INGLEWOOD, Calif. — At some point, “winning ugly” or “winning weird” or “winning despite a 13th first quarter without a touchdown in 16 games” is not going to work.
Don’t tell Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay that after he coached this team from a 1-4 start to a sixth double-digit-win season (10-6) in eight years.
“Being fortunate enough to be in this position for eight years, I’m not taking this for granted,” he said, laughing at the lectern postgame. “But we will look at it with a critical eye and say, ‘What does it really look like to play complete football?’ ”
The Rams can potentially clinch the NFC West on Sunday after beating the Arizona Cardinals 13-9 on a late interception by veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who was remarkably calm during a few minutes of pure chaos that easily could have cost Los Angeles the win (more on this in a moment). Of course, that has to happen in weird fashion, too — via a strength of victory tiebreaker with the Seattle Seahawks, who they play in Week 18. Sunday, the Rams need three wins or two wins and a tie from any of these teams: the Commanders, 49ers, Bills, Vikings and Browns.
“Nooo, I’m just gonna put my head in the sand,” said McVay sarcastically when a reporter asked him postgame whether he’d have an eye on the scoreboard during Sunday’s slate of games. “Yes, I’ll be watching tomorrow. If there’s a chance that we can win the division, I’m going to pay attention to that.”
GO DEEPER
Rams on verge of NFC West title with 13-9 win vs. Cardinals: Takeaways
If the majority of Saturday night’s game was offensively ugly — as many Rams games have been this season — the last few minutes were strange, full of potentially damning mistakes and downright confusing.
Los Angeles scored one touchdown, had the ball almost 15 minutes less than the Cardinals, quarterback Matthew Stafford was nearly intercepted at least four times, backup right tackle Joe Noteboom was called for three holds and of the team’s paltry 256 net yards of offense, 201 of them came via second-year receiver Puka Nacua (129 yards) and running back Kyren Williams (72 scrimmage yards and a touchdown).
On a fourth-and-10 with 3:15 to play and the Rams up just four points, Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray heaved a deep pass to rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who jumped for it at about the 1-yard line but instead it was intercepted by Rams rookie safety Kamren Kinchens. Kinchens ran with the ball for a few yards before sliding down (his teammates gave him hell for that on the sideline later).
Kinchens could have done any number of things on the play, as he later lamented. He could have swatted the ball away and the Rams would get possession at their 40-yard line. In his own opinion, he also could have run it back the other way for a touchdown and believed he had a lane to do so. It was Kinchens’ fourth interception of the season, and regardless of what he did after making the play, he got the ball back in Stafford’s hands. Usually, that’s a good thing.
The defense came up BIG tonight – one of those interceptions that *nearly* sealed the game was from @KKinchens5 @JourdanRodrigue asked if he would have done anything different. 👀 #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/227hRvpRpg
— ESPN Los Angeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) December 29, 2024
But it’s starting to feel silly to assume the offense, once the dagger-to-the-heart of all groups in late-game scenarios, could have closed the game out with a long and suffocating drive (even when starting from its own 11-yard line). Instead, the Rams gave the ball right back to the Cardinals in three plays and about one minute. Arizona also had two timeouts left.
After the Rams punted, both teams lined back up on the field with the ball set on the line of scrimmage between them. But no football happened. Instead, the two-minute warning break unfolded as it usually would even as the clock displayed “2:01”. The television broadcast cut to commercial (and the on-air analysts noted that the stadium clock had ticked down to two minutes flat). The Rams’ cheerleaders took the field as stadium music blared — still with players loosely aligned in the middle of their routine as a multiple-minute break continued. A senior columnist in the press box hollered, “get the cheerleaders off the field,” as other reporters got out their phones to capture the incredibly strange sight. The “break” ended and the broadcast returned from commercial to note that the clock had ticked back up to 2:01. The Cardinals ran one play and then the real two-minute warning stopped the clock again. The officials ruled that only a 30-second break, because of the previous and seemingly erroneous stoppage. McVay angrily declined to say what the officials said about the initial stoppage or what had even happened.
