true, one
hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
I think they're gonna trust him too. I don't think
that they're gonna try and scheme around JSN.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
I think they're gonna play their style of football.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
I don't see much changing, and you'll see if it's
good enough. Uh, Chris, speaking of my friend here, thank
you for the twenty Thanks again for coming out. Had
a great time. Let's do it again next season. Absolutely,
I'm definitely down. It was a lot of fun and
a Matthew thank you for the five being held in
check by Trent Williams. That may be the best to

(40:16):
ever play that position is a major concern. Yeah, it's true.
It's why I was just highlighting it. I'm not really
worried about the pass rush, just giving Trent Williams his props.
You know, I think if I was going to complain
about anything, I thought Rob Havenstein got worked personally, and
I thought Alec Jackson was a little disappointing. But yeah,

(40:36):
that's pretty much it as far as that's concerned.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
Matthew.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Yeah, and.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah, I think that's gonna do it for us.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
Oh nope, No, it's honest, super chat. But I saw
this and I was like, he's still my heart. I
appreciate it. Yeah, it feels like I've been talking since that.
Well I probably have, so Yeah, it's fun though, But yeah,
on any foul thoughts, I mean.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Just obviously very happy that, you know, the Rams got
the win. You know, we were able to kind of
get our revenge right from earlier this season against the
forty nine ers, And as I mentioned earlier, the NFC
West is no joke this year. Every win matters, So
this was really really important for us to kind of
break even with the forty nine ers. And we've got

(41:28):
another matchup on Sunday against another division rival who leads
our division right in Seattle, who I think is the
biggest threat to the Rams in the division, so it'll
be really really fun to talk about that Friday night.
But guys, that's going to do it from us. If
you like what you hear, as always, please like and subscribe.
You can follow us social media at Downtown Rams. You

(41:48):
can follow me on Twitter slash x at the Alexis Kraft,
you can follow Jake at JK Bogan, and guys go
check out Jake on the NFC West Roundtable after this,
but until then, as always, stay safe, take care, and
go Rams.