The Los Angeles Rams (4-2) will travel across the pond to face off against the AFC South Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2) in Week 7 at Wembley Stadium in England. This will be the Rams final game against the AFC South in 2025; having won all three games against the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, and Indianapolis Colts. The Rams were able to win those matchups but they haven’t been playing their best football through the first third of the season. Could the Jaguars exploit some of the weaker position units on the Rams? Here is my position by position breakdown of Week 7’s matchup…
QB Breakdown: Stafford had his worst game of the 2025 season against Baltimore. He missed a few throws especially in the red zone early in the game. His numbers could have been better had he executed those throws. He also could have been helped more if Davante Adams had hauled in at least passes that he was capable of catching. This week will be an interesting test for QB1 as he faces a defense with a large defensive front, strong edge rushers, quality linebackers, and a secondary that has picked off 10 passes (best in the league). Stafford will do so likely without his #1 wide receiver Puka Nacua.
Trevor Lawrence remains a mystery to me. The Jaguars QB has been up and down with his play through 6 games. He’s completing 61.1% of his passes and has an 8:5 TD/INT ratio. This is also Lawrence’s worst QBR since his rookie season. Lawrence is a sneaky threat when it comes to tucking the ball and running so LA will need to contain him in the pocket.
RB Breakdown: The production for Kyren Williams as a running back has definitely dipped. As expected. He is only averaging 69.7 rushing yards/game compared to 95.3 (2023) and 81.2 (2024). The area that Kyren has shown growth is as a pass catcher. He’s already nearing his season-best numbers and has found the endzone three times as Stafford’s checkdown.
Travis Etienne, also a 2022 draft pick, has been on the other end of production. After a disappointing 2024 season, Etienne has roared back in 2025; averaging 78.3 rushing yards/game, a personal best thus far.
WR Breakdown: It’s expected that Puka Nacua will miss this game. Even if he does play, I expect him to be limited or a decoy in the offense. So I have to reduce their ranking from the previous weeks. Many will expect the offense to run through Davante Adams but I expect Whittington to slide into Nacua’s role; keeping Adams as the X-receiver on the perimeter. If Tutu Atwell returns, this should open up the middle of the field again to target Whittington and Adams.
Jacksonville has a lot of depth at the receiver position; featuring Brian Thomas Jr., Travis Hunter, Dyami Brown, and Parker Washington. The array of skill sets with this group could pose a threat to an inconsistent Rams secondary.
TE Breakdown: The Jaguars are without Brenton Strange which hurts their stock. The Jaguars will now insert Hunter Long and Johnny Mundt (former Rams!) into the starting lineup. Neither has produced significantly other than a pair of Hunter Long touchdowns.
LA also has not had a lot of success with their tight end room. The group has combined for three touchdowns but their four tight ends have a combined 189 yards (31.5 yards/game). Against a strong Jacksonville linebacking corps, I doubt LA will utilize this group much on Sunday.
OL Breakdown: The Rams offensive line has actually improved in the last two weeks. Alaric Jackson has been stout for the Rams as Stafford’s blindside. Steve Avila returned to the lineup as the left guard. His run blocking could use improvement but his pass protection has been up to par. Kevin Dotson has been a stud (shocker). The interesting factor here will be whether the Rams decide to use Warren McClendon or Rob Havenstein (ankle) at right tackle. McClendon has actually outplayed Havenstein in his two starts, albeit against weaker competition. Jackson and the starting RT for Week 7 will have a big assignment; trying to keep Stafford clean from Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker.
Jacksonville does not have specific stud along their offensive line but they have been a good unit at generating running lanes for Travis Etienne. Walker Little and Anton Harrison could be in for a long day if Verse and Young are getting the chance to pin their ears back.
DL Breakdown: I’m giving Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske one more week to showcase themselves. Kobie Turner has been slow out of the gate this season because of a back injury. Compared to his 2023 and 2024 seasons, he is far off his pace for Sacks and Tackles for Loss. He’s also missed as many tackles this year as he did in 2024. Fiske has yet to get on the board with any sacks in 2025. Poona Ford and Tyler Davis are the two guys that continue to lead this group with stout run defense.
Jacksonville’s defensive front is likely to be a significant issue for the Los Angeles interior offensive line. LA has typically struggled against larger defensive fronts. Arik Armstead and Davon Hamilton are big bodies that Avila and Shelton must clear out of the way. If they collapse the pocket on Stafford; Hines-Allen and Walker will have easy clean up duty.
EDGE Breakdown: Byron Young leads the NFC in sacks with 7.5 and is second in the NFL. Jared Verse is PFF’s #4 edge rusher with a 91.0 overall grade.
Hines-Allen and Walker have only combined for 3 sacks but they have 42 pressures. Hines-Allen is 9th in the NFL in pressures.
The game could be influenced by whichever tandem produces the most impact plays.
ILB Breakdown: I actually increased the Rams grade here because of the emergence of Shaun Dolac. Originally fourth on the team’s depth, Dolac has now passed Speights (ankle) and Reeder. Dolac leapfrogs Reeder who is a liability in pass coverage. Dolac just provides more fast-twitch ability at the second level for a Rams defense needing a running mate next to Nate Landman.
The Jaguars are stockpiling linebackers with Foyesade Oluokun (75.2), Ventrell Miller (79.5), Dennis Gardeck (72.1), and Devin Lloyd (91.5). This might be the best linebacking corps in the NFL.
DB Breakdown: The Rams defensive backs actually grade relatively well: Darious Williams (73.2, 13th/108), Quentin Lake (75.5, 12th/108), Cobie Durant (66.3, 33rd/108), and Kam Curl (76.4, 9th/83). The problem is Emmanuel Forbes (52.0, 89th/108).
Jacksonville’s ball hawking secondary has picked off 10 passes with Jourdan Lewis being the best player in that group. Wingard or the newly acquired Greg Newsome might be the areas that LA tries to exploit when throwing the ball downfield.
ST Breakdown: Until the Rams figure out their special teams, they will be held back week to week. The Rams experienced similar woes in 2020/2021 until Matt Gay came along and brought stability to the unit. Maybe the Rams need to make a change. Or maybe Chase Blackburn is relieved of his duties. Either way, a change somewhere could be on the horizon.
Jacksonville doesn’t have a strong special teams unit either with Little (place kicker) and Cooke (punter).
This game could be tight enough to the point that special teams decides the game.
COACHING Breakdown: This will be the first game of 2025 where we see Sean McVay face off against one of his former assistants. Coen has brought the Jaguars to a 4-2 record, their best start since 2007. That has to mean something.
Sean McVay has done a strong job with the Rams offense in 2025. The offense is one of the most explosive in the NFL. But they have been held back by subpar execution in the red zone. I think a fraction of this is on Sean McVay with the majority of the responsibility falling on the players to execute blocks, catch the ball, etc. Sometimes the best play can be the simple one.
Who do you have winning: Los Angeles or Jacksonville? What is your final score prediction? Add your comments about key positional matchups in the comments below
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