The Rams defense is finding its identity while the offense is unraveling

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – To get from the postgame press conferences and locker room to the elevator that leads back to the press box, it's about a half-mile walk around SoFi Stadium's curved ground floor.

Somewhere on that walk Sunday night after the Los Angeles Rams beat the Las Vegas Raiders 20-15, their second win of the season, amid the hustle and bustle of golf carts whizzing by and buses full of equipment and production crews packing up their equipment, a clear thought occurred to me: Me I don't really know what this team believes in offensively.

I can't see an identity, player, ethos or overall strength on which it is based. It was once Cooper Kupp – who will return from an ankle injury on Thursday night against Minnesota. Still, it makes no sense that this will ever be the case again, as Kupp has not had a healthy or complete season in the three years since he sacrificed his body to the utmost for a Super Bowl victory and the Triple Crown. It's not Kupp's fault that he's struggling with injuries, and when he's healthy, his impact is undeniable. Still, the Rams find themselves in two worlds at the same time: one in which their offense flows through him and second-year Puka Nacua, and another in which they are doing everything they can to find their way on the field without Nacua and Kupp, and whatever The It feels like a placeholder.

Opposing teams clearly recognize that the line between these worlds is being crossed, and the vultures may start circling — the Rams have received trade inquiries about Kupp in recent days, a league source said, and not the facetious kind They always used to have Donald about Aaron.

The offensive player is currently not Nacua either because he is injured. It's certainly not the physical, body-moving rushing attack of 2023, although star running back Kyren Williams, who scored in every Rams game this season, continued his streak with two touchdowns on Sunday. It's not McVay, who is usually the brand and face of this organization, but who went into pure problem-solving mode back in Week 1 when injuries at receiver and along the offensive line worsened (the Rams are currently playing a rookie center and started on Sunday). their fourth left guard of the season is undrafted free agent rookie Justin Dedich). McVay coached one of the best games of his life a few weeks ago in the Rams' only other win (against San Francisco), but the offense otherwise felt disjointed, vacillating between frantic and sluggish with little stability in between. Every week, McVay sits at the podium and talks about execution mistakes, coaching mistakes and more.

“There are things that we do throughout the week that you expect to translate, and unfortunately there are just some gaps in (our) ability to translate some of the practice content into game day execution.” McVay said Sunday. “That’s a legitimate question. Ultimately, we are all in the same boat. We have to do a better job. I won’t apologize for that.”

Matthew Stafford rushed for a season-low 154 yards in the Rams' win over the Raiders on Sunday. (Alex Gallardo/Imagn Images)

It's not even veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, at least not right now, because Stafford is being beaten to a pulp – he's been hit more than 50 times and sacked 18 times in six games. Nevertheless, the player is able to lift everyone else around him, we know this because we have seen it, has had difficulty connecting with his receivers of late, moving the ball in full fields one game and in the red zone the next, and has thrown costly interceptions in consecutive games. On Sunday, he and his receivers missed a few open opportunities downfield (a pass attempt to Tyler Johnson failed because Stafford came under pressure too quickly) and Stafford was then mostly relegated to short throws to relieve the pressure.

“I definitely missed some plays,” Stafford said after the game. He finished the game 14 of 23 yards for 154 yards, one interception and a passer rating of 62.6. “Mostly I just do whatever I can to help us win. Today wasn't about throwing the game over the top, making a series of play moves and throwing it down the field, but about managing what we had up front. …

“It felt like they were an aggressive defense, you know, I have a lot of respect for their defensive coordinator (Patrick Graham). He's been doing this for a while, he's always very well thought out. We had some opportunities early on to turn some of those shorter ones into bigger gains, but that didn't happen. The boys made some nice tackles in the secondary. On one of those early third downs, I got hit right as I was trying to throw one to Tyler. They failed at it (the reporting), didn't have anyone with them and I felt like it was a little too late (and) they did a good job when they got home. … They definitely played aggressive defense today, so I tried to counteract that by getting the ball to our guys in space and letting them do their thing.”

