10 takeaways from Rams Week 18 win vs. Cardinals

The Los Angeles Rams have finished the 2025 regular season with a win. While it didn’t necessarily come easy, the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals 37-20 to clinch the fifth seed in the NFC playoffs, setting them up for a matchup against the Carolina Panthers. The question now is whether or not winning this game provides enough confidence to win the next four. Let’s jump into this week’s 10 takeaways.

1. Rams will welcome Adams’ return

Davante Adams pushed to play for the Rams on Sunday afternoon, but Sean McVay put an axe in that suggestion. The Rams will need Adams 100 percent healthy in the postseason and there wasn’t a need to re-aggravate his hamstring in Week 18.

With that said, when Adams does return, the Rams will welcome him back. It was the same story with the Rams wide receivers behind Puka Nacua. Too often, Stafford and Konata Mumpfield weren’t on the same page. It almost resulted in multiple interceptions. Stafford and Xavier Smith weren’t on the same page again on a deep target down the field. Offensively, the Rams started 0-for-2 in the red zone. The Rams have missed Adams in the offense as that second option opposite Nacua. More Adams and less Mumpfield and Smith will be a good thing.

2. Pass rush makes presence felt

The defense didn’t have a perfect performance against the Cardinals, but it wasn’t because the pass rush didn’t show up. There was a point in this game in which Brissett had been pressured on 13-of-15 dropbacks. The Rams defense generated 24 pressures for a 60 percent pressure rate and sacked Brissett six times, including twice by Desjuan Johnson. Johnson has been fantastic playing on the edge and Sunday was an exclamation point. Rookie Josaiah Stewart started the game with a sack-fumble.

From a pass-rush perspective, this is a performance that the defense needs to be able to build on going forward. Their 60 percent pressure rate is the sixth-highest pressure rate by any defense this season and the Rams’ highest in a game since 2021. Jared Verse was consistently in the backfield and Byron Young made a handful of plays. Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner were also forces in the middle of the defensive line. This may have been the Cardinals, but it might be the confidence boost that this group needs going into the postseason.

3. Stafford makes final MVP case

Heading into Week 18, Matthew Stafford had one final shot to make his case for MVP. Stafford finished 25-of-40 for 259 yards and four touchdowns. Stafford became the eighth quarterback to throw for at least 46 touchdowns in a season. Six of the previous seven won MVP. He also became the third player ever with at least 45 touchdown passes and fewer than 10 interceptions in a season. Both Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers won MVP.

The MVP race between Stafford and Maye is close. Because the Patriots and Maye won the NFC East, finished...