Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua made his presence felt in his return to action
The Los Angeles Rams got a big win over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football. It was the first time this season since Week 1 that wide receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp were on the field together. The duo combined for 12 receptions for 157 yards. Here is this week’s stock up, stock down.
Stock Up: WR Puka Nacua
Coming into Thursday’s game against the Vikings, it was uncertain how much Puka Nacua would play. However, from the first series it became pretty clear that he was going to play a significant role in the offense. The Rams are glad to have Nacua back and in his return, he led Rams receivers with seven receptions for 106 yards.
There was the early drop from Nacua, but to have the impact that he did after not playing since Week 1 was impressive. The Rams are getting healthier and the NFL should be on red alert.
Stock Down: Troy Reeder’s Starting Job
This should have been the case a long time ago, but Reeder’s return to the starting lineup will be in doubt after Thursday. The Rams replaced Reeder with a combination of Omar Speights and Jake Hummel. However, it was primarily Speights on the field for the injured Reeder.
#48 Omar Speights — dips under the RG and delivers a lick
RG gives the NT a long arm then tries to get to 2nd level, RG didn’t know who to block? Looked at both 56 and 48
regardless, the best play of the night or the UDFA pic.twitter.com/pZsikBxeOi
— Jim Youngblood 53 (@53_jim70721) October 25, 2024
Speights impact was immediately felt in the run game. Aaron Jones averaged just 3.1 yards per carry on 19 attempts which was his lowest output of the season. Speights had the best performance for a Rams linebacker this season against the run. He needs to improve in coverage, but it was a good debut for the undrafted free agent.
Stock Up: Rams offensive line
My biggest concern coming into the game was how the Rams offensive line would handle the Vikings pass rush. There have been times this season where the communication up-front needed to be better and Brian Flores is one of the best and most aggressive when it comes to sending the blitz.
The end result here was the Rams offensive line allowing just four pressures per NFL Next Gen Stats and a pressure rate of 11.8 percent. They are a big reason why the Rams won and it was because they were able to keep Matthew Stafford clean. This group deserves their props.
Stock Down: NFL Officiating
This isn’t even necessarily about the last call of the game on Sam Darnold. The officiating crew went from calling nearly a dozen penalties in the first half to half as many in the second half. They missed a facemask on Kyren Williams on the final Rams possession and missed another on Darnold. This was a group that at time was all over the place.
The officiating in the NFL is at an all-time low and with the recent introduction of sports betting, there are some uncomfortable questions that are going to get brought up. The crew from Thursday Night is the same crew that missed the pass interference on Kyle Pitts earlier this season when the Falcons played the Chiefs. At the end of the day, the standard needs to be raised.
Stock Up: EDGE Jared Verse
Through the first six games of the season, Jared Verse had shown a lot of raw potential and the athleticism popped off of the tape. However, everybody was waiting for his pressure numbers to start showing on the stat sheet in the form of sacks. That finally happened against the Vikings.
Jared Verse’s pass rush chart vs. the Vikings.
Most of his production came on the right, but the Rams and Chris Shula do a good job moving him around the formation. pic.twitter.com/5X4BasuXdt
— Blaine Grisak (@bgrisakTST) October 25, 2024
Verse had two crucial sacks and there were moments in which he simply took over the game. The Rams have needed a player on defense that can make a play when they need it, and right now, that player is Verse. This was the first of hopefully many games like this for the Rams rookie. The sky is the limit.
