Game overview:
Enjoyable game watch, for me...kinda.
Of course, I was rooting for the Rams...because of my Rams NFC title win bets from the summer and in-season -- but I thought the Eagles were gonna win this game and put an end to those pipe dreams. But, to my surprise, the Rams were hanging in the game as the snow started to fall.
Then there came a point where I thought I had this game...I thought the Rams were gonna actually win it after all...after they recorded a safety to close the score to 16-15 Philly, grabbing the momentum and with the Eagles about to kickoff to the Rams. But then my predicted ‘Kyren Williams fumbles to change the game/causes the loss’ premonition came true...a fumble right after the safety/ensuing kickoff set up the Eagles in the red zone re-changed the momentum in a blink.
Still, the Rams held the Eagles to a field goal post-fumble and a 7-point/one score lead -- but then Saquon popped another long TD run with 4+ minutes remaining to take a 13-point lead...and I just flipped the TV off as Saquon ran it in for a score. It was a valiant effort...an opportunity lost for the Rams...as I went to the kitchen to start making some food before the Ravens-Bills kickoff.
A few minutes later, I got a text from someone saying, ‘Here’s where the Rams win it!’ And I was thinking it was a joke, but then I pulled the game up on my phone and learned that the Rams just scored a quick TD after the Saquon TD run and were just finishing up halting the Eagles subsequent drive -- and now LAR had 2+ minutes to go win the game only down by 6. I went flying into my office to watch the final drive...the team of destiny had the game in front of them to go win it at the buzzer!
The Rams drove it down to the red zone with plenty of time remaining, but a 3rd & short play turned sack created a 4th & long incompletion...and the dagger plunged, once and for all. The Rams were finished.
Had this game been played in good weather, the Rams might have won it. The Rams were not the deep underdog that luckily stayed with Philly...the Rams played well enough to win, they showed they were as good as the Eagles -- but the turnovers in the sloppy weather seemed to all bounce Philly’s way and L.A. could not stop Saquon the best day they ever lived, so the Rams lost. And I was left wondering -- how did the Rams go this entire year with such awful linebacker play and do nothing about it all season? They traded main starting LB Ernest Jones right before the season kicked off and did nothing at the trade deadline or at any point in the season to address it. In the end, their weakness at ILB got exposed.
The Eagles get full credit...the Rams were hanging tough...they lost Quinyon Mitchell early, then Jalen Hurts was injured, then in a full knee brace -- but the Eagles D held the Rams out of the end zone on the final drive, and now they get ready to host the white-hot Washington Commanders for a third matchup with them this season. Everyone’s feeling on that game is gonna ebb and flow with the Jalen Hurts injury reports each day this week.
Player Scouting Notes from the game:
*Note any fractional numbers in parentheses (4/2) or (2/3), etc., are a 'split' stat on our definition of a 'quality start' (or not) marker on a player -- using 14 PPR points in a game for RB-WR-TE and 21 (6pts TD pass) for a QB ...point levels that are good/productive/well above average starts for a Fantasy week. Trying to identify trends, consistency (or not) in players we might not normally realize.
A (3/2), for example, means: 3 times the player hit at/above the QUALITY mark, and 2 times they did not (this current season).
-- Jalen Hurts (15-20 for 128 yards, 0 TD/0 INT, 7-70-1) got hurt on that safety at the end of the 3rd-quarter and went into the blue tent for around 5 minutes, emerged back to the game with a knee brace on, and when Philly got the ball off the Kyren fumble and drove down to the 1-yard line, in obvious tush push area...they didn’t push the tush. They got stuffed at the goal line and settled for a field goal. I then knew this knee issue was a real issue for Hurts.
Nick Sirianni said, on Monday, ‘he didn’t know’ about Hurts’ status or whether he could play this weekend...but his words were not taken seriously. I don’t know if Hurts will play or not. I assume he will, but I’m thinking right now that he’s not going to be 100% -- and that’s a big deal for this offense in this massive game for a trip to the Super Bowl.
-- Also, Philly ace rookie CB Quinton Mitchell hurt his shoulder very early and then missed the rest of the game. He is also ‘unknown’ for Sunday but says he’s playing.
That is two MASSIVE players (Quinyon and Hurts) to be in question on injury. Obviously, it will be watched/monitored all week.
Speaking of Mitchell...the DROY award for 2024 is essentially down to Jared Verse v. Mitchell. The votes are in on that already, (voting happens at the end of the regular season and before the playoff games go) and we’ll find out who wins in a couple of weeks -- but if this game counted in voter’s minds -- Verse would’ve locked DROY up...4 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 3 TFLs in this game.
