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Sometimes in the NFL, you have to win ugly football games and the Los Angeles Rams Week 17 matchup with Baltimore Ravens was the epitome of that. Matthew Stafford was a walking abomination, the Rams uncharacteristically struggled to stop the run and the team was forced to count on a last-minute touchdown drive to win a game against a now 8-8 team that was playing with its backup quarterback.
While a win is a win and a loss is a loss in the NFL standings, sometimes certain wins or losses can feel a little bit bigger..and this one definitely did for the Rams. They showed for the second straight game that they can overcome severe adversity and come away with big road wins over teams that were fighting for their playoff lives.
LA is now on a five-game winning streak heading into Week 18 and even though they might feel good about the win, a team must always be able to find something good and something bad from each game and work on both if you want to succeed in this league. Lucky for you, we broke down Sunday's Rams-Ravens game and came up with three things Rams fans can take out of the narrow victory: one good, one bad, and one downright ugly.
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Rams Week 17 Takeaways
3. The defense didn't allow a touchdown (good)
The Rams are still at 32 touchdowns allowed this season, fifth in the NFL, after allowing zero offensive touchdowns on Sunday. The Ravens' only touchdown came from a Chuck Clark interception that Stafford never should have thrown. Otherwise, it would have been a 12-point performance from the defense…or less, considering Stafford had a fumble that set the Ravens up in field-goal range. It was a good day overall for the defense but one crucial component of it was lacking…
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2. The run defense was awful (bad)
Allowing 32 runs for 156 yards is just unacceptable, even if it is against one of the best rushing teams in the NFL. Troy Reeder stepped up with some big stops for the Rams on third and fourth downs that made huge differences and he ended up with ten tackles overall but there were too many first-down runs for the Ravens. Also, the bad run defense was the cause of the infamous “Ramsey punches Rapp” scene from Sunday's game, so the team knows this is an issue as well.
1. Stafford was a walking turnover until the final drive (ugly)
For the second straight game, on the road, the Rams were able to overcome Stafford turning the ball over three times and win the game. In Week 16 against the Minnesota Vikings, it was three interceptions for Stafford. This time, in Week 17, it was one fumble that set the Ravens up in the red zone and two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) to Ravens safety Chuck Clark (owner of three career picks coming into the game…not even kidding.) Obviously, that cannot continue to happen and Stafford knows that. The Rams will work to get it fixed before next week's home showdown with their rivals, the San Francisco 49ers.
