Rams enter postseason with a statement about their potential and their substance: The Pile

INGLEWOOD, Calif. —This is what a team playing up to its potential looks like.

The Rams, that is.

On Monday night, the Rams beat the Cardinals 34-11, in so sound a butt-kicking that the former team put up 21 points before the latter team got its first first-down conversion.

So sound a butt-kicking that on the Cardinals’ first four offensive series — four consecutive three-and-outs — they netted minus-four total yards and were held to only three first downs through the entirety of the first half.

“Defense was outstanding from the jump,” said head coach Sean McVay postgame. “What they did in the first half … I think it was one of the best performances in playoff history. … Just so pleased with those guys.”

But it was the substance underneath the sacks and trickeration from star additions — outside linebacker Von Miller got the Rams’ pressure going early by stopping Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray for a first-down loss on Murray’s second series, then followed that up with a sack for a loss of eight yards on his next one; meanwhile, receiver Odell Beckham Jr. threw a 40-yard pass to running back Cam Akers off a lateral trick play in the third quarter — that showed up most promisingly under the lights.

Substance: Quarterback Matthew Stafford played a clean game in his first playoff win — a game full of sound decision-making, without any of the forced “hero-ball” throws into disadvantageous coverage during the few protection breakdowns the Rams offensive line had. It was Stafford’s first playoff win; his calmness throughout the game would never have given that away if it hadn’t been the hottest topic of talking heads all week.

“I think (a playoff win) means a lot more to you guys, and all of that,” Stafford said postgame, gesturing across the loaded media room. “I just want to be a part of this team and help us win. I trusted in myself, trusted in my abilities and trusted in my teammates to go out there and play and let the chips fall where they may.”

The Rams passing game was smartly-designed — welcome back, mixture of dropback and play-action passes — highlights of which included a slick 31-yard catch on third-and-2 (out of empty!) by Beckham in the second quarter, in which he sprang loose from the inside of the three-receiver stack aligned to Stafford’s left side. It wasn’t a try-hard plan; it wasn’t anxious. Stafford ran it steadily, knowing he had to do so efficiently because he only threw the ball 17 times.

Substance: McVay ran the ball steadily behind Sony Michel, and explosively and furiously behind second-year back Akers (who had 18 touches in just his second game back since tearing his Achilles in July). Complementary layers in the run and pass game, smartly taken outlet plays from Stafford and handpicked spots for explosive pass plays illustrated the Rams offensive plan. It was a pivot from last week’s second-half implosion against San Francisco and probably a pretty cathartic one, too.

“I thought our guys got great (gap) removal up front, I thought our backs saw the lanes the right way, I thought Matthew — when we did throw the football — made great decisions (and) threw the ball accurately,” McVay said. “Got a lot of different guys involved and that’s exactly what we want to be able to do, that’s where you can be tough to defend.”

Substance: Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris’ game plan for what McVay called the Rams’ best performance of the season on that side of the ball. Morris and his assistant coaches were without starting safeties Jordan Fuller and Taylor Rapp and were already thin at cornerback and inside linebacker because of injuries. So they coaxed 37-year-old veteran safety Eric Weddle out of retirement (read: It didn’t take much convincing), and re-built their entire defensive backfield in a matter of days.

Substance: Inside linebacker Troy Reeder, picked on ruthlessly by the 49ers in Week 18, relayed the defensive calls in place of Fuller and played an outstanding game in doing so. Late in the second quarter, with the Arizona offense backed deep into its own end zone, Reeder worked the defensive line’s pressure leverages and was able to hit Murray, who tried to launch the ball away but instead had it intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

“(Reeder) did good, he did really good,” Aaron Donald said. “Communicating everything, keeping everybody locked-in and he made a good play down (in the end zone) when (Murray) threw that pick, almost getting a safety and making him toss it up there. We blitzed him, he had some success and he was doing great as far as communicating things and checking things well with us. He saw alerts, was able to communicate that with us — it was huge. He did a great job today.”