The Rams offense failed to score a touchdown in the first quarter for the sixth straight time and started 1-for-7 on third down (plus 0-1 on fourth down).

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“It's really business as usual, isn't it?” Stafford said: “It doesn't matter what time the game is. To score points and move the ball in this league, you have to perform.”

They're hoping they can get healthy enough to put together a streak that gets them out of this 2-4 hole. Amazingly, the NFC West is still pretty wide open. That starts with Kupp returning on time Thursday and then Nacua, left guard Steve Avila until November and then possibly center/defender Jonah Jackson. But let's be honest: “Waiting for certain players to get healthy” in and of itself is not a sensible or sustainable strategy for any NFL team, and certainly not for these Rams, who have been so accustomed to the reputation of being innovators with other Bona in company were Fide playoff candidates.

It's not all going in a negative direction, and the organization can find comfort in that and victory. A relatively young, inexperienced defense found great success against a poor Raiders offense (and that's okay, because good teams keep bad teams bad). Third-year cornerback Cobie Durant headlined a defensive backs unit that forced four turnovers. Durant had a crucial pass breakup on third down on a ball intended for rookie star tight end Brock Bowers in the end zone, nullifying the drive and giving Las Vegas its first of five field goals (the Rams did not allow any touchdowns). He threw a strip sack to quarterback Gardner Minshew in the second quarter and the ball was recovered by safety Kam Curl, who ran it back for a touchdown. Durant also intercepted Minshew in the second quarter.

Cobie Durant is a delightful person. After the game he said that sometimes there is a check from him when he flashes out of the alignment he was making. Today he had to do it and he was so damn excited that he thinks that's why he got cramps. Also on Jaylen McCollough's INTs… “Man, he's really living.”

– Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 21, 2024

The Rams made significant changes to their secondary in Week 5 against Green Bay. Veteran cornerback Tre'Davious White is a healthy player after a rough start (White shouldn't have played as many snaps early in the season after a Achilles tendon repair as McVay suggested last week), but injuries and the lack of an alternative plan forced the Rams out to act). Veteran cornerback Darious Williams is back and plays well on the outside, sometimes opposite Durant and sometimes opposite veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon (who also had a crucial pass breakup as the Raiders attempted a comeback). Undrafted free agent rookie safety Jaylen McCollough picked up his second and third interceptions in just two games as a sub-package player in place of third-round rookie draft pick Kam Kinchens .

Importantly, the coaches also moved captain Quentin Lake from the roving star/slot defender position to the pure defensive safety position to create a better line of communication at the back of the defense and give Curl more time to move back and forth from the line of scrimmage, where he made several crucial plays in the last two games. At least twice when facing the red zone or goal line on Sunday, Lake and Curl's adjustments between themselves and then the ripple effect on other defensive backs resulted in stops or splash plays. Meanwhile, the pressure the defensive line and outside linebackers faced early in the year is extremely promising. After a game with nine pressures, rookie outside linebacker Jared Verse leads all first-year defenders with 29 pressures, while rookie teammate Braden Fiske is second with 17, according to Next Gen Stats.

What a damn sequence between safeties Kam Curl and Quentin Lake on second and third downs.

Curl twisted and stretched mid-jump to deflect a pass, and Lake hit Bowers with the short catch-and-run.

– Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 20, 2024

“I think we're starting to find our identity, putting guys in the right spots and taking advantage of their skills,” McVay said. “We've gotten healthier… we've scored two touchdowns in the last two games, we've forced some turnovers and we've been able to really apply a lot of pressure. I’m really happy with where our defense is going right now.”

This is great! And when the Rams got a short field after both defensive takeaways, they scored touchdowns. That's great too!

Not so great? The nine other possessions (minus ending knee downs) included an interception, a turnover on downs and a missed field goal. The remaining six were punts. Who are these guys?

(Top photo, from left: Cobie Durant, Quentin Lake, Kam Curl: Joe Scarnici / Getty Images)