Winners & Losers: Rookie class leads Rams to first road win of season

Braden Fiske sacks Geno Smith twice; Kamren Kinchens gets two picks

The rookie class for the Los Angeles Rams did the heavy lifting as they took down the Seattle Seahawks 26-20 in an important win in the tightly competitive race for the NFC West. It’s counterintuitive for rookies to be the reason why you end up on the winning side of a rivalry game, especially on the road in a challenging environment like Lumen Field where the 12th man was out in full force. The youngsters came up big-time in this game.

Les Snead should be very happy with rookies leading the way as LA moves to 4-4 and is now back in the NFC playoff picture.

Here’s who stood out in both positive and negative ways on Sunday:

Winners

LA’s rookie class

Braden Fiske, DE

Aaron Donald doesn’t play for the Rams anymore, but the team is still very disruptive along the interior with Braden Fiske in the fold. Fiske was in the Seattle backfield so often on Sunday, the Seahawks should have charged him rent. His notched two sacks on Geno Smith.

Kamren Kinchens, DB

Both of Kinchen’s interceptions of Smith game with Seattle driving in the red zone. He returned one pick over 100 yards to the house to give the Rams the lead in the second half.

I don’t want to overlook the struggles of the rookie safety so far this season, though it’s important to remember that it’s still early in these players’ careers. One of the most attractive traits in Kinchens’ draft profile was his ball skills, and that ability showed up big time in this game.

Can Kinchens continue to show that he deserves to be in the mix in the secondary?

Josh Karty, K

Seattle missed an extra point early.

Karty was accurate on both of his field goals (long of 38) and converted both extra points. It was a tough environment on the road but the rookie seemed unphased. He was also worked with a new holder with Ethan Evans out of this game.

Jared Verse, OLB

LA’s first round pick earned a sack and was tough against the run—also recording a tackle of loss in that facet. I believe he also drew a holding penalty in a game where there seemed to be too many flags (at least in my view).

Jaylen McCollough, DB

McCollough picked off a pass in the first half of a bobbled ball by Jaxon Smith-Njigba. That’s the rookie UDFA’s fourth interception on the season. He certainly has a nose for the football and finds himself in the right place at the right time.

Tyler Davis, DT

Another rookie that earned a sack was Tyler Davis, who got his opportunity in the first half. Fiske caused the initial disruption.

Demarcus Robinson, WR

Robinson was LA’s best receiver on Sunday. He caught both of the Rams’ offensive touchdowns and finished with six receptions for 94 yards. With Puka Nacua ejected and out for the second half, Robinson was Stafford’s main target in the final two quarters of regulation and overtime—especially on downfield throws.

Robinson also caught two touchdowns in the Rams’ last game against the Vikings. It seems he’s hitting his stride after a relatively slow start to the season for him. He seems better off as a secondary or tertiary option instead of the number one receiver, which makes sense given the trajectory of his career.

Losers

Puka Nacua, WR

We can question whether the personal foul and ejection that kept Nacua out of the second half was fair and/or correctly called, but ultimately it’s never good to be the individual to throw a punch on the field and let your emotions get the best of you. This was an out of character moment for a player who by all accounts—on and off the field—is a positive personality and leader on the team.

Still, Nacua’s absence was felt in the second half and he could have helped LA put Seattle away much earlier. Either by injury or ejection, the second-year receiver is finding it difficult to stay on the field these days.

Cobie Durant, CB

When will the Rams realize that Durant is purely an outside corner? Maybe they don’t have an ideal option for the slot position on the roster, and putting Durant inside is the best they can do this year.

Slot receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught seven passes for 180 yards and two scores. He was pretty much uncoverable for LA’s secondary, and Durant seemed to be the defender trailing him most often.

Justin Dedich, LG

It’s a good story for Dedich to make his third consecutive start as a rookie UDFA from USC, though he was the weak link on the Los Angeles offensive line against the Seahawks. Rookie first rounder Byron Murphy got consistent pressure in the interior, and life was difficult for Stafford at times in terms of pass protection.

Seeing Dedich in person, he looks incredibly undersized—especially standing next to the other linemen in the huddle. He’s listed at 6-2, 300 lbs.

Matthew Stafford, QB

It’s probably harsh to put Stafford on the “losers” list. It’s OK to disagree and I look forward to the discourse in the comments.

Much of the talk coming out of this game will be around Stafford “stealing souls” and breaking the hearts of all the Seahawks faithful at Lumen Field and around the world on Sunday. His play in overtime and the game-winning touchdown to Robinson was electric. But the difficult truth was that Stafford struggled during regulation, and with more offensive production the Rams could have put the Seahawks away much earlier.

Sure, Stafford stole souls on Sunday, but he also gave them plenty of life when they otherwise didn’t deserve it. LA’s veteran QB finished 25 of 44 (56.8% completion) for 298 yards, two touchdowns, an interception, and a passer rating of 83.3. He threw a pass straight to former Ram Ernest Jones, who dropped the easy interception. There was also another dropped interception late on a duck deep to Tutu Atwell as Seattle was looking to tie the game. There were consistent misses and accuracy issues, including on important third downs and in the red zone.

It’s rare to sack the opposing quarterback seven times and cause three takeaways just to end up in a close overtime game, but that was the case on Sunday.

Stafford and the Rams offense had multiple drives after Kinchens’ pick-six and could have used those to put a fork in Seattle. Instead, the Seahawks took the ball on the opening drive OT and drove down the field before LA’s defense narrowly stopped them on fourth-and-one.

The Rams’ signal call played excellent last week versus the Minnesota Vikings. He was supposed to put the bad football behind him with Cooper Kupp and Nacua back. This game looked an awful lot like the poor play we saw from Stafford in the first six games of the season—and that doesn’t bode well for LA moving forward.