Beckham had more passing yards than Murray well into the third quarter, in fact, and much of that was a credit to the Rams front seven. They only had two sacks (Miller’s, and a split-sack between defensive linemen Donald and Greg Gaines) but recorded 14 total pressures, according to TruMedia. Murray faced a career-high 42.1 percent pressure rate from the Rams’ front, according to Next Gen Stats, where previously he had not faced a pressure rate of over 30 percent.

“I felt like we were dominant out there (and) the quarterback wasn’t comfortable at all,” Donald said. “He tried to get out of the pocket a couple of times and we were able to run him down, or do something to the point where he threw the ball, made a bad throw. We did what we were supposed to do. That was the game plan and we stuck to it — and had success doing it.”

Substance: Embattled cornerback David Long Jr., whose starting spot was taken from him after a disastrous Week 4 outing against this Arizona offense, had the play of his career when he snatched Murray’s wobbler out of the air and trotted into the end zone to put the Rams up 21-0 at halftime.

Substance: Reserve tackle Joe Noteboom coming in for an injured Andrew Whitworth (he suffered an ankle injury early in the game and played out the first half, but didn’t finish the game), punter Johnny Hekker and his coverage unit pinning the ball inside the Arizona 10-yard line on multiple occasions (including two downed respectively by deep-reserve player Jake Gervase and rookie receiver Ben Skowronek), the Rams defensive front getting pressure late in the fourth quarter with starters pulled, undrafted free agent defensive tackle Marquise Copeland getting an interception in the second quarter off a strangely-falling pass from Murray that hit Copeland in the hands between his block and his opposing offensive lineman …

Coachspeak calls it “complementary football”; for the Rams, it was more than that. It was a statement entrance into the postseason, a message again sent about what they can do even when short-handed because for all their finesse, they’d like folks to know they’ve got substance, too.

This hasn’t always been a team that has reached its full potential this season, but it’ll need to do it again in Tampa Bay on Sunday, in the NFC Divisional Round against the defending Super Bowl Champions and quarterback Tom Brady.

In fact, the Rams will probably need to see whether this bar they’ve now set in the wild card can get pushed up any higher.

Welcome to The Pile — let’s start poking around.

Cam Akers astounds

Akers’ 95 scrimmage yards, his cuts and explosive running and his physicality through contact drew marvel and curiosity from viewers of Monday night’s game — Akers, after all, is playing less than six months after he underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles.

I wrote this week about Akers’ innovative surgery, the intricate, grueling and cutting-edge rehabilitation program he underwent afterward and the sports science of his return-to-play clearance and even Monday night’s workload.

For those still catching on, Akers felt he had something to prove.

“I already knew (I could go full speed),” Akers said postgame. “It was just about showing y’all.”

Akers finished the game with 55 yards on 17 carries and the 40-yard catch; he also had several long runs called back because of holding penalties and did drop a pass from Stafford that would have been a sure touchdown. He also executed a brick-wall blitz pickup in the first half that showed his overall power is not lacking.

“It’s unbelievable,” McVay said, “and I don’t think the stats tell the story of how good he looked, leveling some runs off. You got a couple of big-time runs called back.”

But a truly frightening moment occurred in the third quarter, when safety Budda Baker and Akers collided on a play. Baker lay on the field for several minutes while doctors and athletic trainers attended to him, before he was carried off the field on a stretcher and quickly ruled out with a concussion. A spokesman for the Arizona Cardinals said Baker was taken to the hospital for further evaluation, was “alert and communicative” and “did not lose feeling or movement” in his extremities.

“Thoughts and prayers are with Budda Baker,” said McVay, “I’ve got tremendous respect for him and I’m hopeful that we’ll get some news that he’s going to be OK.”

Akers drew criticism from the broadcast and social media for his instant reaction to the hit as the play was unfolding (however, after he saw Baker laying on the ground, he knelt and gestured for teammates to also kneel).

“It was just a football play, it was nothing personal obviously,” Akers said. “Got the utmost respect for Budda and that team in general. I hope he’s doing good; just a football play, though.”