Verse shot his mouth off about Eagles fans to start the week, and he never backed down, and he went out and backed up his words with his best game in weeks.
I have bets on both Mitchell and Verse for the DROY, bets placed needing to hedge from Laiatu Latu...so, I’m gonna win one of those bets to help cover the lost Latu (and others) investments.
-- I already hit on the Kyren Williams (19-106-0, 1-0-0/2) fumbling problem this year in reports last week...and obviously he had the big fumble that totally changed this game/caused the loss more than anything else. Just to note, I’ve heard some chatter the past two days about unhappiness/disharmony with Kyren, in general, from the local Rams analysts and commentators.
Obviously, some of the chatter is bubbling up from people are salty about his key fumble in this game...and it will be all but forgotten in a few weeks, but I do think the fuse has been lit for some whole offseason consternation in L.A. -- and the time for at least a committee share with Blake Corum, or possible straight up summer competition for the #1 back in 2025 may be about to happen.
It seems incredibly odd that the Rams would draft Corum so highly and then never really push/use him in 2024. Maybe as a rookie, McVay wants to get him a year to get his feet wet (but other RBs were thrown right into the fire from the 2024 draft class and did fine). But in 2025, there’s no more excuses as to why Corum would barely play/touch the ball.
You/me didn’t think Rachaad White or Isiah Pacheco would get replaced as lead backs after their nice 2023 season, but eventually they did get bumped in 2024. There’s gonna be more and more of that with the flood of RB talent flowing into the NFL from college.
-- People can say, ‘Oh the RB is back (in favor) in 2024!’ And there’s some truth to that, but I think it’s more -- Saquon Barkley (26-205-2, 4-27-0/4) and Derrick Henry were freed from their terrible captures/previous teams and went to good+ teams/offenses and flourished in 2024.
When is it, at any position, that would you see the two best (arguably) RBs of this current era are available free agents at the same time (or ever)? They were available for anyone to get. And in Derrick Henry’s case, he got paid like an Average Joe. No respect given, really.
Is the RB ‘back’ (in favor)? Maybe. That’s a long argument. I do know this -- Saquon and Henry deserve to be in the MVP award discussion. Can you name a WR more important, better than either of them...as far as impact on their teams and opposing defenses?
On the other hand, if you kept those two RBs on their old teams for 2024 season...no one would care about them, they probably would’ve had half the production.
-- I was thinking about the Rams for 2025, and I was wondering how many players were going to be free agents, etc. Wondering if they had enough for another run...or was 2025 going to be some transitioning. Looking at their free agent list, they really aren’t at risk at all. They have two key O-Linemen expiring (Noteboom, A. Jackson) but I assume they’ll sigh Jackson to a big extension and let Noteboom (who was bad in 2024) go without any heartbreak.
Aside from Alaric Jackson, they are not at risk of losing any super-key player for a 2025 run. The defense is young and emerging, and needs interior linebacker help bad. As long as Matt Stafford is there, they’re viable. But they better start finding a Stafford replacement for the future...there cannot be too many years left of Stafford’s skills and/or health. Stafford will be 37.5+ years old in 2025 season.
-- This game featured the two best defenses in the NFL by the end of the season. The Rams not Eagles started out that way, but the Eagles started humming a month or so into the season and the Rams started hitting a stride in the 2nd-half of the season.
Both are young, talented defenses. The Eagles more talented...but the Rams are 1-2 players away from being right there with Philly. These two teams will likely be the #1-2 for Dynasty rankings and redraft rankings in 2025.
I then asked myself the question/scenario: Usually the consensus thoughts on DSTs are almost always wrong in the preseason, for what will happen in the regular season -- so, if I had to guess ‘What DST would be the real best DST for 2025, if I knew it was not going to be Philly or L.A.?
Looking at all the NFL teams real-quick to see what team/DST gives me a reaction...
I’ll bet the FF analysts are going to pile into the Texans DST for 2025...they finished strong and has the horrible division benefit.
My first/early hunch = the Commanders DST.
No study or anything for my answer, just a quick reaction.
DST scoring is so silly/unpredictable, it will probably be some weird defense that just got some lucky defensive TD run. Do you know who the top DST of 2024, on a PPG basis (using a standard DST scoring), was? Our beloved Denver Broncos...that many of us rode to the playoffs, but then they ran out of gas in the end...but all season they were very good, obviously.
Snap Counts of Interest:
68 = Kupp
64 = Demarcus Rob
63 = Puka
58 = Higbee
07 = D Allen
04 = Parkinson