“I’ll keep that between us,” he said. “I was hopeful that ended up getting down to the two-minute based on when they said …” He paused. “I think you know as well as I do.”
Weird!
But there was hardly time to consider it (uh, in part because the “two minute warning” lasted 30 seconds). The Cardinals started moving the ball with apparent ease. The Rams’ already-shaky lead looked more wobbly by the second.
With 42 seconds left and against the Rams’ zero blitz called by defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Murray threw to tight end Trey McBride, against whom Witherspoon had already registered a touchdown-saving pass breakup earlier in the game. The ball bounced off of McBride and a diving Witherspoon scooped his hands underneath it. He celebrated, but based on the way the game had previously gone (including a few calls for and against both teams), he wasn’t sure whether a review might overturn it.
He stayed calm. That’s just his way.
“Just the way the NFL works, you never really know, honestly. I thought I stuck it, you saw by my celebration,” he said. “But once I saw that replay, any time that ball hits the ground you never know.”
SO MANY LOUD NOISES
📺: @NFLNetwork | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/uXRIkvZIjA
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 29, 2024
Witherspoon, a starter in 2023 and one of very few veterans on that defense as the Rams stripped down and overhauled the group, rejoined the team in the early fall and played a rotational role until a lung contusion sidelined third-year cornerback Cobie Durant. In Durant’s place on the outside opposite fellow veteran Darious Williams over the last three games, Witherspoon has made multiple key stops, punctuated by the Week 17 interception that was his first of the year.
“It’s just process, commitment that I’ve had throughout the season. Good things happen to those that stay diligent,” he said.
“It means everything,” added Kinchens, “at the end of the day (that is) everything that describes ‘Khello. He is one of those guys, like you said his role wasn’t big when he first came in (this year). But you couldn’t tell from how he goes about his business, how he’s communicating with especially young guys like me and making sure I’m on point with everything.”
Postgame, Witherspoon was all but emotionless in his comments though not in a negative way. He was simply as level as ever. He didn’t even really want to talk about his own play.
“It’s just who I’ve been my whole life, just bringing (other) guys along,” he said. “I’m not in it for the glory or for the attention. I just feel like that brings positivity not only to me but to the people around me.”
Kinchens’ error wasn’t insignificant, but overall the defense and special teams held the win together with little help from the offense. Rookie defensive tackle Braden Fiske notched two sacks, and has eight total on the year which is tied with second-year defensive tackle Kobie Turner (who had a sack) to lead the team. Second-year outside linebacker Byron Young had a sack, his seventh of the season. Rookie outside linebacker Jared Verse, the subject of extra attention from offensive linemen after a DROY-candidacy season, had a team-high seven pressures and a fourth-down run stop that prevented a touchdown. Veteran outside linebacker Michael Hoecht blocked an extra point, Ethan Evans punted well in terms of directing his placement and setting up the coverage unit, kicker Josh Karty made his field goals including a 53-yarder.
It’s just that pesky offense that is, well, kind of important as the team turns at least one hopeful eye toward the postseason.
“The reality is this: If you want to be able to do what we want to be able to do, you’ve got to handle your own business,” McVay said. “Our guys did that tonight, (but) there’s a lot of things that we can look at to be better collectively. That will always start with myself, and I’m excited to get back to the drawing board (and) figuring out how to put our team collectively in some better spots — particularly on the offensive side of the ball. We got away with a great effort from our defense tonight to be able to come away with the win.”
To make it simpler, here’s some perspective from Witherspoon that the team can once again lean on regarding the days and weeks ahead, starting with Sunday’s games:
“I’ll be watching football like I always do. But I think we’ve got business to handle against Seattle next week.”
(Photo of Witherspoon: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Leave a Reply