Akers later Tweeted, “Pray(ers) up to Budda. I didn’t know he was hurt after the play but I have nothing but respect for him.”

Cam Akers (Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)

Weddle of this, Weddle of that

Reserve safeties Nick Scott and Terrell Burgess started in the Rams’ “base” personnel on Monday night, but Weddle quickly entered the game for sub-package work that, because of the rapidly-built lead that forced Arizona into more known-pass situations, increased in turn.

Weddle rejoined the Rams on Tuesday, and immediately set about learning the language of a defensive system he had never previously run. Donald said his football acumen made an impact on keeping the defense cohesive.

“So smart,” Donald said. “There was one play where he was able to show (blitz), then he saw the quarterback come check and he was able to drop back and mess things up for him, make things a little blurry. When you’ve got veteran guys like that who understand football, it’s just great.”

Weddle has studied the Rams defense closely for the past two seasons, especially in fascination of a scheme change under 2020 defensive coordinator Brandon Staley (and continuation under Morris) that McVay has often told him seems like it was “built for” a safety with Weddle’s skill set. But translating that new language in real-time, and at game speed, was a challenge Weddle worked to prepare for while on the practice squad all week.

“That’s what has made me the player I am,” he said postgame. “I’m able to look at something, digest it and apply it. This is a new system, I had not played in this system. It came from Staley, Raheem put his little twist on it. You know, you put your mind to something — the mind is a powerful, powerful muscle. You commit to it, and you dedicate yourself, and after a day or two I was out there … it’s funny, I was getting jokes from coaches like I had been there all season, the way I was running around making calls.”

Weddle sat out through much of the second half, but said that if the game were not a blowout, he’d be in.

Bottom of The Pile

• McVay did not have status updates on Whitworth or Long (the latter suffered a knee injury and did not return to the game). Skowronek also left the game with a back injury and did not return.

• McVay let slip that the Rams pulled Beckham’s trick-play throw from a play he ran in New York years ago (that one went for a touchdown). Akers joked that Beckham could have led him a bit more on the throw, while Stafford marveled that he “made that throw right-handed, but he could probably do it lefty, too.” We should have seen something like this coming when Beckham, in further demonstration of his wide skill set, was spinning the ball on the turf and then kicking it through the uprights from almost 30 yards out before pregame warmups.

Beckham’s 4-yard touchdown catch, a contested ball on third-and-4 in the first quarter that put the Rams up 7-0, was also his first-ever postseason touchdown catch.

.@obj completes a 40-yard pass to @thereal_cam3!! No, that is not a typo.

📺 @ESPNNFL pic.twitter.com/feS9pX9U2y

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 18, 2022

• McVay challenged two on-field rulings in the first half, and won both. The first was a quarterback sneak that clearly showed Stafford scoring when the top-side view was broadcast on the video board, but initially ruled short.

The officials had just reviewed an initial touchdown call on the sneak immediately prior, so it was baffling why they didn’t just call the score again on such a clear play, to push the automatic review (all scoring plays are reviewed). Instead, McVay had to challenge the play.

The second challenged play came after a booming hit by Scott on receiver A.J. Green on second-and-7 in the second quarter, which was initially ruled a fumble out of bounds by the officials. On the next play, Long’s pick six gave the Rams a 21-0 lead.

• An important Stafford stat, courtesy of Next Gen Stats: Stafford was blitzed on a season-high 50 percent of his dropbacks, but went 7-of-9 for 148 yards and a touchdown in those situations.

Stafford only threw four incompletions (he was 13-of-17 for 202 yards and two touchdowns), and three of those were clear drops.

• Major shoutout to the IT support team at SoFi Stadium, who worked on my computer for over an hour and a half pregame after it crashed (and made a horrible noise, too). They were total professionals who kept trying to get it fixed, even though it did its best to stay broken. When I finally got the green light on its usability with about 90 minutes to kickoff, I hugged one of the support staffers so hard I think I lifted him off the ground.

(Top photo of Odell Beckham Jr.: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)